Natural Areas Program Draws Fire from Critics

By Ryder W. Miller

In response to the broadening efforts to restore the natural areas of San Francisco to their original native habitat, the San Francisco Natural Areas Program came under attack at the March 13 Sunset District Neighborhood Coalition's meeting at the Taraval Police Station.

After SF Recreation and Park Department gardener Christopher Campbell gave a presentation about the Natural Areas Program (NAP), critic Keith MacAllister, a member of Citizens' Concerned with the NAP, drew applause from most of the 20 people present at the meeting after he voiced his group's gripes with current NAP plans.

Some of the gripes that MacAllister voiced included: the lack of a scientific basis for the program, the destruction of non-native vegetation by the Natural Areas Program, restrictions on public access required by NAP, the scale of the program and the limited opportunities the public has had to participate in planning major changes for public parks before those changes have been implemented.

According to MacAllister, some other critics of the NAP program include: Dr. Joan Roughgarden, professor of ecology at Stanford University, who said the plan is "not viable ecologically, economically, or culturally;" Dr. Arthur Shapiro, professor of ecology at UC Davis, who said, "The hatred of "exotic" trees, some of which are California natives anyway, is not only ideological but sometimes verges on the pathological and has strong overtones of xenophobia and racism;" Dr. Edward Connor, professor of ecology at SF State University, who said of the SF Board of Supervisors: "I have read this plan and it is without scientific basis, it does not articulate clear, achievable, nor appropriate conservation goals for a set of small urban parks, it is void of any examination of the cost, feasibility or utility of the management actions recommended ...."

Other experts, like Jake Sigg, conservation chair of the local Yuerba Buena chapter of the California Native Plant Society, have argued in favor of the need for the restoration of native habitats.

Only small portions of the city's original habitat remain. Due to the public's concern, the board of supervisors has established a Citizen's Advisory Committee for the Natural Areas Program, which was given the responsibility of developing a new management plan. In the meantime, the board of supervisors has requested that the SF Recreation and Park Department not remove healthy trees, restrict public access or harm animals while the new management plan is developed.

In the minds of some, what is at stake is the natural make-up of the city's local parks. Some argue the need to preserve and enhance native habitats and others argue that they fear San Francisco parks are being turned, once again, into barren sand dunes.

Lisa Wayne, director of the Natural Areas Program, who was at the meeting, said that not all of San Francisco was originally sand dunes, but there were a variety of habitats. She complained that the Natural Areas Program (1997) has had to follow the dictates of the SF Recreation and Park Department's Significant Natural Resource Areas Management Plan (1991).

Wayne has also relayed that ecological restoration is a global trend in resource management which aims to remove non-native vegetation and restore habitats with indigenous species.

"We are being blamed for things that are not our responsibility," said Wayne, who relayed that the NAP cannot buy land and that they have not been responsible for the girdling (killing) of trees in some park areas.

"Restore, enhance and maintain biodiversity in San Francisco's remnant natural areas," Campbell explained. He pointed out that the SF Recreation and Park Department manages three natural lakes (Mountain, Pine and Merced), restores rivers, oak groves, meadows, remnant sand dunes, wildlife, non-native Eucalyptus stands, human-created parks, etc.

"Preserve what is left of the original habitat and protect it from further deprivation ... enhance these little remnants that are degraded," Wayne said.

Wayne said at the meeting that the NAP seeks to represent the concerns of the citizens of the city, which includes the preservation of non-indigenous trees in some places.

The NAP is mandated by the City to oversee restored areas. Part of the goals of the NAP has been to control the spreading of non-native vegetation, including French Broom and Cape Ivy. NAP also facilitates natural history programs for school groups.

Dylan Hayes who formed Friends of Sigmund Stern Grove, said that during the school programs science and students come alive.

Some teachers at the meeting came to the defense of NAP, like Rebbecca Pollack, a teacher at Aptos Middle School, who said, "Its awesome. We go out there and they connect. They do a wonderful job with the kids."

Some of are areas where the NAP is active include Glen Canyon Park, the Oak Woodland in Golden Gate Park, Lake Merced, Mountain Lake Park, Tank Hill and Sigmund Stern Grove.