January workday report; playground project launching this month

Community volunteers gathered last week, on a sunny Saturday morning, to work with our park gardener. We scooped up mountains of eucalyptus bark and branches that have fallen in the recent stormy weather. We also removed weeds (& broken glass) from the rain garden. At the end of the program, we gathered for this snapshot, taking a minute to remember the projects over the past several years that have improved the area around the playground. 

Red-flowering currant is one of the California native perennials that flourished next to the playground. Enjoy their final blooms this weekend before the heavy equipment arrives! 

Big changes are coming to these areas (in the left half of the picture above) as part of the playground project. Starting this coming Tuesday, Jan 22, crews will perform tree work on eucalyptus, cypress, and elms around the Panhandle Playground. Further details are at the department's project webpage.

March Workday report

Volunteers from the SF Day School and from the neighborhood turned out for Panhandle workday on Saturday, March 10, and removed tons of eucalyptus leaf and bark litter so that our meadows can stay green & clean.  

It was good working with the students and their parents again this month. All the extra hands were needed after the recent storms had brought down so many leaves and bark out of the tall trees. 

Some of our the volunteers were veterans of turning out for the Panhandle workday, and others were out for the first time.

February workday with SF Day School

Our community workday last Saturday was bright and warm, in the middle of a very dry winter. We were greeted in the morning by Rec and Parks employees, who had placed more than a dozen new bunch grasses for planting into the mound. 

Once the grasses were planted, our attention turned to the rain garden, which needed a good weeding after a few months without attention - especially the northside, which gets inundated with annual grasses. 

A bunch of Douglas Iris and a couple of alum root were also brought out by the parks department for planting into the garden. This kind of iris has been very successful in the garden, producing some spectacular purple blooms.

Nearby, families from the SF Day School worked throughout the morning to clear fallen eucalyptus leaves and branches, with a break for cookies freshly baked by Brian, our friendly Rec and Park gardener.  

January workday with the Bridgemen

It was all about raking eucalyptus leaves and bark, tons of it, during our first workday of the year last Saturday. Volunteers picked out their favorite rake (four choices offered!) and then ranged both east and west from Ashbury St. Removing the litter from eucalyptus trees is one of the best ways to promote the health of the grasses covering the meadows in the park.

It was incredibly helpful to have our numbers boosted by the turnout of the Bridgemen, a service organization affiliated with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

Second Saturday workdays for the community at the Panhandle Park continue through 2018. The San Francisco Day School continues its active participation this year, too!

August workday at the Panhandle

It was a cold Saturday morning, and as we walked through the Panhandle we could hear heavy drops of condensed fog falling from the tall trees. But there was work to do! A large eucalyptus branch had fallen near the south path. In the mound full of perennials, Bermuda Grass was sending its ropy underground shoots through and around our plantings. Weedy annual grasses had infiltrated the rain garden. Thousands of leaves and passels of bark strips lay scattered across the meadows. And the stumps of dead trees stuck up from the turf, like unfinished business. Was there any way for us to accomplish all of the work? Fortunately, our regular volunteers were in attendance, and our numbers were bolstered by the Bridgemen, a group for gay, bi and trans men who get together and give back to the community in service projects. 

By the end of the workday, the weather was still damp and chilly, but the group had persevered through the challenging project. The tally was seven tree stumps removed. The cart was full of the stubs of roots and the pickup truck had a full load of weeds and leaves. The traces of our work removing the stumps showed in several areas with a topping of fresh soil. With the work done by the end of the morning, the Panhandle was looking great, and was more ready for tree plantings that are anticipated this fall.

Video on building community through work effort in the Panhandle

On this holiday weekend, I'm re-posting a video about the community workdays at the Panhandle, produced by Ben Youngerman, the creative force of local agency Panhandle Productions.

"Just show up, people are friendly, a great place to hang out and do something for the neighborhood."

March workday pictures from the Panhandle park

Kicking up some dust beneath the big trees

 At our March workday, volunteers made a big effort in the first half to remove eucalyptus leaves and gumnuts, and bring in a thick layer of compost fines, for an area near Fell @ Masonic.  With the healthy soil imported from the compost yard of Golden Gate Park, the grass will have a chance to resprout. Just nearby, right at the pathway, the work by the city is almost completed.

The curbcut at Masonic is complete and some work still remains to be completed by the corner

The group of volunteers was reinforced this month by families from the San Francisco Day School and had the support of Joel, the area gardening supervisor for the eastern end of Golden Gate Park. We also worked on our planted beds around the playground, spreading a thick layer of woodchips. There was also a lot of raking around some of the big eucalypus near Ashbury, and some brand new plants for the rain garden (ceanothus, mugwort, & bee plant). Guillermo wrapped up our morning with some recognition of the younger volunteers to express his appreciation for the support from the community.

At work with the heavy rakes 

 Closing circle

Happy Valentines from the Panhandle

A heavy storm can set back your plans, and the wind and rain storms last Friday and Sunday have meant a lot of clean up time for park workers. It's hard to overstate the amount of leaf, fruit, bark and twigs that fall from the big old trees in the park. And that not to mention the entire trees that were knocked over. The staging area for debris near the basketball courts is almost full!

At the community workday this morning, we lent a hand in the area on both sides of Central Ave, starting in the area where an elm tree fell last week. Fortunately, we didn't need to remove everything offsite, because you can use the leaf and bark to mulch around the big trees. It was still a lot of work for a small crew to move that much stuff. Now that the meadow is cleared of eucalyptus litter, crews during the coming week can spread compost fines in the meadow, replenishing the soil and helping resprout grass.

Then, this afternoon at about 4:45, I came upon another tree that had fallen directly across the bike path. It appears to be a pittosporum. Some picnickers nearby told me that it had just happened about a half hour before and that someone had nearly been hit but escaped without any injury. 

#vscocam @SF311 tree fell over on Panhandle bike path near Cole Street. About 40 minutes ago. pic.twitter.com/QiispaBh9j
— Fix Masonic (@Fix_Masonic) February 15, 2015

Panhandle playground chosen for renovation

In December, the city announced that the children’s playground located in the Panhandle was among six playgrounds selected for renovation using the funds of the 2012 San Francisco Parks Bond.

The current play structures and design were last rebuilt with support from the Saturn car company 15 years ago this spring. The playground has earned a “D” or “C” rating in recent years. Playgrounds with poor ratings such as these were assessed in a city-wide process last year that involved members of the community, the San Francisco Parks Alliance, and the Rec and Parks Department.

Judging by the amount of funds made available for the six playgrounds selected, the playground renovation will be about a $2-$3 million project. The Parks Alliance reports that an implementation plan is expected in March. A process for community input into the playground’s design has not yet been established.

 In my view, this new capital improvement project presents several opportunities:

1. Incorporate interpretation of the park’s history. The park’s most distinctive feature is our mature trees, and their enduring beauty should be celebrated. A historical sign could explain the context of their planting by the early visionaries of San Francisco’s park system. This would also fit with recognizing Elizabeth McClintock, who was the Curator of Botany for the California Academy of Sciences and who authored The Trees of the Panhandle in 1964 when the park was threatened by highway construction. McClintock, a scientist, author, and advocate, died in 2004, and I know of no public memorial elsewhere.

 2. Include new gardener’s hut/tool shed. The current hut is in very poor condition, and the adjacent tool shed (which is a shipping container) is an eyesore. The gardener can do a better job maintaining the playground and supporting the regular volunteer stewardship programs that take place in the park with a modern facility.

3. Make a more prominent and welcoming entrance. One thing that would be great for families arriving by bike would be to include racks and space for bike parking both outside and inside the gate.

4. Consider an alternate site within the park. The current playground site is hemmed in by mature trees, which may limit options for modifying its design. The trees also present a maintenance burden due to constantly falling eucalyptus leaf and bark litter, as well as some hazard of falling limbs. Lastly, they might make the construction very tricky. The open asphalt covered area just east of the restrooms covers twice the space of the current playground and I strongly urge that site be assessed for the playground. It would be important to evaluate whether there would still be enough space left for the occasional party tents, porta-potties, and dumpsters that get stationed in that zone, and also how it would affect the groups that use the space informally (e.g., tai chi, martial arts, kid’s soccer). If the playground were re-situated, the current playground could stay in operation during construction, and then afterwards, that site could be transitioned back to open space, or a community garden, or a sports court (such as petanque or bocce).

A pine and a eucalyptus slated for removal this week

SF Rec and Park have posted another two tree removals in the Panhandle. Department staff have informed me that an assessment by an arborist found they were hazardous, and that the removals will happen this coming week.

One tree is a Red River Gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) located near Fell @ Cole. The tree, though not very large, leans heavily over the cars parked at the curb on Fell Street and its trunk is riddled with holes.

The other tree posted for removal is a tall Monterey Pine near Oak @ Cole. Like the eucalyptus, this tree also shows some damage at the base of its trunk, and the only remaining branches are near the top of the tree. Monterey Pines are one of the major introduced species of trees in Golden Gate Park, but they are growing more scarce in our local green spaces such as the Panhandle due to pitch canker. McClintock's Trees of the Panhandle, published in 1965, mapped four Monterey Pines in just the one block of the park between Cole and Shrader.

 

In 2012 we had a substantial number of tree removals in the Panhandle, and in 2013 we have seen the beginning of tree planting. A larger-scale tree planting is now expected to commence in early 2014.

Photos of a rainy September workday

Yesterday's rain showers started just before our 9 am starting time, but a good-sized group of both new and regular volunteers still came out for the community workday. We broke into two groups, the larger of which was tasked with planting nearly 50 plants that had been provided and laid out by Rec and Park staff.    

The new plants were designated for a patch around the playground that has been mostly weedy and sandy. A couple of months ago, we added thick layers of soil and mulch to start suppressing the weeds and building better conditions for plants. We chose California native plants like ceanothus, heuchera, currant, and penstemon, all of which will remain short in stature so as to keep the views into the playground. The area is partially shaded by tall eucalyptus and Monterey Cypress, and it will be interesting to see which of the plants are able to survive.  

Even with the recently added soil, in order to dig deep enough for the new plants, we ran into tough soil and a bunch of roots, which meant a lot more work. I was incredibly impressed by the volunteers who kept going, even as the rain started falling more steadily. 

The other volunteers worked in our rain garden, removing weeds and eucalyptus leaf litter.

By 10:30 the rain was steady, and we helped the waters breach the border of the rain garden. Everyone was stoked to see the garden working as designed. And with about a half-inch of rain accumulated, we called an early end to our workday. Sadly, we also cancelled the picnic that had been planned to celebrate the completion of our 2012 Capital Project. 

Clayton Street accessibility work in gear

The Clayton Street entrances to the Panhandle are undergoing a rebuild to improve accessibility, and signs posted on the site indicate the work will continue through September. Once the work is done and the grass grows back, most of us will probably take the yellow, accessible curb ramps for granted.

In May 2012, new curb ramps of this type were installed at Lyon Street. With this project and the curb work that came with the repavement of Stanyan in August 2012, the curb ramp infrastructure of the Panhandle is about a complete job with at least one major exception: Baker Street, across the street from Mercy Terrace, where most cyclists enter and exit the park. 

On each side, North and South of the park, a single crosswalk leads from the east side of Clayton Street to the Panhandle's pathways. The north path (approaching Clayton @ Fell Street) used to skirt alongside a large eucalyptus, but the tree was removed as a hazard in December. The north side job looks complicated, with digging, removal of roots and reconstruction of a stretch of curbside along the park.

Clayton @ Fell - some digging and removal of roots

Clayton @ Fell - re-build of the curb

The work on the south side of the park at Oak Street appears less complicated. However, this access point is important because it serves as an entry point for Park and Rec's vehicles that need to reach the dump.

Clayton @ Oak

Clearing our walking path at the August workday

Presenting the new footpath on the south side of the park, heading west toward Masonic:  

It's like the old path, but it's about 20 percent wider. You've got more room for walking or jogging, and hopefully fewer mud puddles. That's because our volunteers yesterday scraped up and removed several feet of soil that was encroaching on the path. 

Wouldn't it have been great to do that for the entire length of the path? Absolutely, but that will take a bigger volunteer turnout. Imagine how heavy it is to lift the damp, compacted soil. We were a strong group of volunteers, but an hour of that work meant sore shoulders and back (for me, anyway). 

The sun came out during break time at the memorial

In addition to pathway clearing, we tended to a half-dozen smaller jobs in the east end, like weeding around the trees along Baker Street, removing ivy climbing a eucalyptus, and trimming back the enormous shrub that grows into the bike path close to Baker. 

During the mid-summer, the combination of irrigation, fog drip, and increased solar energy makes the Panhandle a bright green oasis. Get out and enjoy it, with or without blue skies.

June workday and progress in the Panhandle's central area

Thanks to 12 volunteers for being part of our workday. Here's the crew remaining at the end of the morning.

Volunteers planted a whole lot of new plants near the playground yesterday during our Saturday workday in the Panhandle: marigolds and cosmos around the south side of the gardener's shack and a dozen larger perennials for the plot on the east side of the shed.

Spreading the mulch around outside the playground

And there's more! A load of compost fines and a heap of mulch was ready for Stage 1 of a big new project: prepping the sandy & weedy area outside the playground gates for planting. This spot has a big eucalyptus and two other trees, and the leaf litter and shade make for a less than ideal growing environment. After a few months of allowing the compost fines and mulch to settle in (pardon my lack of biotechnical knowledge), we'll bring some hardy plants that are appropriate for this spot - for example, short stature (to not block views in and out of playground). 

I was amazed that our dozen volunteers succeeded in the laborious work of moving and spreading the compost and mulch around the entire area. Another volunteer was also busy trimming elm suckers and a hedge on the side of the playground that is forever growing too high. We even had time at the end for a concentrated effort to remove weeds that continue to pop up in the new rain garden. The morning's work was running, so Guillermo was able to take time to get out the leaf-blower and clean the asphalt area for a Silent Frisco dance party that was about to start up.  

Thanks to the Golden Gate Park Nursery for providing our new plants, to our regular and first-time volunteers, and to our gardener Guillermo. 

Conium, ranunculus repens, Senecio Elegans, begone!

Major tree planting on the horizon after a year of removals

After one more eucalyptus is removed, attention will shift in 2013 to Panhandle tree planting 

Blue Gum to be marked for removal

Another large eucalyptus - a Blue Gum tagged as #302 that is a familiar sight at Fell Street at Clayton - will be marked this week, giving notice to local residents that it is to be removed. Melinda Stockmann at the SFRPD explained that a decay test found extensive decay in the lower trunk. The department plans to remove it within weeks, to abate a hazard before the remainder of the storm season.

That Blue Gum suffers the same fate of several other Panhandle trees - mostly eucalyptus and one large acacia - sent to the chipper this year. A few other trees that had been marked for possible removal ended up getting a major pruning instead. While safety was the driver behind the pruning and removals, some people have been sad to see the end of these trees, especially given their old age and enormous stature.

Opening for treeplanting

After this last removal, the emphasis next year will be on a major tree planting. Park forestry is a program of the 2008 Clean and Safe Neighborhood Parks Bond, and is also included in the new, $195 million 2012 Parks Bond that received voter approval in November. While a schedule for implementation is not yet in place, the city has developed a draft species list for Panhandle replanting and has defined five replanting zones within the Panhandle - four between Stanyan and Masonic, while just one of the zones is east of Masonic. An example of the zones is this open area near Oak between Cole and Shrader, where the acacia had been.

Cypress and eucalyptus standing tall along
Oak Street won't be replicated 

But the number of new trees - about 40, according to the department's initial plans - is much larger than the number of trees removed this year. And the plan for planting attempts to prevent some of the problems that have turned into management headaches. For one thing, eucalyptus - which is still abundant in the Panhandle, and which besides dropping large limbs, also drops leaf and bark litter year-round - will not be planted in the Panhandle next year. Also, to reduce property damage from limbs falling on parked cars, any tree planted close to Oak or Fell will be species that don’t reach giant stature. Instead, Michelia (michelia doltsopa), Sweetgum (liquidambar styraciflua) and Maidenhair (gingko bliloba) are suggested as trees to plant somewhat close to the streets.

Trees growing about 3 feet from the bike path

Most trees in the Panhandle grow several feet away from the pathways. Standards for pathway design dictate a minimum of three feet, and recommended even greater distance. While the department hasn't committed to a specific distance [see update below], they said they would keep new trees planted away from paths. It’s not only a matter of not wanting people to run into the trees, it’s also to keep their hanging branches and their drip lines (the circumference in which the leaves drip fog and mist) away from the path.

UPDATE 12/9/12: 

I received the following note from the department: For the Park Forestry Program Replanting Plan, we are committing to planting trees no closer than 10’ from paved paths (bike and pedestrian) and street edges.

Open spaces allow full sun on the basketball courts

The department has also heard that neighbors who enjoy the Panhandle’s open, sunny areas want to maintain the open meadows. Although some new trees will be planted along the edges of meadows, these plantings will be done to create a succession of smaller to larger trees and so it could be done without shading out meadows. Likewise, I hope that trees aren't planted on the south side of the basketball courts to block the afternoon sun.

Additional planting could shield the staging area 

Also, recent management practices in the Panhandle have increased openness and visibility,  rather than form a shrubby wall or fortress effect with trees and other plants. That general practice will be maintained with next year's planting. However, there is one place where a row of dense trees may be planted, along the tongue of pavement that extends east of the basketball courts. In this area, park staff temporarily stage leaves and branches before removing them by truck to the parkwide compost yard. A row of trees - complimenting three yews that survive from a planting long, long ago - is planned for that location, and that’s one area where it makes sense to create a kind of shield.

Besides these species previously mentioned, additional trees on the draft species list are Monterey Cypress, Giant Sequoia, Chilean Wine Palm, Copper Beech, Queensland Kauri, Lily of the Valley tree, two species of Magnolia, Monkey’s Hand Tree, Red Horse Chestnut, Norfolk Pine, Dawn Redwood, and Tulip Tree.