Bicycles: Ecological History Tours in San Francisco

Ever wonder why there are walruses peering out of a San Francisco building? If not, why not? If so, maybe you can satisfy your curiosity on a CounterPULSE Ecological History bike tour.

I first went on one of these tours in 2005 with ride leader Chris Carlsson (of CounterPULSE and Shaping San Francisco), Peter Brastow (of Nature in the City), and a good group of bikers. Our tour started South of Market, an area shaped by the mighty Hayes River (which you probably haven't seen, since it's underground). We poked around there for a while, then went to look at the walruses.

Later we spent a little time at Telegraph Hill. (If you don't like climbing, take heart, we were at the foot of Telegraph Hill!) Some recent ecological history there involved some wild parrots that you may have read about or heard of.

Less recent ecological history involved the hill being quarried out from underneath where people were living. We applauded Telegraph Hill citizens who stood firm to protect their habitat.

The photo on the left shows a quarried part of Telegraph Hill, its erosion slowed down by a number of invasive, nonnative plants. Not far away, nonnative parrots favor nonnative trees. There's no shortage of considerations to keep in mind when you're dealing with nature in the city!

We biked along the city's north coastline (the pre-climate change coastline, that is), with a typically-beautiful view of the bay on our right. We passed Alcatraz. When we got to Fort Mason, there was a hill to climb, but don't worry, it's a gentle climb. The Night Skate goes up there every week, and even tourists manage it. Plus, it's the only place you can go to get a good look at Black Point.

"What," I hear you cry, "is Black Point?"

We biked past Crissy Field, though we would return to it, but first we wanted to head to the heart of the Presidio, to a place called Tennessee Hollow, because some folks were waiting for us there.

Tennessee Hollow had a creek running through it, but the military had diverted it into a culvert and used the area as a landfill. There was a firing range nearby, so clearing out the landfill meant dealing with lead and other heavy metals. It was cleared out, though, the creek was freed up, and folks are restoring the creekside with native plants, as seen in the photo on the right.

I wonder what it looks like a year later.

We headed back down to Crissy Field, which is kind of the exact opposite of Black Point, having been seriously altered by human hands. Previous alterations have destroyed a lagoon there, so the current effort to build a restored lagoon has taken constant effort -- more human hands, but constructive ones. Waterfowl have appreciated the effort.

Related Links