Oak Woodlands Description
The Oak Woodlands in Golden Gate Park are the remnants of the only “forested” area originally within the 49 square miles of San Francisco. These coastal live oaks grow in sheltered ravine areas and, remarkably, were left intact when Golden Gate Park was created by removing all the native dune plant communities and planting non-native grasses and ornamental plants.
The chief management challenges in this project include coping with the dominant understory weeds — English ivy, cape ivy, blackberry, and ehrharta grass. The other problem that the Oak Woodlands project faces to a greater degree than any other remnant natural area in the City is the ever-present contingent of homeless and their encampments. Here is the management plan.
Through strong volunteer leadership, the Oak Woodlands project has enjoyed one of the most rapidly-increasing rosters of new volunteers. These folks have made huge gains in recovery of the biological diversity of this remarkable area.
Oak Woodlands currently has 86 volunteers who have subscribed to our regular email newsletters and work at this site. They have posted 87 photos and 21 posts to their blog.
Regular Workparty Schedule
- 2nd Saturday of each month from 10:00 to 12:00
Regular Meeting Location
- Conservatory of Flowers -- [Map and Details]
Blog Posts
Here are blog posts about the Oak Woodlands project — presented 2 at a time in reverse chronological order. Browse to earlier or later posts via the pagination controls below.
Hamilton Center Kids Volunteering in Oak Woodlands
07 February 2008 - 06:29, The Pelican said:
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Tammy, Julianne, and David from Youth Service Project brought a group of homeless kids from the Tenderloin Hamilton Center to volunteer in the Oak Woodlands. They loved it. They were most blown away by seeing a police officer on a horse. About 3/4 of them had never seen a horse before.
Comments
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Oaks & Ivy on Chicken Hill_Part 2
04 February 2008 - 15:57, jfred decker said:
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Our look at Cape Ivy infestation among the Oaks of Chicken Hill continues from Part 1…
Cape Ivy uses English Ivy (and everything else) as a “ladder,” growing in bundles allowing the English Ivy to survive—for a while at least. Cape Ivy races to its victim’s top and then crowns it all over, killing its host, even large Oaks.
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Here, just uphill from the killed Oak in Part 1, Cape Ivy is crowning and killing Oak branches while English Ivy mounds around the trunks…
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Midway through a cleanup session, we see Rob clearing the ground around Oak trunks. Oaks are said to really like air at their base (not Ivy) so we clear down to the ground around ‘em.
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Chester overlooking some left-behind Cape Ivy…
Before we cleared the Ivy, we would not have been able to see him because these long, low Oak branches were totally buried in hummocks of Ivy! These branches are the uphill side of the previous three pictures’ Oak.
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Free Ivy! (That’s an offer, not a command…)
Very distressed ivy (heap to left) with work area behind… Natural Areas Gardener Tom Annese says Cape Ivy – unlike English Ivy – can quickly re-root itself after being torn up so this heap is located on top of, yep, a bed of Cape Ivy.
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The Ivy-Killed Oak, again ...
Looking downhill toward the Lily Pond across a sea of Cape Ivy, we espy our next destination, huge masses of Cape Ivy overgrowing large Oaks (distance, right) ...
(To Be Continued in Part Three… )
Comments
2008-02-05 11:08:32 -0800, TereseL said:
This is great – as we all know, a picture paints a thousand words. Having spent a little time working in the Oak Woodlands I know what a wonderful change it is when the Ivy comes down and we are once again able to walk among the Oak trees. This post helps to tell that story to folks who haven’t seen the change happen themselves.
2008-02-06 00:54:49 -0800, jfred decker said:
Thank you, TereseL, I can’t imagine a more succinct expression of why I put assembled this little love-song …