Happy Holidays from the SFPUC

We hope you are having a restful and joyful holiday season!

It doesn't snow very often on the Peninsula. A photographer named George Fanning found himself in a winter wonderland on the Peninsula Watershed on January 30, 1922.

Here a couple of his photos to enhance the holiday mood.

San Andreas Reservoir

View from Pilarcitos Dam, looking downstream toward the keepers cottage.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful Holiday Season!

Bring on the Rain--Completed Watershed Erosion Control Project Will Safeguard Pipeline AND Native Plant Life

Crews have finished a key project to control heavy volumes of eroding soil and rock that threatened to damage a major drinking water pipeline along the Crystal Springs Reservoir shoreline below parts of the Sawyer Camp Trail. 

The specially fabricated "holey concrete" blocks, installed by hand into the hill, will allow returning young native plants to sprout through and around the newly stabilized slope. 

 

Holey Concrete! Plant-Friendly Blocks Will Halt Erosion Near Sawyer Camp Trail

Crews have been installing vegetation-friendly concrete blocks into some slopes near Sawyer Camp Trail to stabilize them as part of a late-year erosion control project.  

The area is normally wetland habitat, and the innovative blocks are designed to allow future young plants to sprout through them and flourish after the project is finished. The work is being done to shore up the soil and rocks that were sliding into the nearby Crystal Springs/San Andreas Pipeline along the reservoir shore. 

The pipeline transports Crystal Springs reservoir water north to the San Andreas Reservoir and then the Harry Tracy Water Treatment Plant. Those local reservoir waters are then blended with Hetch Hetchy regional water for distribution to Peninsula and San Francisco customers. 

Thanksgiving on the Watershed: Wild Turkeys—Pardoned by Circumstance

Wild turkeys flourish here and there throughout the Peninsula Watershed. Our watershed keepers are particularly used to a flock of 20 or so that routinely pass by their office, a mile or so in from the staff entrance near I-280. 

The approximately 36-square-mile space provides an ideal diversity of habitat for the opportunistic foragers, which roam a couple of miles a day to feast on grasses or scratch in the woodland leaf litter for insects, seeds, acorns, blackberries and other plant or animal fodder. 

Since the long-protected watershed is also designated as a State Fish and Game Refuge, the turkeys that dwell here are safe from one of THEIR potential predators, the human hunter. 

Happy Thanksgiving to them and  all of you, from all of us.    

Sawyer Camp Trail Closure Continues Through Today, Nov. 19

Monday, Nov. 19.—The Sawyer Camp Trail and other San Mateo County Park trails will continue to be closed through today because of the hazardous air quality. For updates, please check the County Parks Department news advisories at
https://parks.smcgov.org/crystal-springs-regional-trail

Erosion Repair Work Begins Along Crystal Springs/San Andreas Pipeline

Map of Erosion Repair Locations

Repair of erosion damage along the Crystal Springs/San Andreas Pipeline adjacent to Sawyer Camp Trail is underway at two locations. The project has an accelerated time line to facilitate completion prior to fall/winter rains. The Trail will remain open throughout the construction process. If you would like to enlarge the above map please click on the following link https://sfwater.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=13149

The contractor will remove the loose soil from the erosion sites, then compact a stable surface to hand-place interlocking concrete blocks to create a matrix. The blocks also will be connected by cables to hold them in place.

Hikers should be vigilant as construction vehicles will need to use Sawyer Camp Trail to convey workers and supplies to the construction sites. There also may be some weekend work. Construction is expected to be completed in December.

To contact the SFPUC about this project, please call 888-801-2661.

Crews at work on the Crystal Springs/San Andreas Pipeline along the Sawyer Camp Trail in San Mateo County.

Halloween on the Watershed: The Bobcats Will Be Out Tonight

Happy Halloween, when the light of tonight’s nearly half moon should bring out the bobcats.

They’ll be in search of the rodent treats that are so much more abundant at night. However, if it were a moonless night, these mid-size feline predators have such poor night vision (in contrast with most other mammal species), they would stay in and opt for the less productive daytime hunting instead. 

Meanwhile, THIS Halloween night, rodents and other small night-loving prey--beware out there.  

Fifield-Cahill Ridge Trail at Year 15

This year marks the 15^th anniversary of the Peninsula Watershed’s Fifield-Cahill Ridge Trail Program. It offers members of the public their only recreational access to the normally off-limits 23,000-acre green space that harbors four local drinking water reservoirs and the natural waters that flow into them.

The trail itself is an approximately 13-mile stretch through long-protected old-growth conifer forest, fragrant coastal scrub, grassy serpentine ridgetops, and other native habitats. In the years since its 2003 opening, more than 20,000 people have participated in approximately 2,000 watershed excursions led by trained volunteer trail leaders. An additional new trail head provides a shadier, more evenly graded entry, and our trail leader corps is now 315 strong—with some still on board from day 1. 

Access is available by reservation on selected Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, when scheduled Ridge Trail events range from a gentle five-mile stroll to our 13-miler across the entire ridge, and several bike rides.

Most currently scheduled events have room for at least a few more. Check them out at sfwater.org/ridgetrail. Then sign up through our redesigned and security-enhanced registration system—just launched this anniversary year.

Life on the Watershed: Spider Season

Fall is spider season, when many species are at their largest for courting, mating and producing egg sacs. Especially noticeable are the various orb weavers, whose round sticky silk webs for snaring insect prey seem to be everywhere these days. 

The voracious spider appetites help keep insect numbers under control. And since spiders also kill other spiders, including members of the same species, they keep their own numbers in check too. Throughout the year, they also keep contributing to the eco-community as food for neighboring larger invertebrates, birds, and small animals. They're particularly abundant now in meadows and other grassy areas, where up to hundreds of thousands might occupy a single acre. 

Fall on the Watershed: Explore the Ridge Trail

Almost any time is good for hiking or cycling the Peninsula Watershed’s Fifield-Cahill Ridge Trail. 

Old-growth Douglas fir known as "Old Doug"

But our crisp, clear fall days can make for a particularly exhilarating hike or bike ride along part—or all—of the approximately 11-mile stretch through old-growth conifer forest, fragrant coastal scrub, grassy serpentine ridge tops, and other native habitats.

Public access is available by reservation on selected Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, with scheduled Ridge Trail events ranging from easy strolls to fitness hikes or rides. All of them are led by trained trail leader volunteers, and are limited to about 20 participants.  

View of Pilarcitos Reservoir. 

Check out what’s coming up at sfwater.org/ridgetrail.

Life on the Watershed: Young Western Pond Turtles on the Move

Fall is the time of year when tiny Western pond turtle hatchlings are making their way from warm sandy nests--where they've incubated and hatched on their own--to their permanent reservoir home. The mother left months ago after laying her eggs in early summer, but every year's young instinctively know where to go.

The 36-square-mile Peninsula Watershed is home to an abundance of native plant and wildlife species, including this vulnerable amphibian. Western pond turtles can live for up to 50 years in the wild, but this year's hatchlings won't be ready themselves to breed for another six years or so.   

San Andreas Trail Reopens--with New Paving over Rough Spots

The San Andreas Trail is open again, and the rough spots where pipeline repairs were made earlier this year are now repaved. Thank you again to our trail walkers, runners and cyclists for your patience and understanding.

San Andreas Trail Closure Continues through September 23

The San Andreas Trail will reopen late Friday afternoon, September 14, for weekend use, and then close again Sunday evening, September 16, for one more week for emergency tree work by PG&E. It will remain closed the weekend of September 22-23 for repaving of two recent pipe repair locations. 

Cyclists, please continue to use alternate routes throughout the week of September 17.

This approximately two-mile segment of paved trail is between Larkspur Drive, Millbrae and San Bruno Avenue.

For schedule changes or updates, please visit the San Mateo County Parks website at 

https://parks.smcgov.org/press-release/san-andreas-trail-closure

Fire Protection on the Watershed: Fuel Breaks Under Way

Fear of fire seems to be all around these days (understandably) —especially if you live along or near typical California grassland.

On the Peninsula Watershed weed control goes on throughout the spring, summer and early to mid- fall months to protect land, our native habitats and the diverse plant and animal life they support from destruction by fire. 

With the initial mowing plus trimming now done, we’re working our way, where needed, along property edges and turning the ground by mechanical “disking.” It exposes a wide stretch of bare mineral soil that works as a fuel break to slow and stop any potential fire.

Normally we launch the first phases of weed control early in the spring, as soon as the ground is dry enough to support the weighty tractor mower. Crews also come back to certain spots a week or so later with hand-operated trimmers and other tools to cut away the growth that mowers can’t get to along fence lines and around valves or other structures.

It all started later than usual this year because the heavy rains that lasted through late March saturated the ground into April and May, stalling our equipment in the mud. Subsequent stages, including the fuel breaks, were delayed too.

But if we usually dig an annual fuel break near you and our crews haven’t been by yet, they’re on the way!      

San Andreas Trail Closure from Monday Evening, Sept. 3 Thru Friday, Sept. 14

The San Andreas Trail, from San Bruno Avenue to Larkspur Drive, will be closed from Monday evening, September 3, through Friday evening, September 14 for emergency tree work by PG&E.  The trail will reopen on Saturday morning, September 15.

Cyclists, please use alternate routes during this period. 

For schedule changes or updates, please visit the San Mateo County website at https://parks.smcgov.org/press-release/san-andreas-trail-closure

The two-mile paved trail bordering the San Andreas Reservoir is the northernmost part of the three-segment Crystal Springs Trail.   

  

Summertime, and the Living Isn’t Necessarily Easy Out There. Still . . .

. . . "The Watershed is full of babies at this time of year."  

So says Watershed Keeper Sarah Lenz. There are fawns, downy baby quail, bald eagle chicks, small fox cubs, and more, all venturing toward independence from their parents and life on their own—in the watershed or elsewhere. Here are a couple of images of this year’s new young residents.

The bald eaglets will be flying and hunting in and near their watershed birthplace for the next several months before they move on. They'll keep that dark brownish mottled color for the next few years before they acquire the adult’s distinctive white head. This is the sixth year in a row that the breeding adult pair has nested and reproduced on the watershed.  

Here, a  gray fox pup explores the tall grassland. These solitary nocturnal animals are the only wild canine species in the U.S. that can climb trees. During the day, they tend to keep to tree hollows or other other secretive spots. So any sighting  is lucky, especially a view of the babies.   

Thanks to Sarah for sharing her look with us. 

The Peninsula Watershed is home to more than 50 different mammals and 165 bird species as well as amphibians, reptiles, butterflies and other organisms that thrive on the 23,000 acres of long-protected and diverse native habitat.  

Life on the Watershed: Just a “Normal Wildlife Sighting”

It is one of the most social--and adaptable--of mammals. 

Coyotes now occupy almost any Bay Area open space, rural and urban. Wherever  one settles, it’s normally wary of humans and tends to stay out of sight. Still, watershed keeper Sarah Lenz captured this Peninsula Watershed resident on camera.  



Wildlife here may be less fearful of humans because of the absence of the human pressures, she says. “But I believe they always know where we are. This was just a normal wildlife sighting on the Watershed.” 

These days, litters of recently born pups have expanded the population. Not all will make it to adulthood, but the ones that do will be able to survive just about anywhere, from watershed to City park.

We don’t know how many coyotes live on the Peninsula Watershed, but the abundance of rodents and other prey make the place ideal for the rangy, mid-sized predator. Along with other green spaces immediately next door, the 23,000-acre space provides an extensive wildlife corridor for them, mountain lions and other roving mammal species. 

Coyotes live in small and close-bonded family units, which at this time of year consist of the two monogamous parents, a couple of cubs from previous litters, and newborn pups. They will fiercely defend their own territory from other coyotes, but socialize with one another—playing, looking after each other, and communicating in a variety of ways, by look and body language as well multiple  yips, growls, whimpers, and howls. 

They routinely roam the same routes, and are superb hunters. They have  long powerful legs for wearing down quick-scurrying prey, along with acute vision, smell, and hearing (they can detect the scurry of a mouse from 100 feet away). Though they prefer mice, gophers and other small live animals, they’re “predators of opportunity,” and will consume whatever else comes there way, including carrion, greenery, berries--or (in more populated areas) a  wayward pet. 

After a year or so, older cubs move on.  A lone yearling in search of its own territory will roam large areas along freeways and even across bridges to suburbs or cities, and possibly back again (a main enemy being the car). A high number of young coyotes will not survive the first year or two of life.

Coyote Safety Tips

The coyote urge to avoid us aside, chance encounters happen, and the normally reclusive animal can be more territorial and assertive at this time of year, during pupping season. So here are some protective guidelines to help safeguard you and our wild neighbors, just in case.

• Never feed a coyote—it’s illegal and can lure it closer,  endangering you asnd others. 
• Keep unattended pets indoors or completely enclosed, especially at night. Also don’t assume a fence will keep a coyote out of your backyard.
• Keep dogs on short leashes (6 feet or less) while walking outside.
• Don’t run away or turn your back on a coyote.
• Yell, clap hands, and/or blow a whistle, and try to make yourself look larger to scare away a coyote in your yard or elsewhere nearby.   

·      

The Goats Are on Board

 

Approximately 500 goats arrived recently at one of our valve lots in Redwood City, where they had ample water and all the summer weeds they could eat after what can be a trying journey by truck and trailer. The enclosed site was soon devoid of any overgrowth there, and the new hands were ready for the next couple of weeks along the Right of Way.

The herd is brought in every year to assist with vegetation management along a stretch of hilly terrain in Redwood City that’s inaccessible to our mowing equipment. They’ll be there for the next week or so.

As in past years, our human crews have been using mowers and string cutters to cut the weeds along the rest of of our Right of Way—approximately 30 miles in San Mateo County—and we expect to be done by early July at the latest. 

The crews will return later in the summer, where needed, to deal with other late-season weeds, and to trim along fence lines and around valves of other appurtenances. 

Our annual vegetation control program begins every spring as soon as the ground is dry enough for the mowing equipment. 

Sawyer Camp Trail Update: Cal Fire Postpones Firefighting Exercise to Week of June 25

Friday, June 22—Cal Fire has postponed again its Peninsula Watershed firefighting exercise for first responders  to one day next week, the week of June 25. 

The south half of the Sawyer Camp Trail will remain open, from the Skyline entrance to the Jepson gate at the trail's approximate mid-point, with only the north half closed the day of the exercise. 

For further details on any specific dates that Cal Fire relays to us, please see "Trail Updates" at the top of the righthand column. 

Cyclists should be prepared to use alternate routes during that week.   

El Camino Real Landscape Update

The Regional Groundwater Storage and Recovery (GSR) project has nearly completed its work at the Garden Chapel Funeral Home site along El Camino Real. We have drilled a new approximately 620-foot well, built a new well station, and installed 850 feet of pipeline to connect this with the water transmission system. We removed the trees along the pipeline alignment along El Camino Real between Southwood Drive and Orange Avenue for this project.

After discussions with the City of South San Francisco, the SFPUC has planted 15 Coast Live Oak trees along El Camino Real in a way as to not interfere with the pipes in the ground. The team has also planted groundcover in this area and replaced the fence of the Baden Valve Lot with a new black vinyl-coated fence. 

Additional Project Construction

As the project moves forward into Phase 2 we will work on locating up to three additional well sites in Northern San Mateo County. This may require that  the team access the pipeline that runs adjacent along El Camino Real between Southwood Drive and Orange Avenue. The additional work may disturb the groundcover, which the SFPUC will restore after the pipeline work is complete. There will be no impact to the newly replanted trees.

Sawyer Camp Trail Update--Firefighting Exercise Postponed Again until June 19, 20 or 21

Wednesday, June 13. 2018--The firefighting exercise for first responders, scheduled for one day this week, has been postponed again until the days of either next Tuesday, June 19, Wednesday, June 20, or Thursday, June 21, depending on weather and other conditions. 

The south half of the Sawyer Camp Trail, from the Skyline entrance to the Jepson gate at the trail's approximate mid-point will remain open for all of those days, with only the north half closed the day of the exercise. 

Cyclists should be prepared to use alternate routes during those three days.  

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Sawyer Camp Trail Update: Firefighting Exercise on Peninsula Watershed Postponed for Day or Two

The firefighting exercise scheduled for June 12-13 has been postponed until this coming Thursday, June 14 or Friday, June 15, depending on weather and other conditions. 

The south half of the Sawyer Camp Trail, from the Skyline entrance to the Jepson gate at the trail's approximate mid-point will remain open, no matter what day the exercise is held.  The north half, from the Hillcrest entrance down to the Jepson Gate will be closed. 

Cal Fire is staging the exercise as a training session for first responders in preparation for the fire season.  

Getting Ready for Fire Season: Sawyer Camp Trail Closure June 12-13 for Emergency Training Exercise

The entire Sawyer Camp Trail, from the Skyline Entrance to Hillcrest, will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday, June 12-13, for public safety during a fire-fighting exercise Calfire will hold on the Peninsula Watershed for first responders. 

Calfire announced tentative plans for the  training session at a recent reunion of firefighters, police officers, park rangers, watershed keepers and other first responders, hosted every year by the SFPUC Natural Resources Division. But, as in previous years, dates for this kind of activity depend on the condition of the grasses, weather, winds, and other factors that are not predictable well in advance. If current dates are postponed for any of those reasons, we will post updates on this blog.  

As the second largest landowner on the Peninsula, the SFPUC is constantly on the watch throughout the 23,000-acre watershed and some 30 miles of pipeline right of way for potential fires and other disasters. Conditions are changing, Natural Resources director Tim Ramirez told the crowd at the Pulgas Temple  lunch time gathering. “Every year seems to be different, and the fire season is getting longer.”

The SFPUC routinely teams with neighboring agencies on day-to-day issues of trail management, tree clearances and public safety as well as sudden fires, injuries, and other emergencies.  Partner agencies already have access to the routes they could need at any time.  And our watershed keepers—trained responders as well—help with fires or other disasters on neighboring lands and come with emergency drinking water vehicles when needed.  “Those are times when people really come together,” said acting watershed manager John Fournet. 

The Pulgas event is a standing occasion to renew bonds and get acquainted with newcomers. “This way,” Fournet said, “we already know each other when something happens.”

Temporary Weekday Closures of Sawyer Camp and San Andreas Trail Segments

The San Mateo County Parks Department will close parts of the Sawyer Camp and San Andreas trails, on different midweek dates during the first two weeks of June, for annual mowing to make the trails more usable and reduce fire risk. Here are the dates for each trail segment.   

·        June 5-6: Sawyer Camp Trail south half, Skyline entrance to the Jepson Laurel (mile marker 3.5), starting the evening of the 4^th and reopening the evening of the 6th

·        June 7-8: Sawyer Camp Trail north half, Hillcrest entrance to the Jepson Laurel, from the evening of the 6^th, reopening the evening of the 8^th

·        June 12-13:  San Andreas Trail, from the evening of the 11th, reopening the evening of the 13th

Cyclists, please use alternate routes on those dates. 

For updates or unexpected changes, please visit https://parks.smcgov.org/crystal-springs-regional-trail.

Life on the Watershed: Flight Season

Spring is “flight season”—that time of year when we’ll see different colorful butterflies fluttering between native wildflowers as they feed on the nectar before mating, egg laying, and then dying. One species that’s out on the watershed these days—after the larvae have been dormant over the winter—is the endangered Mission blue.  

  

The small coastal Bay Area native was originally named for its proximity to Mission Dolores in San Francisco, and over the years its essential coastal scrub habitat has been lost to development.

Butterfly species in general each have their own specific larval ‘host” plant that is critical for their survival. For Mission blues, it's one of three perennial lupine species, with the summer western lupine species being the most plentiful on the watershed. 

The female lays its eggs on the lupine leaves, stems, flowers and seed pods. The eggs hatch within a few days, and the larvae feed on the plant for the next several weeks. Then they leave to lay dormant in the leaf litter at the base of the plant until the following spring, when they emerge and the cycle begins again. 

Chalcedon checkerspot butterfly

Also in flight at different times throughout the spring and early summer are the more common Monarchs, Tiger swallowtails, Red admirals, Checkerspots, California sisters, and others. The timing depends on individual species schedules, climate, and other variables. 

Monarch butterfly

Besides brightening the landscape, butterflies are fundamental to the entire ecosystem. They pollinate the flowers they’re gleaning nectar from—automatically picking up pollen from the one flower and transmitting it to the next. And—while certain species (like the Monarch) are toxic—many others, along with their eggs and larvae, are food for spiders, birds, reptiles and other small organisms. 

Painted lady butterfly 

The 23,000-acre watershed is a vital refuge for approximately 60 butterfly species as well as other insect, bird, and animal species. We’ll continue to safeguard and restore our lupine for the Mission blues, as well as multiple other native plants that—common or rare—are vital, not only to certain butterfly species, but a whole ecosystem of diverse plant, insect, bird and animal life.  

Groundwater Well Work at Centennial Trail Starts May 21

We at the SFPUC are looking for up to three additional groundwater well station locations to complete the Regional Groundwater Storage and Recovery Project (GSR). One potential location is adjacent to Centennial Trail behind South San Francisco High School between West Orange Avenue and South Spruce Avenue. Beginning Monday, May 21, 2018, a test well will be drilled to determine if this is a viable site production well site. We will test the well for two months to determine whether or not the site is viable.

What to Expect

• A crew of approximately 8 people will operate a drill rig to dig an approximately 700 foot well.
• Expected start of work: Crews will be on site starting May 21, 2018.
• Anticipated Drilling Duration: Six weeks.
• Duration of Testing:  two months.
• Construction Work Hours:  Daytime Work: Monday-Friday 7:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. No weekend or nighttime work is expected at this time.
• Centennial Trail will remain open to the public throughout construction.
• The rig and equipment will stay on site for the duration of the work. The construction area will be fenced off for safety. A security guard will monitor the area after work hours when the contractor is not on site.
• The contractors will make every effort to minimize dust and noise in accord with South San Francisco noise ordinances.
• Please avoid the equipment for your safety.

In order for vehicles to safely make the turn into the site from El Cortez Avenue, we will post no parking signs on a portion of El Cortez near the school fire lane for the duration of construction (see below).

 Questions? ecox@sfwater.org.