JANUARY PARK E-VENTURES
ENDANGERED COHO:
HOPE FOR THE FUTURE?
The Golden Gate National Recreation Area’s far-reaching lands are home to more federally-listed endangered and threatened species than any other national park site in the continental United States. Each year the park is featuring one of these special plants and animals through educational programs, events, restoration activities, and a variety of materials for visitors of all ages.
In 2012, we are celebrating the endangered coho salmon! Several watersheds in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Point Reyes National Seashore—including Olema, Redwood, and Pine Gulch Creeks—are home to coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch).
These fish are part of a unique subpopulation that only live in streams along the central California coast. Because coho require high-quality freshwater and ocean habitats over the course of their three-year lifespans they are excellent indicators of the health of these ecosystems.
In 1996 the federal government listed coho salmon in this region as threatened. Unfortunately, their status was further downgraded from threatened to endangered in 2005. Habitat loss from urbanization, dam construction, logging, water withdrawals, and stream channel alterations have contributed to their decline, as have over-harvesting, climactic changes, and periods of poor ocean productivity.
Because coho are an endangered species, the National Park Service is responsible for monitoring and protecting them. Staff at Golden Gate and their partners have undertaken a huge effort to learn more about the size, distribution, and behavior of these populations; understand their habitat requirements; and engage federal, state, and local stakeholders in their protection.
What you can do
- Stay on trail around the streams and lagoons where salmon live to help prevent erosion and other damage to their habitat
- Volunteer at Muir Beach on Saturdays and at other creeks in Marin County to help restore downstream habitat for young coho
- Visit www.sfnps.org/species for a full calendar of salmon events, a printable 2012 coho calendar, and Species of the Year coloring book
- Support legislation and policies that protect coho and their stream and ocean habitats
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HARNESSING THE WIND
As anyone who has visited Crissy Field knows, there is no shortage of wind. This powerful energy source is what makes kite-flying and windsurfing so popular on Crissy Field Beach. Soon, Crissy Field Center also will be harnessing the power of that wind! By late January, the Center will have some new wind turbines. These turbines will provide not just energy, but also new educational opportunities for youth involved in the Center’s programs.
The interim Crissy Field Center on East Beach has been a leading example of sustainable technology since its construction two years ago. With recycled carpet, a rainwater catchment system, solar-thermal water heating system, solar lamps, and many other green features, it is a one-of-a-kind youth environmental education center. These new wind turbines will push the Center to LEED-certified Gold status and possibly even Platinum status.
Perhaps the most exciting aspect of this project is the impact it will have on programs. Young people will have the chance to learn about wind energy and other renewable energy sources and will even be able to study the power generated by the turbines through a dashboard monitoring system.
Proposed educational projects include creating art renderings of wind turbines to learn how they work, using math to learn about gear ratios and measure the swept area, and thinking critically about the wind turbines’ environmental impacts. (Staff with the National Park Service and the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory will study and monitor the turbines’ effects on wildlife.)
In 2012, come observe the new wind turbines in action—and see how they add real-world depth to the environmental lessons for Crissy Field Center youth!
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2011 MIGRATION IN REVIEW: A RAPTOR SYMPHONY
 2011 was a unique hawkwatching year: the Marin Headlands were besieged by Broad-winged Hawks, Merlins, and fog. Although we have several volunteer-driven programs that we use to study the flights of hawks at the GGRO (counting, banding, and radiotracking), here I will give just a hawkwatchers’ view of the 2011 season.
Our hawk-counters first ascended Hawk Hill on Monday, August 15, and spent six hours tallying 82 raptor sightings including a Peregrine Falcon, a White-tailed Kite, and some Redtails. That was a great first day, because the next five weeks brought fog. Lots and lots of fog. More fog than we’d ever seen in over 25 years of hawk counts.
During August and September, every other day was a “fog-out,” the hawkwatcher’s equivalent of a rain-out. But fog can lift or fall, press forward or retreat, dissipate or condense in a moment’s notice. And so our hawk counters spent many hours at the ready.
Then on September 17, the hawk gates opened up with the first big rush of the season. Six hours later, the hawkwatch team had chalked up 482 in the “total sightings” column, a very respectable 78 raptors per hour (rph).
A week later, on September 26, the team counted 38 Broad-winged Hawks in one day, an amazing number, which contributed to an incredible Broadwing year overall: 202 sightings by December. Broad-winged Hawks are an anomaly in California. They don’t nest here; they don’t winter here. These short-winged, crow-sized cousins of the Redtail migrate in flocks from Canada and northeastern U.S. to the Amazon Basin. California Broadwings are somewhat unique to the Golden Gate, as they’re rarely seen in other parts of the state.
The 2011 hawk count fared pretty well through late September, hovering around the 50 to 60 rph mark until October 7, when the numbers jumped up again, totaling 751 sightings of 12 species, at a rate of 125 rph. October 8 eclipsed even those impressive numbers, clocking 834 sightings with a rate of 143 rph. This proved to be the peak day of the migration from the hawk counter’s perspective.
From October 9 through November 17 we enjoyed mostly brilliant raptor days, averaging 40 rph and including a 20-Merlin day on October 17, and our first adult Bald Eagle of 2011 on October 19. November 14 was a rare double-eagle day; both Bald and Golden Eagles made close passes over Hawk Hill.
The season declined steeply after November 18 with hawk rates fluctuating from 6 to 20 rph, depending on the weather. The eastern Diablo winds kicked in on November 30, with 29 mph gusts on Hawk Hill increasing to 55 mph howlers on December 1. The big breezes blew a bunch of Redtails into town, and November 30 and December 3 each had impressive RT counts for this late date: 198 and 167, respectively.
So, the 2011 hawk migration season as witnessed by the GGRO hawkcounters was a light migration compared with average total numbers, but the counts were still similar to some previous seasons’ in the past quarter-century.
We were heavy in Merlins and Broad-winged Hawks, but light in Northern Harrier, Red-shouldered Hawks, and American Kestrels. Kestrels in particular have been of great concern in the eastern U.S. as they have been showing declines at migration counts and in nest-box studies for the past decade. Declines have been more gradual in California, but this is why we need migration counts.
As the great eco-lobbyist Rosalie Edge once wrote: “The time to monitor a species is while it is still common.”
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CLIMATE IN THE PARKS
Rapid climate change poses one of the greatest threats to the natural world, protected areas, and our health. However, the majority of the public often misses this complex issue’s urgency and immediacy. Faced with this challenge, parks are exploring opportunities to better engage the public in understanding their changing backyards.
With the launch of a system-wide Climate Change Response Program two years ago, many national parks now have programs in place to emphasize climate science literacy. Here in the Golden Gate National Parks, several opportunities exist to discover climate change in the San Francisco Bay Area—past, present, and future.
From public art to Google Earth tools to sea-level rise exhibits, Golden Gate National Parks are ramping up their efforts. National park interpretive rangers offer walking tours and presentations on how climate has shaped the Bay Area’s landscape and why estuaries are valuable for carbon mitigation.
The park is developing hands-on citizen science programs, like the California Phenology Project, in which visitors can participate in field studies that monitor the response of natural resources to climate change across California’s diverse landscapes over time. Visitors can also discover the impacts of ocean acidification at NOAA’s new Ocean Climate Center at Crissy Field.
“We are providing ways for park visitors to discover, visualize, and participate in understanding how climate change is affecting the places they love,” says Will Elder, a ranger at Golden Gate National Recreation Area. “We are also demonstrating how parks are reducing their carbon footprint. Once visitors make these connections, they will be more likely to take steps toward a more carbon-neutral lifestyle themselves.”
To leverage the parks as a platform for climate science education, the Institute at the Golden Gate is launching a new initiative, Climate in the Parks. The purpose of this initiative is to understand how parks and popular recreation areas can use these places that people care about to demonstrate real impacts of climate change. By assessing case studies, strategies, best practices, tools, artistic media, and partnerships that are being created and used by all types of parks, the Institute will create a climate communications resource for any park to employ.
The Institute would like your feedback! Do you have a case or example in mind of what a park has done (or could do) to better educate the public on climate science? Please send us your comments to climate@parksconservancy.org.
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OUR OLDEST, LARGE-SCALE VOLUNTEER EVENT
For most people, Earth Day lands on that date pre-printed into everybody’s new 2012 calendar: April 22. But in the Golden Gate National Parks, we celebrate another kind of Earth Day, Muir Woods Earth Day 2012, on January 28. This year’s event is on track to be the biggest ever, with a projected attendance of nearly 300 volunteers.
Being one of the oldest volunteer events in the parks, this event has a long history and has changed quite a bit since it was first established. Here is a brief timeline of the evolution of Muir Woods Earth Day:
1991— The event started like any other Earth Day gathering, held around April 22.
1992 —The name of the event was changed to John Muir B*EARTH*Day.
1993— The event was moved from April to February 20, as the winter rains make it a better time to plant in the Bay Area; the natural irrigation provides the newly planted native species their best chance of survival.
1994 —The event was moved to even earlier date in the year, to avoid disruptions to nesting spotted owls during mid-February.
Mid-2000s —The whole month of January was designated as Earth Season, during which a series of smaller volunteer events are held throughout the Redwood Creek Watershed.
Now, 21 years later, this amazing annual event continues to be held between mid-January and early February so that we can maximize the winter rains. It became a watershed-wide event early on and, though each year is a little bit different, it has always included planting, weeding, and trail work.
As a coordinating force for the volunteer day, the Conservancy’s Redwood Creek Nursery has a lot of work to do to prepare for the day. For the planting activities, the nursery will be preparing and pulling together 910 plants to go into the field. One of the key areas that will be planted is known as “The Plaza,” formerly “Muir Meadow,” which is the entry area before the main entrance to the Muir Woods National Monument and the Visitor Center.
Though there is great diversity in the watershed and many species will be sent out for planting, a favorite to plant is Lilium pardilinum (leopard lily). It is dormant this time of year and is a bulb that breaks apart into many bulblets (like garlic). There are flats of the lily in the nursery that get divided every year and some are planted alongside Redwood Creek in the woods. This coming spring and summer new shoots will appear and, hopefully, in a few years’ time we will see new blooms appear next to the creek!
Through the efforts of the nursery, the amazing support and leadership of the parks’ other volunteer and stewardship programs, and sponsorship from the concessionaires in park (providing a well-deserved, tasty lunch!), Muir Woods Earth Day 2012 promises to be the most fun and productive one yet!
Come join the fun on Saturday, January 28:
8:30-9 am— check-in
9 am-Noon— planting/weeding/trail work
Noon-2 pm— thank you lunch
Please note: It almost always rains during this event, either sprinkling or pouring, so please be sure to bring rain gear if you have it (gear will also be provided). Also, parking is extremely limited at Muir Woods, so please carpool if possible!
Register and to get more information about the event
Collaboratively written by Mia Monroe (Chief Ranger, Muir Woods), Chelsea Dicksion (Manager, Redwood Creek Nursery), and Clara Voigt (Office Administrator, Nursery Programs)
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THE MYSTERY OF THE MORI SNAKE EGGS
By Elise Hinman
Park Stewardship Education and Outreach Intern
“Come over here! You gotta see this!” yelled Project Coordinator Chris Perry, from across the boardwalk at Mori Point.
It was a cold, drizzly Thursday in early November, and the last thing I expected to feel was excitement. I walked over to where he and San Mateo Community Programs Manager Price Sheppy were crouching close to the ground.
Leaning over their backs, my eyes focused on the milky white orbs sitting on the wet soil. After a moment of study, I realized what they were: snake eggs!
There were at least five of them littering the ground, empty and shriveled from the elements. Chris Perry picked one up and lightly set it in my hand. It was no more than 1 inch wide and 2 inches long, and it was extremely light and airy. The texture was as smooth as a sheet of computer paper. What amazed me was the hardiness of the shell, despite its malleability.
“What kind of snake hatched out of these eggs?” I pondered. My curiosity sent me on a mission to understand San Francisco’s native reptile fauna. Later that week I sat down at my computer, egg shell at my side, to figure out the species it belonged to.
Could it be an endangered San Francisco garter snake egg? My heart started racing with excitement. Observing these striking snakes in the wild is a rare treat because threats such as urbanization and pollution have reduced San Francisco garter snake populations to dangerously low levels. Compounding these threats is the fact that their prey of choice, the California red- legged frog, is also a threatened species in San Francisco.
Could Chris, Price, and I be witness to a new generation of San Francisco garter snakes populating Mori Point? Alas, my enthusiasm quickly proved unwarranted as I read up on the snake.
There was one big reason why these eggs did not belong to this endangered species: San Francisco garter snakes give birth to live young! Females carry the eggs internally until they hatch, and subsequently release their litter of 12 to 24 young in the months of July and August. With a sigh and a slump into my office chair, I realized my search wasn’t over yet.
Could it be a Pacific gopher snake or a California king snake egg? Pacific gopher snakes grow up 7 feet in length and are often mistaken for rattlesnakes due to the intricate, diamond patterning on their scale. They are excellent burrowers, climbers, and swimmers, and occupy a range that includes all of the Bay Area—they’re even found in urban settings.
California king snakes, on the other hand, reach 2.5 feet in length and have a distinctive black and white striped patterning on their bodies. Both species of snakes do not give birth to live young. Instead, they lay eggs in June through August, which hatch roughly two months later.
I performed the math in my head—this means that the hatchlings would have emerged from their shells in October, making a discovery of the evidence in early November entirely possible!
At the end of the day, I still wasn’t certain of the species that emerged from the eggs. However, one thing was clear: Parks Conservancy volunteers successfully create and maintain healthy coastal ecosystems, which allow native plants and animals (reptiles included!) to grow, survive, and reproduce in the San Francisco Bay Area. Thank you so much for your help.
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HABITAT RESTORATION: AFTER TREE REMOVAL, WHAT'S NEXT?
Significant habitat restoration efforts are underway on the Presidio coastal bluffs and at Hawk Hill in the Marin Headlands (see December Park E-Ventures for the Hawk Hill story). In this story and a future installment, learn more about what follows the recent non-native invasive tree and vegetation removals, including opportunities for the public to volunteer in upcoming plantings this winter and participate in walks hosted by the National Park Service and Parks Conservancy staff on what we can expect to see in the restored areas in the coming years. To sign up and for more information, please write trailsforever@parksconservancy.org or call 415-561-3054.
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Big changes have been taking place along the Presidio Coastal Bluffs recently. Roads are being improved for cyclists and cars, the Batteries to Bluffs Trail has been enhanced for coastal hikers, and the new Golden Gate Overlook is being built in time for the Bridge’s 75th Anniversary celebration this May.
As part of the overall Presidio Vegetation Management Plan, a large tree removal project was completed alongside these infrastructure changes. Non-native cypress and pine trees were removed to create continuous native habitat along the unique serpentine bluffs. Acres of the invasive cape ivy (Delairea odorata) were also removed for the same purpose.
But what happened to the trees after they were removed? Here are some of the ways they are being repurposed for other projects throughout the park.
- At Muir Beach, 19 logs were strategically placed in Redwood Creek to support the new creek bed. The realignment of this waterway is aimed at restoring the Redwood Creek Watershed and enhancing habitat for the endangered coho salmon.
- Six different sites throughout the park will utilize 1,935 cubic yards of wood chips to assist habitat restoration projects.
- Trail improvements will continue, with repurposed logs being milled into over 200 fence posts to be placed throughout the Presidio Coastal Trail and to help partition restoration areas.
- Split wood will be used for campfires at the Presidio’s Rob Hill campground.
- Nine new benches will be placed around the Lands End Lookout Visitor Center and the Golden Gate Bridge Visitor Plaza. These were made from salvaged wood, too!
Catey Ritchie, project coordinator for the restoration project on the Bluffs, spearheaded the repurposing efforts. “I like to think of the overall sustainability of the project, not just the habitat restoration piece,” she says. “We put in a lot of extra time and energy to keep it local, to make this project the least impactful it could be.”
The tree repurposing was truly a team effort. In addition to Ritchie, collaborators included Assistant Project Coordinator Danny Franco, miller Steve Potts, Marin County Arborists, and other Conservancy personnel and collaborators.
“Without MCA, we couldn’t have done this,” Ritchie says. “And we also needed Steve Potts’ commitment to do this kind of project. He went beyond just milling the wood. He came out on site to help us find the usable wood, and then he turned it into something lovely.”
The most challenging aspect of the work was interpreting the dimensions of the uncut trees. “It’s harder than it sounds,” Ritchie explains. “All these projects were moving forward, and they needed to know if they could use the byproducts of our work. But until someone has a log on the mill, you can’t know if it will work, especially if it’s for a specific design.”
Coordinating logistics between multiple projects, accounting for bird nesting seasons, adapting to weather patterns, and trying to predict unknown obstacles are all parts of the process. But Ritchie believes that the final product is worth the extra effort.
“Even with adequate planning, [repurposing the trees] can’t always happen,” she says. “But it should always be considered. Plenty of projects could have used wood chips, but we knew that this wood was good enough quality to serve a higher purpose.”
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THANKS FOR 500,000 HOURS AND MUCH MORE
With the new year upon us, it’s a time to reflect on the past year and to give thanks. Few deserve bigger thanks than all of you—our park volunteers! On behalf of the National Park Service, Presidio Trust, and Parks Conservancy, THANK YOU for all that you have done this past year to support and care for your national parks here at Golden Gate.
Once again, you have astounded us with your generosity of spirit, time, and energy. Over 34,000 volunteers contributed over 500,000 hours of service to the parks in 2011—the equivalent of 247 full-time staff or, in other terms, another entire roster of Parks Conservancy staff!
Whether helping at our nurseries, restoring vital habitat, leading visitor programs, maintaining trails, organizing events, providing youth leadership, taking photographs, cleaning beaches, offering administrative assistance, studying hawks, teaching young people, or restoring historic sites (and the list definitely goes on!), each and every volunteer provided vital support to the work needed to keep our treasured parks healthy and vibrant.
You are an absolute inspiration. Our parks were established by community action and each of you carries on that legacy today through your dedication, enthusiasm, and remarkable impact. You are Park Heroes!
To give you just a sampling of what you, our park volunteers, accomplished this past year, take a look at the highlights below. Keep in mind, this just scratches the surface, as there is so much more to recognize and so many more people to thank!
Learn about Volunteering in the Parks ›
The Golden Gate National Parks Volunteer Program is a cooperative parkwide effort of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, the National Park Service, and the Presidio Trust.
2011 HIGHLIGHTS SAMPLER
- Alcatraz Interpretation and Education: Presented 385 interpretive programs to the public and welcomed 500,000 visitors through dock announcements.
- Archeology Lab & Stewardship: Inventory of an historic pit found at Fort Mason, dating from the 1860s, and containing some 2,000 artifacts and approximately 5,000 human bones.
- Beach Program Volunteers: 2,100 volunteers participated in California Coastal Cleanup Day at San Francisco park sites, collecting over 4,500 pounds of debris, of which 45% was diverted from landfill (thanks to Recology).
- Crissy Field Center Volunteers: 22 High School volunteers logged over 1,900 hours this summer as CITs (Counselors-In-Training) while working with kids at the Center’s Summer Camp.
- Design Volunteers-In-Parks & Park Photographers: 15 new illustrations for the Juan Bautisa de Anza program and 20,000 new photos of the park.
- Earth Day, National Volunteer Week, and National Park Week (April, 2011): Over 1,050 volunteers from 45 corporate and community groups, contributed an impressive 3,100+ hours of service to the parks in just one month (equivalent to more than 1 year of work for 1 FTE).
- GOGA Landscape & Maintenance (San Francisco Shoreline): 4,948 bags of weeds removed and 2,733 native plants planted.
- Golden Gate Raptor Observatory: Over 300 volunteers contributed more than 41,000 hours to the GGRO’s research, conservation, and education programs, recording nearly 17,000 raptor sightings and banding more than 1,100 raptors.
- Golden Gate Trail Crew (Trails Forever): 8,204 square feet of boardwalk and deck maintained, 231,542 linear feet of vegetation brushed, 18,848 square feet of trail resurfaced, and 1,167 cubic yards of material hauled.
- Habitat Restoration Team & Invasive Plant Control: Volunteers planted around 9,000 plants at 13 different restoration sites during the 2010/2011 planting season.
- Invasive Species Early Detection Program (Weed Watchers): Nearly 1,200 new populations of priority invasive plant species were mapped and 150 of these were removed immediately.
- Marin Headlands Visitor Center, Interpretation, and Education: Our Battery Townsley Group won the Hartzog Award, our Military VIPs and Interns greeted and provided tours for over 12,000 visitors, and the Point Bonita Lighthouse VIPs and Interns assisted over 33,000 people.
- MLK Jr. Day of Service (1/17/11): Nearly 500 enthusiastic volunteers contributed 1,286 hours of service by maintaining trails, planting, weeding, restoring vital habitat, cleaning our beaches, and caring for our precious park lands at 16 sites throughout the park.
- Muir Woods Earth Day (1/29/11): Over 275 hardy and rain-resistant volunteers helped on a series of 14 restoration projects and contributed 825 hours of service to caring for the majestic redwoods and the Redwood Creek Watershed.
- Muir Woods Visitor Center, Interpretation, and Education: Our volunteer and docent corps reached over 15,000 park visitors through formal programs and over 20,000 in informal visitor contacts.
- Park Interns: Over 130 dedicated individuals, volunteering 3 months to 1 year throughout the park, assisted in leading park programs and contributed nearly 135,000 hours in service.
- Park Nurseries (Fort Funston, Marin Headlands, Oceana, Presidio, Redwood Creek, Tennessee Valley): Grew an astounding 216,500 plants, collected from 27 watersheds, to support 63 projects throughout the Golden Gate National Parks.
- Park Stewardship (San Mateo, San Francisco, and Marin): With the support of almost 6,000 volunteers, over 39,000 native plants were planted at critical habitat restoration sites throughout the Golden Gate National Parks.
- Volunteer Groups: Over 450 community, corporate, youth, school, and faith-based groups volunteered in the parks.
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PARK PIC OF THE MONTH
Stormy Day at Crissy Field, photo by Steven Sawyer
See more photos and share your own
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