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.