A Vision for the Quarry
By Paul Bouscal and Ken McIntire

The Quarry Road is now the Quarry Trail, where Brisbane citizens ride bicycles or simply stroll. At the end of the trail is a public environmental research and education facility called the Brisbane Mountain Learning Center. It occupies the very bottom part of the old quarry and is surrounded by native plant gardens and trails into the mountain park...

At a public meeting about the future of the quarry, SBMW Board member Paul Bouscal got a very favorable response from citizens when he described this vision. The Jefferson High School District superintendent thinks the learning center concept is great; so does the director of the State Department of Fish and Game, which owns the portion of Quarry Road and manages the adjacent ecological preserves in Owl and Buckeye Canyons. Paul also spoke of this vision at a meeting of the San Mateo County superintendents; they like the idea too. The fate of the Brisbane Quarry, however, rests with the town's residents and the City Council.

The Brisbane Planning Department has anticipated the annexation of the quarry to Brisbane for home development. San Bruno Mountain Watch is against this proposal to put a concentrated human population right in the heart of this world class, rare habitat. While housing might have fewer cumulative effects than continued quarry operation, it would ensure that the quarry road and the quarry itself remain vectors for non-native species to enter nearby habitat. An ecological conversion of the quarry would ensure that it functions as a buffer between that habitat and the nearby industrial park.

The Learning Center vision goes like this: Several different entities with interests in the mountain work together to provide funding and personnel. School children learn about nature from older students and adult volunteers. San Francisco State uses the Center as a base for habitat research, and high school projects (such as the Sterne School's current, five year old habitat study) regularly utilize the resource. Teacher interns earn credit for teaching school groups about the environment. Botany students learn by nurturing the native plant gardens, where plants are raised for restoration projects. A revolving history exhibit highlights the incredible legacy of the Mountain and of the Bay. Local volunteer groups, like Mountain Watch, enjoy the resource while enriching it. Brisbane citizens have a worthy destination for an afternoon walk…

The City of Brisbane already owns the portion of Quarry Road between San Francisco Street and Lipman School. The rest is owned by the Department of Fish and Game as part of the Buckeye and Owl Canyons preserve. The Department is currently concerned that a housing development in the quarry would adversely affect habitat in the canyons, and because the Department owns the road, Brisbane is essentially cut off from easy access to open space. By leasing the road from Fish and Game, by converting it to recreational use, and by having it lead to the Learning Center, the threat posed to the nearby canyons would be greatly reduced, and Brisbane citizens would have a nice trail, through one of the warmest local microclimates, into the park.

The Quarry Trail and Brisbane Mountain Learning Center vision outlined here is too good to pass up. We need to work out many details for our proposal. If you have thoughts or suggestions - if you want to "put your shoulder to the boulder," call Mountain Watch at 415-467-6631 or Paul Bouscal at 415-468-5576.