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Glen Park: Home to the Red-back Jumping Spider

April 28, 2011 by Elizabeth Weise

By Murray Schneider, Glen Park News

High above Alms Road on April 27th, with the Miraloma Improvement Club behind him, Dylan Hayes, Recreation and Parks gardener, demonstrated to six Friends of Glen Canyon Park volunteers the art of pulling invasive Italian thistle, wild radish and poison hemlock that threaten native Douglas iris and aromatic yarrow.

Red-backed Jumping Spider

Hayes’s tutorial took place in Fox Meadow, a sequestered part of Glen Canyon Park that recreational walkers rarely see. Strewn with bushy coastal brush, hydra-coiled Cape ivy, and thorny blackberry, Fox meadow, home to wild coyotes, is one of the few pristine natural areas in San Francisco, according to Hayes.

“This habitat marks the beginning of time,” Hayes pointed out to a volunteer. “It is priceless and deserves generational understanding and respect.”

Hayes leaned down, observing a spider that crawled along his yellow pop-up bag.

“It’s a Red-back Jumping Spider, the largest jumping spider in North America,” Hayes said.

The largest jumping spider in North America!

In Glen Canyon?

As Hayes pointed to the swath of red skin on the arachnid’s dorsal side, the spider vaulted from his fingers and burrowed beneath a stand of poison oak, a sanctuary from pursuing hands.

“What do they eat?” quizzed the volunteer, incredulity writ large on his face.

“Anything smaller than it is,” said Hayes, a City gardener for 14 years, six with the Natural Areas Program. “They’re predators!”

The volunteer’s eyes widened.

Taking the bait, Hayes opined, “They’re ferocious.”

Replacing the high stepping spider wasn’t difficult for Hayes, his head shaded with a wide-brimmed gardener’s hat and his hands protected by a tight-fitting blue rubber gloves. He next nabbed a Box Elder beetle camouflaged among coyote brush. The insect crawled along his extended finger, a more benign resident of one of the most naturally wild places within San Francisco’s 49 square miles.

A red tailed hawk sailed above, eyeing a gopher Hayes had earlier pointed out.

Hayes’ colleague, gardener Randy Zebell, said, “It’s amazing that 800,000 people live in a place and share it with such nature.”

Under Hayes and Zebell’s supervision, the volunteers collected their tools: mattocks and rakes. They stuffed the extricated hemlock, radish and thistle into three separate pop-up bags and then headed down the slope that would eventually wend its way past Silver Tree Day Camp. Below them the songs of sparrows combined with the laughter of Glenridge Nursery school children.

Hayes led the way, then momentarily stopped. He turned around, looking puzzled.

“You know,” he said, “There should be a place such as this where a person can get lost.”

Try Fox Meadow.

But watch out for the jumping spider of San Francisco County.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

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IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES

Upper Noe Neighbors Community Meeting Wednesday, May 21, 7 p.m.
Upper Noe Recreation Center auditorium
295 Day Street
Agenda


San Francisco Department of Public Works logoDPW Love Our City
District 8 Cleanup Day
Saturday, June 7, 9 a.m. to afternoon
Learn more and sign up here


 

Logo Center for Creative Exploration

The Center for Creative Exploration
Explore all the Colors of the Rainbow
one-day workshop
Saturday, June 7, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
300 Chenery Street
Learn more and link to registration here


Weeding Party
June 21, 10 a.m. to noon
100 block of Arlington at Charles
Join neighbors on the North end of the Cut to keep down the weeds and beautify top to bottom. Tools, lunch and good company provided.



Stop the bleed logoStop the Bleed Workshop
Thursday, June 26, 6-9 p.m.
St. Aidan’s Church
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Monthly cleanup on the Greenway
First Saturday of the Month (usually)
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Friends of Glen Canyon’s
Glen Canyon Habitat Restoration
Every third Saturday 9:30 a.m to noon
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Join the Glen Park Association and help promote our community’s interests. Together, we can secure improvement funds, publicize neighborhood concerns and strive to speak as one voice on neighborhood and city issues.

Membership in the Glen Park Association is only $10 annually and can be purchased online.

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Glen Park Association is in Glen Park.
1 hour ago
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Tuesday was a star-studded day at Glen Park BART when Seth Rogen and Olivia Wilde spent much of the afternoon filming a new romantic comedy titled “The Invite” in the station.

For more on this story..Check out the article by Elizabeth Weise on the Glen Park News Blog:
“Seth Rogen & Olivia Wilde filming at Glen Park BART”

Visit Link in Bio or our website: www.glenparkassociation.org
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Tuesday was a star-studded day at Glen Park BART when Seth Rogen and Olivia Wilde spent much of the afternoon filming a new romantic comedy titled “The Invite” in the station.

For more on this story..Check out the article by Elizabeth Weise on the Glen Park News Blog: 
“Seth Rogen & Olivia Wilde filming at Glen Park BART”

Visit Link in Bio or our website: www.glenparkassociation.org
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Glen Park Association is at San Francisco Public Library Glen Park Branch.
3 days ago
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Photos and Fun courtesy of the Glen Park Library!
It was a great turnout at the Glen Park Library Open House on Saturday May 17th!

Thank you to all who attended and a big thank you to Glen Park Branch Library Manager Darren Heiber and his staff for a fantastic day!! 🙌🏽

San Francisco Public Library Arion Press | Artist Books Museum of Craft and Design Rafael Mandelman 🏳️‍🌈 #glenparklibrary #arionpress #museumofcraftanddesign #glenparksf #sanfrancisco #InCommunity
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Photos and Fun courtesy of the Glen Park Library! 
It was a great turnout at the Glen Park Library Open House on Saturday May 17th!

Thank you to all who attended and a big thank you to Glen Park Branch Library Manager Darren Heiber and his staff for a fantastic day!! 🙌🏽

@sfpubliclibrary @arionpress @museumofcraftanddesign @rafaelmandelmand8 #glenparklibrary #arionpress #museumofcraftanddesign #glenparksf #sanfrancisco #incommunity
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Blog Roll

Coyote Yipps
Friends of Upper Noe Recreation Center
Glen Park Neighborhoods History Project
Open SF History
Sunnyside Conservatory
Sunnyside History
Sunnyside Neighborhood Association
Tramps of San Francisco
Upper Noe Neighbors

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