Register for Town Hall Meeting about Montara’s Chainsawed Trees

November 10, 2017 1 Comment

We posted a few days ago about the planned meeting regarding the chainsawed trees of Rancho Corral de Tierra at Montara. Here are the details of the public notice, and a link to RSVP.

 

“Rancho Corral de Tierra Public Meeting | November 12, 2017

“Please join National Park Service staff and Congresswoman Jackie Speier for a public meeting to discuss Rancho Corral de Tierra. Park staff will discuss grassland restoration efforts, current management, and future park planning efforts. Grassland restoration efforts include removing invasive vegetation, such as grasses and trees, and revegetating with native plant communities.

Meeting Details
Sunday, November 12, 2017
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Farallone View Elementary School,
1100 Le Conte Ave., Montara, CA
RSVP requested: Please register HERE.

 

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Montara Chainsawed Trees: Town Hall on Nov 12, 2017

November 4, 2017 1 Comment

We reported recently that some people interested in going on the walk at Rancho Corral de Tierra in Montara were unable to get in. Now a Town Hall has been scheduled on Nov 12, 2017.

In response to public interest, GGNRA will be hosting a second public meeting on Sunday, November 12th from 2-3:30 pm at Farralone View Elementary School. A meeting invite with details will be sent to everyone on our email distribution list.  To stay informed about the November 12th public meeting and other park related matters in San Mateo County, please sign up for our [i.e, GGNRA’s]  “San Mateo County” mailing list here.

 

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Montara Walk with Jackie Speier – The Why of the Chainsawed Trees

October 17, 2017 1 Comment

Owing to public outcry, the tree cutting in Montara has been paused. Now a walk has been announced for October 30, 2017, 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM, in Montara,  presumably for explanations about why the trees were cut and what is planned for the future.

HICKMAN’S POTENTILLA

Hickman’s Potentilla – cc by 2.0 – John Game – wikimedia

We understand that the “restoration” project is about a tiny yellow flower called Hickman’s Cinquefoil or Hickman’s Potentilla.  The picture here is from a Wikipedia article about it, and is used under a Creative Commons license.) It’s very rare.

It’s been seen in Monterey, growing in a quarter-acre patch of grassland in a pine forest. They tried planting more in Monterey, but a combination of predators, competition from grasses, and low reproduction defeated this effort.

Montara has the largest known population, and maybe half of it is in Rancho Corral de Tierra.  Here’s a 2009 USFWS report on the plant: UFWS report on Hickmans Potentilla 2009

The key question: Will chopping down the trees actually help this plant? There’s some speculation that maybe the trees are shading out the flowers. But the real issue for the Potentilla seems to be a combination of being over-run by grasses, eaten by gophers, deer, and slugs, and not reproducing vigorously.

The trees have been there a long time, and are part of the environment for the Potentilla already. It’s quite possible that the drastic change from cutting down the trees will just make everything worse; the effects of their removal is quite unpredictable when you need to address it down at the level of grasses, wind, erosion, and water movement in small patches of land.  The best results are more likely to come, not from disturbing the environment, but from clipping the grass around the plants, and figuring out how to protect them from predators.

DETAILS OF THE WALK

Time and Place: October 30, 2017,  2:00 PM – 4:00 PM, Montara

Here are the details that were sent to us. The invitation came from C. Fitzgerald at the Parks Conservancy:

Golden Gate National Recreation Area
Rancho Corral de Tierra Grassland Restoration

Public Meeting and Walk

Please join National Park Service staff and Congresswoman Jackie Speier for a public meeting and walk at Rancho Corral de Tierra to discuss grassland restoration efforts and recovery actions for the Federally endangered Hickman’s potentilla. Project staff will discuss the project goals, review park planning processes and discuss future restoration plans. Park restoration efforts include removing invasive vegetation, such as grasses and trees, and revegetating with native plant communities.

RSVP REQUIRED | Please RSVP here so that we can accommodate all participants. A Rancho meeting location will be sent to all registered attendees at least 5 days prior to the event.
MEETING & WALK | This gathering will begin with a 30 minute meeting/talk at the trailhead which will be followed by a walk to view the project area for further discussion. The walk terrain is moderately strenuous.
PARKING | Parking is limited. Carpooling or walking is highly encouraged.
ATTIRE | Please wear comfortable walking shoes or hiking boots.
ACCESSIBILITY | Accommodations will be made for all interested attendees. Please call 415-561-4994 to request alternate accommodations.
QUESTIONS | For more information or questions, please call 415-561-4994.

 

 

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National Park Service Trees Meet Chainsaws in Montara

October 5, 2017 6 Comments

The National Park Service is cutting down trees in Montara, south of San Francisco. San Francisco Forest Alliance opposes this action. We’re disappointed. In this era of global warming, every tree counts. Instead of destroying trees, they should be planting them. Instead, they appear to have succumbed to the same “native” vs “non-native” xenophobic approach to plants that we’re battling in the Bay Area.

This article, with the accompanying pictures is from one of our supporters, and is used with permission.

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE CHAINSAWS KILLING PENINSULA TREE

by D. Emanuel

Here we go again. This time it’s the National Park Service destroying trees in the Bay Area. They just cut down perfectly healthy Monterey cypress and pines – some 100 years old — at Rancho Corral de Tierra, which is located at the tip of Half Moon Bay. If you’ve ever hiked or ridden a horse or bike at Rancho you know there are few trees that provide shady resting spots along popular trails.

These trail-side trees are isolated and one in particular, on the Farallone trail, has been an iconic stop, where hikers take a break to enjoy scenery, grab a drink of water, and shoot the breeze. It’s been a favorite among residents of Montara, many of whom walk outdoors just steps from home as part of their daily routine. No more. Park Service chainsaw crews leveled the tree last week.

By the end of next week the Park Service will be on track to kill 40 trees because they categorize them as non-native. It doesn’t seem to matter that their birthplace is only 100 miles down the road in Monterey. Apparently that’s not local enough.

COASTSIDE RESIDENTS BLINDSIDED

The Park Service gave no warning and did not engage the community for input at Rancho. They are so strident in carrying out a preferred landscape ideology that a handful of favorite trees could not remain.

Rancho is the newest land added to the 80,000-acre Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The Park Service acquired it in 2011. You may remember that just one month after taking over as land manager a Park Service ranger used her taser gun to shoot a 50-year-old man in the back after he gave a false name. The ranger had stopped him for walking one of his two small terriers off-leash. He won a $50,000 judgment against the Park Service for unreasonable use of force.

Now the Park Service is now using unreasonable force against trees under the guise of biodiversity. They claim it will save a rare flower, Hickman’s potentilla, against an invading force  even though the trees have remained far apart for years, showing no sign of taking over the landscape.

The fact that the flower has peacefully co-existed with the trees for decades doesn’t matter to the Park Service. The project is part of a multi-million dollar grasslands restoration and replanting program bankrolled by the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.

The Park Service did not conduct an environmental assessment to justify the dramatic changes being made to the landscape and it’s refusing to disclose how much glyphosate is being sprayed.  Glyphosate, better known by the Monsanto trade name Roundup, has been declared a probable human carcinogen. California, which in July declared glyphosate to be a carcinogen, is considering requiring cancer warnings on Roundup brand labels.

The community is shocked and angry. You should be too. California lost 100 million trees due to the recent four-year drought. We can’t afford to be killing trees. Yet that’s exactly what the Park Service is doing at Rancho Corral de Tierra.

UPDATE:

Here’s a statement from GGNRA received today:

“NPS is pausing tree removal work at Rancho and is planning to offer an additional public hike in the coming weeks to discuss our planning process and the overall recovery plan for the Rancho grasslands and Hickman’s potentilla. We plan to send out an announcement to our Rancho mailing list once this date is set.”

This is a pause – not a promise to stop the cutting. We will stay in touch with you all as we move through this process to keep our voices heard.

Please enjoy the moment – your voices and help from Congresswoman Jackie Speier’s office were very important to get this temporary pause – thank you!

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