The Presidio had a community work day and memorial for Peter Ehrlich today. Here’s a report from a friend who attended.

Peter Ehrlich’s memorial at the Presidio was very well done. There were at least 150 people there and they did a lot of work. Pete had planted many Monterey cypresses around the Spire and they needed to be weeded and mulched. So, the work directly benefited the trees Pete had planted.

The location of the memorial at the Spire was an appropriate location. The massive sculpture of cypress logs by Andy Goldsworthy was important to Pete because he had the pleasure of helping Goldsworthy find the wood for the sculpture.

He really enjoyed talking with Goldsworthy. The Spire was decorated with pictures of Pete and flowers all around the Spire. There was also a book of pictures of Pete that will be given to his daughter, Lily. People were invited to write in that book. There were eucalyptus leaves on which people were invited to write tributes to Pete that were hung on the trees. My message was, “We will watch the Presidio forest for Pete.”

Dee Seligman [former Interim President of SFFA] spoke explicitly for San Francisco Forest Alliance by reading a portion of her tribute that was posted to the SFFA website. When she read the last paragraph about the help he gave us regarding the plans of the Natural Areas Program, people applauded.

SFFA was well represented and Pete would have been proud of how he was remembered.

We would like to thank the author of this account, and thank Dee Seligman for the touching and appropriate remembrance.