Californian red-legged frog (Rana aurora draytonii) - at one time this frog was so abundant that it was served in restaurants of San Francisco, but habitat loss and invasive species now threaten this frog with extinction. Image by Mark R. Jennings for FWS.

Just west of here lies Lake Merced, one of the last remaining natural lakes in San Francisco.  The lake is fed by an underground spring which runs through the campus, and it was once surrounded by a large freshwater marsh teeming with wildlife.  Outside the marsh, the drier areas were covered with low-growing shrubs and perennial bunch grasses that could withstand the wind, salt spray, and summer drought.   The first human inhabitants of this area were Ramaytush Ohlone Indians, who built their houses and boats out of tule reeds, wove baskets out of willow, and caught Sacramento perch and blackfish out of the lake.  Spanish explorers later named the lake La Laguna de Nuestra Señora de la Merced, or The Lake of Our Lady of Mercy.  Lake Merced served as San Francisco’s main reservoir until the 1930’s, when a dam was constructed that filled Hetch Hetchy Valley in the Sierra Nevada.

Salt marsh harvest mouse (Reithrodonomys raviventris) - this small mouse once nibbled seeds and insects throughout the saltwater marshes of the San Francisco Bay, but is now endangered due to habitat loss. Image by Paul Kelly for EPA.

Over time, the marshes were drained and many trees have been planted as windbreaks, including blue gum eucalyptus from Australia, Monterey cypress and Monterey pine, both endemic to areas south of here along the coastline.  This has created a sheltered habitat for humans, but at the loss of an entire ecosystem on which many native species plants and animals depended.

References

Biogeography of Lake Merced by Dr. Barbara Holzman

Dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis) - these small birds can be seen foraging for small seeds most of the year, supplementing their diet with protein-rich insects during the breeding season. Photo by Lee Karney for FWS.

(Text and photos in this article to be printed on a sign for the area in front of the gym).

Although humans may appreciate an expanse of lush green grass, maintaining a lawn requires a great deal of water, fertilizer, pesticides, and labor.  From the perspective of wildlife, a monotonous landscape of a few continuously pruned plant species represents a habitat that’s scarcely better than concrete and asphalt.  Habitat heterogeneity is important as shrubs and trees provide cover for birds, and a diversity of plants provide food throughout the growing season.

Fuchsia-flowered gooseberry (Ribes speciosum) - these pendent, tubular flowers are a favorite of hummingbirds. Photo by Jacqueline Sarratt.

Locally native plants that have been added to this area include Arroyo willow (Salix lasiolepis), whose foliage is eaten by insects, which in turn are gleaned by birds.  Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) provides nectar for butterflies, and Douglas iris (Iris douglasiana) is pollinated by bees.

American robin (Turdus migratorius) - this common bird eats berries as well as invertebrates such as worms and insects, which they hunt by sight rather than by smell. Photo by Lee Karney for FWS.

Australopithecus africanus - a lawn enthusiast?

Although the modern lawn is anything but natural, the word originates from the Middle English “launde”, which refers to a glade or natural opening in the woods. Our attraction to lawns is thought to have deep psychological roots – bipedalism is thought to have evolved when hominids left the shelter of trees to explore the open grasslands of Africa, roughly 3 million years ago. A clear view of the landscape allowed one to see predators, and lush green growth is a sign of abundant moisture; it’s possible that these qualities of a good habitat partially account for the calming influence an expanse of lawn can have on us today.

Steam lawn mower, 1903

Some of the earliest man made lawns were the areas surrounding the castles of Medieval Europe, which were kept short by grazing sheep so that guards could see approaching enemies. In town, the “commons” consisted of a shared grazing area – a predecessor of the modern city park. Ungrazed, residential lawns didn’t appear until 17th century England and were kept as a display of status, as only the wealthy could afford to have the grass painstakingly cut by hand using a scythe. The first lawnmower was invented in 1830, but it wasn’t until the 1950’s that cheap fossil fuel allowed the rapid growth of suburbs in the U.S., and residential lawns became ubiquitous.

Lawn Boy ad, 1957

Today, lawns cover approximately 45 million acres of America, and are maintained with an estimated 70 million tons of fertilizers and 70 million pounds of pesticides per year, most of which are petroleum-based. Homeowners account for an enormous portion of this consumption, using an estimated 10 times the amount of pesticides per area than used on cropland and even golf courses! The overuse of these chemicals creates runoff that drains into groundwater and waterways, poisoning aquatic organisms and disrupting the ecological balance with excess nutrients.

At San Francisco State, our irrigation water consists of melted snow collected in dammed reservoirs in the Sierra Nevada and transported over 150 miles across the state.

Whereas the mild winters and humid climate of Europe favored naturally lush meadows, in the U.S. recreating this requires a huge amount of water, fossil fuels, and time. The average American lawn uses between 15-20 gallons of water per day, but in some areas of the western U.S., lawns can use up to 60% of the total municipal water supply. The maintenance of lawns in America uses an estimated 580 million gallons of gasoline per year, the clippings of which are often sent to landfills amounting to 21% of the solid waste.

References

“Curbing the Lawn” by Jan Weaver

“How Green is Your Lawn” by Fred Koontz

“Lawn Madness—The Tyranny of Greenery” by James Fish

San Francisco Public Utilities Commission

“Sunset on the Savanna” by James Shreeve

“The Lowdown on Lawn History”

“Turf Wars – The Battle Over the American Lawn” by Evan Ratliff

For millions of years, the land this campus is built on was covered in small, tough shrubs and grasses which evolved in concert with a wide range of wildlife.  In low-lying areas protected from the wind, enough moisture would accumulate to support what some consider to be our only truly locally native tree: the willow (Salix lasiolepis).

The first humans to settle here used willow to construct their homes, baskets, ropes, animal traps, and even for medicine.  They would chew the bark to relieve pain and fever, extracting the chemical salicylic acid, which is now used to make aspirin.  In our urban environment, willows provide much needed food and shelter for wildlife, as the leaves are a favorite food of various insects, which in turn are eaten by many birds.

The SFSU campus has begun reducing the amount of high-maintenance, irrigated lawns, and replacing them with plants and landscaping practices that increase the habitat value of our shared environment.  In the photo above, (1)Erasmo Flores (left) and Baudelio Enriquez are carving out a border around the newly designated wildlife area in front of the gymnasium.  (2)Seven willows were planted, donated by Dr. Ed Connor and Raynelle Rino of the biology department; these will gradually fill in and shade out the grass.  (3)This is a non-native New Zealand Christmas Tree (Metrosideros excelsa), which typically grows along the coast under harsh, windy conditions.  From the branches grow clusters of unusual red roots that will eventually fuse together and help to stabilize the tree.  Typically the grounds department prunes these roots off, but this specimen is now being allowed to grow naturally to provide teaching material for the biology department as requested.

Below are photos of wildlife on willows at nearby Lake Merced: aphids, sawfly galls, and an Allen’s hummingbird.

Read more at “Student pushes himself for art” by SFSU [X]press writer Melissa Dudum-Maya.  Across the road looking down towards the track:

Last spring in the Garden of Remembrance this appeared (artist unknown):

If you know the titles and artist names please email me :) Thanks!

Download this Word document for a summary of the design and the full list of plants that we’ll be ordering soon: Botanical Garden Plant List

1.    Channel Islands
2.    Dune/Coastal Strand
3.    Coastal Prarie/Grassland
4.    Coastal Sage Scrub
5.    Mixed Evergreen Forest
6.    Closed-cone Pine Forest
7.    Riparian
8.    Maritime Chaparral (on NE side of greenhouse)

I know there’s no scale because I had to eyeball it (I haven’t measured the area yet) but to give you an idea, the road and bike path are both ~10 feet wide…

Suggested design for bike path/botanical garden plant community map. Draft August 19 2009 JS

Bike Path Design_Plant Communities_Draft Aug 19

Feedback wanted!  This is really a big project and some planting will begin in the next few months, so I want to get more people involved in the review process now.

On Thursday Aug 27th I’ve invited landscape consultant Stew Winchester to come and talk about the design at the site, as well as possibly the Font Blvd. median strip, ~10:15-12.  Anyone interested is more than welcome to attend; email jacquelinesarratt-at-yahoo to RSVP.

Thanks!

Jacqueline

I’m excited to announce plans to landscape this area to represent the 5 Mediterranean zones: Chile, South Africa, Australia, the Mediterranean Basin, and especially emphasizing the plant communities of California.  In addition to this low-water design, the bike path has been constructed to channel stormwater runoff through a small “bioswale”, to be planted this fall with natives such as rushes, willow, seep monkey-flower, and pink-flowering current.

Grounds has been working with several members of the biology department to develop this new “botanical garden”, but we need more feedback.  This new pedestrian-friendly entrance onto campus is conveniently near Hensill Hall, and is an ideal location to design a demonstration landscape.  Please let me know what you’d like to see on campus that would help support your research, teaching, overall campus experience, or any other suggestions you have to increase the functionality of this area.

Click here for the latest version of the discussion around this plan, and tell us what you think: Botanical Garden Plan_August 13 (plans are of course subject to change and don’t necessarily represent the grounds department…)

Thanks!

Jacqueline