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Monterey pine cleared in the canyon

October 5, 2012 by Elizabeth Weise

By Murray Schneider

A portion of a Monterey Pine that toppled and fell onto Alms Road at the entrance to Glen Canyon on October 1, obstructing pedestrian traffic and disrupting electrical power to the Recreation Center, has been cleared and no longer poses a threat to canyon users.

PG&E worked to restore a downed electrical line and, as volunteers from Friends of Glen Canyon Park gathered for their scheduled work party on October 3, the only vestiges of the fallen tree, which had broken naturally with a thunderous clap that could be heard as far away as Sussex and Elk Streets, were Recreation and Parks chain-sawed logs and a matrix of pine needles lying benignly on the slope adjacent to the service road.

“No one saw segments of the tree fall,” said Elton Pon, Rec and Parks spokesperson. “It just sounded like two large ‘explosions’ according to a neighbor.” Pon went on to say the top of one Monterey Pine appeared to have broken off and hit another tree.

The blighted Monterey Pine, which had been posted for removal, had towered over Alms Road and along with an offending eucalyptus tree limb that had broken from its trunk on September 12 across from Glenridge nursery school serve notice that some trees that have graced Glen Canyon are not there for an eternity, but have life spans often of no more than 100 or 125 years.

Parents walk their children along Alms Road, dog owners trail behind their pets along the same service road, volunteers work above it pulling mustard and radish, and, until the tennis courts that lead to the children’s playground are pushed up the Elk Street hill, tennis players continue to volley on clay courts adjacent to the road.

So it was fortunate that the Monterey Pine shattered at a time when few if any people were about.

Two weeks before, on September 19, the unsettling moan of another tree, a weakened eucalyptus threatened to fall, prompting Friends of Glen Canyon volunteers to halt their activities only a football field length above Glenridge. The tree’s groan was a dead giveaway that something was amiss, and Recreation and Park Natural Area Program officials who are charged with safeguarding and maintaining canyon habitat took immediate notice.

Friends of Glen Canyon volunteers had stared at the anemic eucalyptus and had no doubt which was the correct course of action.

Collecting their tools, backpacks and their coats, they moved, their own safety trumping the work they performed pulling hillside Cape ivy tendrils.

In the parlance of naturalists and loggers, enfeebled trees, such as the top of the Monterey Pine that fell on October 1 and the branch of the eucalyptus that fell on September 12, are dubbed “widow makers.”

“Our urban forestry crew is constantly working to ensure our trees are safe and healthy,” said Elton Pon. “When a tree hazard is identified and deemed an emergency, our crew attends to the hazard immediately, regardless of the hour or time of day.”

 

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IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES

Arlington Path Beautification
Saturday, July 19, 10 a.m. to noon
Meet at 300 Mateo (x Arlington) for an exciting day of weeding, watering, seed collecting.
Tools, gloves and good company provided.


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Monthly cleanup on the Greenway
First Saturday of the Month (usually)
Click here to learn more


Friends of Glen Canyon’s
Glen Canyon Habitat Restoration
Every third Saturday 9:30 a.m to noon
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Glen Park Association is at Glen Park Greenway.
3 days ago
Glen Park Association

Saturday’s Glen Park Greenway Work Party is Cancelled.

“I’m very sorry to say that
we have cancelled our Work Party for this Saturday July 12, along with all organized volunteer activity on the Greenway until further notice.
As you may have read in the news, our fiscal sponsor, San Francisco Parks Alliance (SFPA), has shut itself down. Just as SFPA has shut itself down, the Greenway, as an organized part of SFPA, has also been “shut down.” We are busy looking for a suitable alternative fiscal sponsor that is willing to replace SFPA. That search is going well but it is a slow process. We had hoped to find temporary ways to enable the Greenway project to function responsibly as a community activity without a fiscal sponsor. Sadly, despite our best efforts and the help of many others in Glen Park, we have failed. That is why we must cancel our Saturday Work Party and discontinue future work parties and other organized volunteer activity on the Greenway (like weeding and watering) until further notice. We recognize that the Greenway is public open space and that the organizers of the Greenway project have no control over the activities of you or of anyone else on the Greenway. However, if you do venture onto the Greenway to satisfy your urge for outdoor recreation, please be aware that your activity is not in any way organized or sanctioned by the organizers of the Glen Park Greenway project. I’m well aware of the efforts that many of the
Greenway’s supporters are making to get the Greenway organized with a new fiscal sponsor and I’m confident that this will be arranged within weeks or perhaps a few months.
However long it takes, I will contact you with news of our progress.
Many thanks for all that you do for the Greenway.”

Nicholas Dewar, volunteer Project Director

#glenparkgreenway #glenparksf #sanfrancisco @rafaelmandelmand8 @danielluriesf @crosstowntrail
#crosstowntrail #sfparksalliance #publicspace #nature
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Wonder what’s stopping just organizing it separate from that non-profit. It seems like the volunteers largely come from Glen Park.

Glen Park Association is at Laidley Street SFO.
6 days ago
Glen Park Association

It was a beautiful day for the annual #july4th celebration on Laidley street!

📷: Photos courtesy of Michael Waldstein

#glenparksf #sanfrancisco #laidley
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It was a beautiful day for the annual #july4th celebration on Laidley street! 

📷: Photos courtesy of Michael Waldstein 

#glenparksf #sanfrancisco #laidley
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