Facts You Should Know About San Bruno Mountain

1. San Bruno Mountain is the largest urban open space in the United States - 3,300 acres of undeveloped open space.

2. San Bruno Mountain is the last fragment of an entire ecosystem - the Franciscan Region - the rest of which is buried beneath the city of San Francisco.

3. The specific intent of the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) was to protect endangered species and their habitats, like San Bruno Mountain.

4. San Bruno Mountainís Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) is the test case for the undermining and dismantling of the Endangered Species Act for the benefit of greedy developers across the country.

5. To accommodate the HCP, the controversial ìincidental takeî amendment was added to the ESA in 1982, essentially gutting the ESAís original intent.

6. According to a U.S. General Accounting Office study, since the ìincidental takeî loophole was added in 1982, 33% of listed endangered species show declining populations, and three percent (3%) have become extinct. (U.S. General Accounting Office/RCED-89-5)

7. The San Bruno Mountain Habitat Conservation Plan requires developers to fund habitat restoration and mandates the creation of new endangered butterfly habitat on land adjacent to the new development.

8. Since construction began in 1983, restoration efforts have been half-hearted at best and not one square foot of new butterfly habitat has been created, at the same time as hundreds of acres have been lost to bulldozing, housing and road construction. As development proceeds on prime Mission Blue and Silverspot butterfly habitat, consultants have attempted to transplant lupine, the Mission Blue butterflyís host plant, into places where it has never existed and has little or no chance of survival.

9. Although the measures taken under the HCP are untested and so far unsuccessful, they are now being used as a precedent throughout the U.S. by developers seeking to circumvent the Endangered Species Act.

San Bruno Mountain, San Mateo County, California
mountain
roots
native
heritage
place
presence
values
nature
archetype
soul
seasons
rains
life and death
companion
chaparral
hawk
sun
grass
fog
wind
fox
calm
rock
canyons
outcrops
creeks
willows
mountain as:
island
city-surrounded
coastal bluff
classroom
wildland lesson
Native American village sites
home to endangered animal & plant species
largest remaining fragment of a unique, paved-over ecosystem
reminder
Endangered Species Act Section10(a) "Habitat Conservation Plan" (1982 amendment):
endangered species amidst houses roads fences pets houses roads fences us
legal precedent weakening the law
"compromise"
as
sellout
test case
as "Trojan Horse"
warning:
Profit Conservation Plan
construction industry, lumber, ranching, oil, roads, subdivisions
greed and power
nature engulfed: South San Francisco-Daly City-Colma-Brisbane
"Pointe Pacific-Village in the Park-Terrabay-Sierra Point-Northeast Ridge-Saddleback"
flanked by freeways, near the airport, we've all passed San Bruno Mountain--know where it is?

houses, quarry, broadcasting towers--know what it is?

ever stopped?

unbuilt-on land is not "vacant," "undeveloped"
it is nature and us
endangered
for sale
"saved?"
"San Bruno Mountain? Oh, they saved that!"
(We Wish)

We work, too. Join in.

San Bruno Mountain's Rare and Endangered Plants and Animals
Species	Status	Present Distribution and Range	Portrait
San Francisco Garter Snake Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia	Endangered - USFWS	Scattered sites in San Mateo, Santa Cruz Counties. Reported, not verified, from San Bruno Mountain
Mission Blue Butterfly Icaricia icarioides missionensis	Endangered - USFWS	San Bruno Mountain, Twin Peaks (San Francisco), extreme southern Marin County
San Bruno Elfin Butterfly Callophyrs mossii bayensis	Endangered - USFWS	San Mateo County only; primarily on north slopes of San Bruno Mountain
San Francisco Silverspot Butterfly Speyeria callippe callippe	Endangered - USFWS	San Bruno Mountain only
Bay Checkerspot Butterfly Euphrydryas editha bayensis	Proposed Endangered (1981)	Jasper Ridge (Stanford University), Edgewood Regional Park, San Bruno Mountain [serpentine outcrops, San Mateo County]
San Francisco Tree Lupine Moth Graptholitha edwardsiana	Proposed Threatened (1978)	San Francisco sand dune remnants (e.g. Presidio, Lake Merced), coastal San Mateo County, sandy sites on San Bruno Mountain
Peninsula Solitary Bee Dufourea stagei	Restricted Range	San Bruno Mountain, south to Santa Cruz Mountains area
Pacific Manzanita Arctostaphylos X pacifica	Rare and endangered - CNPS	A few plants near the summit area, main ridge of San Bruno Mountain
San Bruno Mountain Manzanita Arctostaphylos imbricata	Rare and endangered - CNPS	Seven sites on the main ridge of San Bruno Mountain
Toro Manzanita Arctostaphylos montarensis	Rare and endangered - CNPS	A few plants on the main ridge (summit area) of San Bruno Mountain; larger population 10 miles south at Montara Mountain
San Francisco Gum Plant Grindelia maritima	Rare and endangered - CNPS	Coastas bluffs of San Francisco peninsula; reported from San Bruno Mountain
Diablo Rock Rose Helianthella castanea	Rare and endangered - CNPS	San Francisco Bay Region, including one site at the east end of San Bruno Mountain
San Francisco Owl's Clover Orthocarpus floribundus	Rare and endangered - CNPS	San Francisco peninsula and Marin County. No recent records on San Bruno Mountain; last seen there on south slopes
White-Rayed Pentachaeta Pentachaeta bellidiflora	Rare and endangered - CNPS	Santa Cruz to Marin Counties, including San Bruno Mountain
San Francisco Campion Silene verecunda ssp. verecunda	Rare and endangered - CNPS	San Francisco peninsula south to Santa Cruz; summit and adjacent south-facing slopes of San Bruno Mountain
Dune Tansy Tanacetum camphoratum	Rare and endangered - CNPS	San Francisco dune remnants' includinc Sutro Baths area; one plant at non-sandy site on San Bruno Mountain since about 1964
California Lessingia Lessingia germanorum chamisso	Rare and endangered - CNPS	San Francisco Presidio; small population on San Bruno Mountain on lower Resevoir Hill (Daly City)
Coast Rock Cress Arabis blepharophylla	Rare, not endangered - CNPS	Rocky and grassy sites, Santa Cruz north to Sonoma County
San Francisco Collinsia Collinsia franciscana	Rare, not endangered - CNPS	San Francisco south to Santa Cruz Mountains; occasionally in San Bruno Mountain open sites in brush and grassland
San Francisco Wallflower Erysimum franciscanum var. franciscanum	Rare, not endangered - CNPS	San Mateo to Marin counties; grassy slopes of San Bruno Mountain, especially in the summit area
Spine-Flower Chorizanthe cuspidata	Rare - more information needed	San Francisco, Sonoma, Marin, and San Mateo counties; uncommon, grows in sandy areas. On San Bruno Mountain in Colma Canyon
Popcorn Flower Plagiobothrys chorisianus	Rare - more information needed	Endemic to Santa Cruz Mountains; San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties. On San Bruno Mountain in April Brook, Devil's Arroyo, Trillium Gulch and West Power Line area
CNPS = California Native Plant Society, Cnventory of Rare and Endangered Vascular Plants of California. 1988 USFWS = US Fish and Wildlife Service

Ohlone, Environmental and Ohlone Links

Bay Area's City Search San Bruno Mountain Profile
bayarea.citysearch.com/profile?id=11344803

Bay Nature Magazine
www.baynature.com

Butterflies and Bulldozers
www.butterfliesandbulldozers.com

California Coastal Commission's Marine, Coastal & Watershed Resource Directory
www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced/directory/resdirectory/rdindex.html

California Native Grass Association
www.cnga.org

California Native Plant Society
www.cnps.org

Costanoan Ohlone Resource Site
www.indiancanyon.org

Earth Alliance and The Free Press at
San Francisco State University
www.libergator.org

Environmentalists Against War
www.envirosagainstwar.org

Friends of Lake Merced
www.lakemerced.org

Friends of San Bruno Mountain
www.supportparks.org/level2/friends.html#mountain

Gaffney Legal Services
www.gaffneylegal.com

Greenaction, Working for Health and Environmental Justice, Midway Village Home Page
www.greenaction.org/midway/index.shtml

Harbinger File Environmental Directory
www.environmentaldirectory.net

Heart of the Mountain, San Bruno Mountain Volunteers
www.heartofthemountain.com

Milagra Ridge
www.nps.gov/goga/parklabs/restoration/milagra

Mission Blue Project
www.missionblueproject.com

Montara Mountain Free Press
www.montara.com/Montara/Montara.html

Orion Society
www.orionsociety.org

San Bruno Mountain Cooperative Website
www.traenviro.com/sanbruno

San Bruno Mountain State and County Park
www.eparks.net/Parks/San Bruno

San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center
www.indybay.org

San Francisco Foundation
www.sff.org

Save Mount Diablo
www.savemountdiablo.org

SEAC - Student Environmental Action Coalition
www.seac.org

SEAFLOW - Protect Our Living Oceans
www.seaflow.org

Thomas Reid Associates, Environmental Consultants
http://thecity.sfsu.edu/users/HCP

Welcome to John McLaren Park
www.jennalex.com/projects/fomp/homepage/index.html