Report from Jan 14 workday

Thanks to all the community members who showed up for the first community workday of the year in the Panhandle Park. 

Our efforts focused around some of our planted areas near Ashbury, as well as the open grassy area next to the basketball courts. After the wet and windy storms, a mountain of leaves and bark was shed by the eucalyptus trees in the area and needed to be raked and removed. We also planted several new plants provided courtesy of the Rec and Park department.

Winter aspect of the red-stemmed dogwood

One small tree was toppled recently (near Lyon @ Oak)

McKinley Monument greets 2017

(cancelled) Next Workday: December 10

update 12/8: 

We've cancelled the workday due to the overwhelming rain forecast for Saturday morning.

Our next workday at the Panhandle Park is coming up:

Panhandle Park Community Workday
Meet near Oak @ Ashbury (next to the playground and restrooms)
Saturday, Dec 10 
9 am - 12 noon
All are welcome. Tools and gloves are provided. Wear sturdy shoes and dress in layers. 

First rains of the season

The third rainfall in three days is soaking the park this morning. Before the rain started, I was out for a walk in the park and found that the storm had brought down a couple of big tree branches.

Next to the playground - thankfully doesn't seem to have done any damage

An even larger branch, also from a Monterey Cypress, near Shrader @ Oak

Meanwhile, I checked out the redwoods behind the McKinley Monument, which were pruned back earlier this month.

Seen from this angle, the pruning of the tall trees close to the monument looks pretty severe

The shorter redwoods located further back were also pruned but not as severely

Workday report for March 2016

Saturday morning was the only time during the weekend that it didn't rain, so the Panhandle Community workday on March 12 was the perfect time to spend a couple of hours outside with friends experiencing early springtime.

Thank you, regular volunteers, for braving the weather to show up for some raking, weeding, and planting.

Guillermo took care of blowing the pathways after the storm to provide a safe place to walk and ride.

The yellow blooms on Coast Live Oak

Spring blooms: Fairchild's kohuhu

Magnolias in bloom

White flowering horse chestnut

Upcoming volunteer workday on Saturday, March 12

The next Panhandle Community workday is this Saturday: 

Panhandle Workday

Saturday, March 12

9 am - 12 noon

Meet at the bulletin board (near Oak @ Ashbury) 

Tools & gloves provided 

The event is "rain or shine." Heavy rain is forecast for Thursday into Friday, and then there's hope for clearing until late Saturday. We'll be out there with Rec and Park, unless conditions are not safe. 

We'll likely have some real clean-up to do, as a number of large branches have come down throughout the park (though no trees, to my knowledge). 

Park workers busy during break in the storm

Thank you Guillermo for clearing our pathways this morning during the break in the storm!

Yesterday's Pineapple Express storm brought San Francisco a couple inches of rain and a lot of wind, bringing down a mess of branches out of the mature trees in the Panhandle. Getting the branches off the paths helps everyone navigate more safely, a nice benefit given today's mild weather.

The winds also split an old elm tree located near Central Ave on the Oak Street side. The limbs have already been cut and removed, but removing the trunk will probably require another crew.

Split in the tree, tagged #259

Another view of the split tree

Park entrances at Oak & Ashbury: one rebuilt and one still in progress

Rainstorms fell a Monterey Pine near Central

A tree toppled a few days ago - this morning it still remained just off the bike path on the north side, at the intersection with Central Ave. Monterey Pine are increasingly scarce in the park. The larger pine tree (shown in the picture) is still standing directly across the path, but shows some signs of stress, such as losing needles and producing large number of cones.

Saturday Workday called off. Enjoy the rain!

With a forecast for 100% chance of rain covering most of Saturday, our monthly community workday is called off. The prediction for San Francisco is 1-2 inches tomorrow.

We worked through one rainy morning last September, so it's not like we've got anything more to prove...

January workday pictures

Rain was in the forecast yesterday, and so many of us showed up for the community workday in our rubber boots. The rain held off until the afternoon, but the boots were perfect for working in the damp and muddy Panhandle park. A big group of volunteers set to work with the park's gardener, Guillermo. 

Our main task yesterday involved raking up leaves in the area Lyon and Central next to the south path. Many of these were big elm trees, and we also worked through the grove of pittosporum.

Leaving a pile of leaves around the base of the tree creates a nice blanket to protect roots and also suppresses weeds. The leaves of most trees (eucalyptus excepted) will decompose pretty quickly. Each year we've been able to assist the other park workers in bringing this improvement to more parts of the park.   

Another group of volunteers trimmed back burl growth from the redwoods at Baker Street. 

Meanwhile, graffiti was removed from the McKinley Memorial by city workers on Friday. 

SF PUC to install rain garden near Panhandle

It will be wet - very wet - in San Francisco, starting sometime next week if the forecasts are right. Some of the rainfall will soaking into the dry earth, but a great amount of it will pour from our roofs and streets, surge into rain gutters, and rush towards our water treatment facilities.

San Francisco's Sewer System Improvement Program aims to build new infrastructure that can infiltrate more water down into the ground, thus shaving off the peak flow. SSIP has plans for the streets east of the Panhandle. On Saturday morning, Raphael Garcia of the SF PUC led about 40 residents, as well as other employees from PUC and SF MTA, on a walking tour of Oak and Fell Streets, starting at the east end of the Panhandle and extending three blocks to Scott Street. At Baker and Oak, just in front of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, a rain garden will be installed in the curbside lane on Oak starting at the northwest corner of the intersection and extending about 16 feet long. The plants in the rain garden will be maintained by the PUC and will be planted with colorful California native plants, chosen for medium stature (not above hip level) and for habitat for creatures like the tiger swallowtail and black phoebe. 

Rather than installing rain gardens directly adjacent to the Panhandle Park, the south side of Oak Street was chosen as a site to optimize the effects and capture a greater flow of water. Other factors taken into consideration were the potential for shading, leaf debris, and impact on tree roots if the city were to implement rain gardens directly next to Panhandle Park. The material that goes beneath the new PUC rain gardens will not just be regular dirt; it'll be "engineered media" that can handle the "urban slobber" coming in with the water flowing from the city streets while supporting the mycorrhizal fungi that begins to filter and clean the water as it percolates down to our ground water, far below the surface.  

Since there are expectations for extensive engineering changes to improve traffic safety at the intersection of Baker and Oak, SF MTA staff on the tour explained that bulbouts will be constructed on the park side of this intersection. 

Construction of the rain gardens is expected to start in early summer 2014.  

Raphael Garcia of PUC speaks at the location of another planned rain garden

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. 

Capital project: Construction phase is fast out of the gates

It took a while to get started, but the capital project to refurbish the central area of the Panhandle near the restrooms started construction November 26 and is moving quickly. Peek around the fence, and you'll see that turf islands have been regraded and a cement seatwall has been built. At this rate, we are on track to be ready for community planting in the rain garden at the community workday on Saturday, January 12. We even have a banner with the important details.

Today digging was underway to begin repairing the Ashbury cross-over paths that have been drainage disasters. 

The hard storm on Dec 2 knocked over part of the fence just days after it was set up, but park staff had it set back in place that afternoon with the help of some cyclists riding by. More recently, cones were placed in the fence supports along the bike path, which should make them more visible and reduce the potential hazard of riding or tripping over them.

Starting this week, the restrooms are not available because the fence perimeter has been expanded as the work continues on repairing the paths in the vicinity. Sorry for the inconvenience.

December workday wrap up

For our final community workday of the year n December 8, 22 volunteers came to be part of working in cooperation with the Rec and Park gardening staff to take care of the Panhandle. With the serious storm the previous weekend, a lot of extra hands were needed to begin removing fallen branches. Although the grassy lawns look pretty clear from the vantage point of the walking path, as soon as we got out in the fields to begin the work, we found out what a major task it would be. By the end of our workday, a dozen piles were stationed near the path for pickup by park staff. Volunteers also got active in moving compost fines around the redwood trees near Oak/Baker, but they didn't get quite through the job this time. 

A couple of the volunteers were also busy with looking for and identifying mushrooms, which began appearing quickly since the rainy season began.

To show his appreciation of the Panhandle Park Stewards volunteers, Guillermo brought out his mobile skillet and made fajitas for everyone on organic blue corn tortillas from 24th St. A heavenly end to an excellent workday!

Fall Panhandle work days - starting this Saturday!

Young male and mature female catkins on an Italian Alder

November is a great time to visit the Panhandle, with trees finishing their growth season and leaves beginning to fall.  Our next community work day is coming up this Saturday, November 12, starting at 9 a.m. We'll be continuing our work which involves mulching, weeding, pruning, and sometimes, planting.

We got a third of an inch of rain over the weekend, and more is called for tomorrow, so there's some boggy spots. Definitely wear some shoes that you won't mind getting muddy. Tools are provided.  Expect to be joined by families of the kindergarten class of the San Francisco Day School.

Park reflections

The Panhandle isn't supposed to have a reflecting pool, but today between rain showers, the puddles at Panhandle central offered a way to view the tall trees looking down instead of up. A long standing maintenance problem, the poor drainage in the vicinity of the playground would finally be addressed if our proposal is selected for implementation. Stay tuned for news soon -- and tune in to the Dec 2 meeting of the Rec and Park Commission.

Sunday morning rain

This morning's heavy rain created some huge puddles in the Panhandle this morning, like this one connecting Lyon Street.

Tree vs. Tree near Oak/Lyon

Rec & Park cleans up the aftermath

Passing through the Panhandle Tuesday morning, I found a Rec and Park crew removing a fallen tree near Lyon and Oak. A large branch from a eucalyptus tree was on the ground, and I also saw the stump of a different tree - what looked like an elm.

Where the branch dropped from

The crew confirmed that a branch from a eucalyptus had fallen and crushed an old elm tree.

paper for scale - not a young tree

The crew said they had noticed the fallen tree Monday afternoon at about 1:30 p.m., which was another rainy day (0.06 of an inch). The falling branch had also damaged the small, young elm nearby, but it survived. Fortunately there are three other, mature elms in that vicinity of the Panhandle.

Seen from a distance, the eucalyptus that dropped a limb is HUGE. Many of the large trees in the Panhandle are over a hundred years old.