San Francisco Fells More Trees – Treasure Island
February 8, 2016 10 Comments
People have started writing to us about hundreds, perhaps thousands, of trees being clear-cut on Treasure Island – beautiful, healthy trees being destroyed. It’s happening right now.
One person wrote: “Over on the area where officers quarters are, there appears to be clear cutting is there any thing that can be done to save the ones left?”
Then he sent us these pictures with the note: “Thanks for your attention to these matters. I am just a beer drinking football watching person, but perhaps I am more naive than I thought, because what I saw as represented by these images … was disturbing to a city person like myself. ”
“These trees appear to have been just killed and then ground down to saw dust with no thought of conservation, reuse or anything, unconscionable,” he added. “I doubt the proud city of San Fran will ever mitigate the amount of trees they are killing today.”
Another person wrote:
“[On Treasure Island] I drove past several spots on the island where eucalyptus have been completely clear cut. I was driving so I couldn’t really get a good estimate, but it looks like many hundreds. Many of the trees were VERY large and healthy looking. They are already being chipped and/or logged…
“The work of the nativists? Looks like it to me. Otherwise why remove entire stands of healthy trees?
“I, for one, am sick and tired of this disgusting, unsupportable destruction that has no scientific or practical basis. These actions go beyond normal landscaping or aesthetic decisions. The city will suffer the effects of these actions for decades to come.
“Frankly, I’m also disappointed that the main opposition relies so heavily on scientifically unsupportable counter-arguments. It makes it very hard to find effective ways to combat the destructive philosophy that has taken over Parks and Rec.”
The huge eucalyptus trees of Treasure Island are among the sites where Monarch butterflies have been known to overwinter. Eucalyptus trees are great at sequestering carbon because of their dense wood, their fast growth, their huge size, and their long lives… if they’re not cut down like these trees here.
- How many tons of sequestered carbon are now being released?
- How much monarch butterfly over-wintering habitat has been destroyed?
- How much tree cover for birds and animals has been removed?
How can San Francisco call itself a green city with this tree canopy shrinkage going on in these times of global warming?
