Mount Sutro

Coordinates: 37°45′30″N 122°27′26″W / 37.7582636°N 122.4571935°W / 37.7582636; -122.4571935
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Mount Sutro
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Climbing
Easiest routeHike, Paved Road

Mount Sutro is a hill in central San Francisco, California. It was originally named Mount Parnassus.

Geography

The low mountain is 909 feet (277 m) in elevation. Mount Sutro is one of the

many named hills
within San Francisco, and among its original "Seven Hills".

Most of Mount Sutro is owned by the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). A 61-acre (25 ha) parcel, including the summit, is protected as the Mount Sutro Open Space Reserve by UCSF, and open to the public.[3]

Twin Peaks.[4]

Sutro Forest

Eucalyptus trees cover much of Mount Sutro, as seen on its summit.

Mount Sutro has been covered by a dense forest, with about 80% being introduced

bird watching.[6]

The 19-acre (7.7 ha) city-owned portion of Mount Sutro and the eucalyptus forest, called the Interior Green Belt, is contiguous with the UCSF-owned 61 acres (25 ha) Mount Sutro Open Space Reserve portion. The forest is bounded on the north by the UCSF Medical Center and the UCSF Stem-cell Research Building; on the west by the Sunset District; on the south by the Forest Knolls neighborhood, built in the late 1950s on cleared forest land; and on the east by the Cole Valley neighborhood.

Recreation

Rotary Meadow, a garden of

Twin Peaks
and Tank Hill do.

The hill and forest are accessible by hiking trails, many of which are suitable for mountain bikes. Sutro Stewards.org: Map of Mount Sutro [8][9] Another access to the summit is from 7th Avenue on the west side of the mountain, climbing the 355-step public stairway from Warren Drive to Crestmont Drive (named Oakhurst Way on many maps), then turning left/north and entering the forest where Crestmont makes a sharp right/east turn.

Restoration and preservation

In 2009, UCSF applied for a grant from FEMA to remove a majority of the eucalyptus trees on 23% of its land, for campus and residential neighborhood fire safety. It was supported by native

habitat restoration advocates, for the return and expansion of indigenous habitats that support native flora and fauna within the city.[10]

Some local residents opposed the plan, so in February 2010, UCSF announced it was withdrawing its application to the

Environmental Impact Review (EIR) under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) before proceeding with plans to restore the original ecology of Mount Sutro.[3] After over four years, the first step, a preliminary Draft EIR for public review and comments, has yet to be completed by UCSF.[11]

History

19th century

Much of 19th century Mount Sutro was within the

Rancho San Miguel of Alta California, a Mexican land grant
given to Jose de Jesus Noe in 1846.

The ranch property was acquired by

coastal sage and chaparral
clad slopes and hollows and in sand dunes on his properties.

Sutro originally planned to develop residential neighborhoods on the hill, then named "Mount Parnassus," and on another to the east he named "Mount Olympus." The hill was later renamed Mount Sutro, in honor of Sutro who also was the 24th mayor of San Francisco, from 1894 to 1896.[3]

In July 1895, Sutro donated a 13-acre (5.3 ha) site on the "Parnassus bench" overlooking Golden Gate Park, to serve as a campus site for the Affiliated Colleges of the University of California, the present day University of California, San Francisco Parnassus Campus.[3] Adolph Sutro died land rich but cash poor in 1898, resulting in the settlement of his estate being long and arduous. Some plans of the Sutro Development Company were completed, including a street railway on Parnassus Boulevard that operated to serve those developments, while many others were stopped by litigation.

20th century

With the settlement of Sutro's estate, after almost twenty years of litigation, much of the developable, eucalyptus-covered land began to be cleared around 1930, and continued through the 1960s. The city expanded westward, and the land was developed for commercial and residential needs.

Though planned as a recreational forest, some areas were logged by Sutro's heirs.[5] In 1934, after a fire, this effort was discontinued. The forest was logged again during World War II, for use as a domestic fuel due to war rationing.

Mount Sutro itself, and most of its remaining forest, was within the 90 acres (36 ha) parcel purchased by the University of California in 1952.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Mount Sutro, California". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2009-02-26.
  2. ^ "Mount Sutro". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
  3. ^ a b c d e UCSF.edu: Mount Sutro Open Space Reserve
  4. ^ "Sutro Tower at Mount Sutro". Mount Sutro, an Electronic Periodical. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
  5. ^ a b Sutro Forest.org: Homepage
  6. ^ "A Forest Full of Birds". Save Mount Sutro Forest. 2010-03-29.
  7. ^ Sutro Stewards.org: Homepage
  8. ^ "Hiking in Mount Sutro Forest - Pointers and Map". SutroForest.com. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
  9. ^ "Trail Map of UCSF Mount Sutro Open Space Reserve" (PDF). Mount Sutro Stewards and the University of California, San Francisco. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
  10. ^ Begin, Brent (August 9, 2009). "Residents fight to keep Sutro Forest trees". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved 2010-01-23.[permanent dead link‍]
  11. ^ Sutro Stewards.org: "The State of Sutro Forest, June 2014" Archived 2014-08-19 at the Wayback Machine . accessed 8.14.2014
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