{"id":30150,"date":"2023-11-25T18:44:14","date_gmt":"2023-11-26T02:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=30150"},"modified":"2023-11-25T18:48:14","modified_gmt":"2023-11-26T02:48:14","slug":"30150","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/11\/25\/30150\/","title":{"rendered":"Greening Bayview, one tree at a time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Friends of the Urban Forest tries slowly to restore an urban canopy in a neighborhood with little greenery.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By TOM MOLANPHY<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOVEMBER 23, 2023 (48hills.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a few hours last Friday morning, an olive tree in Bayview Hunters Point received a level of attention rivaling Biden at APEC. Three canvas roller carts full of gardening tools and more than a dozen volunteers surrounded the two-year old Olea europaea <\/em>as Annika Peterson, certified arborist for Friends of the Urban Forest<\/a>, laid out the plan for the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToday\u2019s like your doctor\u2019s checkup, a kind of preventative care,\u201d Petersen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FUF has been planting and maintaining trees in San Francisco since 1981. The nonprofit\u2019s love for trees is rooted not just in the hands-on pruning skills that will be taught over the next few hours, but the bigger issues of\u00a0health<\/a>,\u00a0equity<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0environment<\/a>\u00a0that trees can help address. San Francisco, the\u00a0third-fastest-warming city in California<\/a>, lags behind other major cities in terms of street canopy, so the work ahead is clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Volunteers\u00a0Dan Odette\u00a0and\u00a0Prana Subramanian\u00a0prune an olive tree on Apollo Street<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPlanting trees is a really effective way of showing support without stomping all over how someone cares about or views their neighborhood,\u201d Dr. Bunny McFadden, Community Workforce Development Director for FUF, said by phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And no San Francisco neighborhood has felt more stomped on than Bayview Hunters Point. Not only did a history of redlining<\/a> force many low-income BIPOC communities into the substandard housing of this industrialized area, the lack of trees\u2014and vast expanses of concrete\u2014makes this neighborhood in San Francisco the hottest and unhealthiest place to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s small group of volunteers can\u2019t roll back that past.<\/strong> But Dan Odette, a volunteer from Oakland, is ready to roll back his sleeves and do what he can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese volunteer opportunities get me to parts of the city I\u2019ve never been to before,\u201d Odette said. \u201cAnd I love returning to these areas to check on the progress of the trees.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After some safety instruction (\u201cBe spatially aware when swinging hammers\u201d), the 15 or so volunteers break into three groups, led by a FUF leader with a three-step process for each tree: diagnose overall health; check structural integrity; and review the supportive hardware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To set the tone, Petersen, a born teacher, asks everyone for their favorite tree story. Bill Maggs from the Mission District talks about a 100-year-old avocado tree with Giving Tree-level reverence. Prana Subramanian recalls hanging \u201cnearly horizontal\u201d as a child from an oak tree in Texas during a storm, and how he thanks that tree when he visits home. And Odette describes a love\/hate relationship with his indoor fiddly fig tree that sounds as earnest as most human relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tree spirits manifested, it\u2019s time to inspect the roots, the foundation of tree health. Petersen instructs Maggs to gently explore around the base of the tree with a root knife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to make sure that the roots are going down and out, not in circles,\u201d Petersen said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Annika Peterson, certified arborist for Friends of the Urban Forest, leads orientation of volunteers<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The examination moves up, insuring the trunk is not sitting in wet soil, and then volunteers spot-check for scales or any signs of struggle in the leaves, until necks are slightly craned, trying to spot the \u201cleader.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want our trainees to have a clear leader stem going up, so they\u2019ve got a good distribution of branches around.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big lessons branch out from the smallest details. When Petersen notices the water bag is too full (new trees nurse off a bag for their first year), she instructs Odette to puncture the bag with a nail to compensate for the blockage. Water talk, that classic California conversation, bubbles up, from where we get it, how we use it, and, mostly how badly we manage it<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike Neumann, COO of Wu Yee Childcare<\/a> who has used FUF to plant dozens of trees at their facilities, praised trees as an educational tool for kids of all ages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBringing nature to the children in our centers is an important thing,\u201d Newman said by phone. \u201cIt\u2019s putting kids in touch with nature, when they\u2019re typically surrounded by a lot of concrete.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final step of the tree inspection, checking the hardware, proves the trickiest. The impulse is to tighten straps around the leader to force the branch into straight, stiff attention. Petersen gently teaches against that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe adjust these straps to give the tree some wiggle room, because that will help it develop.\u201d By allowing the tree this wiggle, the roots are stimulated to strengthen when the tree bows in the wind. \u201cAs we like to say, we want to \u2018stir the pot\u2019 with a few inches of motion in each direction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After crossing Apollo to work on a pear tree, the group is greeted by Nick Gallegos, <\/strong>who steps out of his garage to offer drinks.  \u201cWe were one of the first ones to get a tree,\u201d Gallegos, who grew up on Potrero Hill, said while explaining the FUF adoption program<\/a>.  \u201cIt immediately made our house 1,000 times better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gallegos is well aware of the host of issues that plague the Bayview, such as food deserts<\/a>, which is somewhat alleviated by the Food Co<\/a> down the hill, although Gallegos noted the gauntlet of processed foods before all the fruits and vegetables. But he\u2019s bullish on trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it (planting trees) does create a better community,\u201d Gallegos said. Then pointing to the olive tree the volunteers just left, he adds, \u201cI\u2019ve never talked to those neighbors before I got this tree.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

FUF inspects and prunes a pear tree<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the day progresses, the pruners snip quicker, the hammers strike with more confidence, and the conversations flow with the eager work. And that work does not go unnoticed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larry Patterson, trudging up the hill from the Food Co with his groceries, pauses to thank the volunteers for their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need trees. Trees purify the city,\u201d Patterson, who has lived in an apartment on Apollo for three years, said. \u201cAll we\u2019re doing is walking on concrete every day. You guys are doing a beautiful job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked how the lack of trees could cause real problems in a city known for comfortable weather year-round, Patterson has already felt the effects firsthand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI live on the corner there,\u201d Patterson said. \u201cI got a big, bay window. And that\u2019s where the sun comes in when it rises. The neighbors tore down the trees, and that sun comes right in and heats up my home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More distressing than the unwanted heat, though, is the loss of the humming bird that used to visit Patterson\u2019s backyard. \u201cI can\u2019t speak for everybody else, but, as far as me, I\u2019m a nature guy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To wrap-up the day, team leaders offer \u201cshout-outs\u201d for stellar work, including a \u201cshout-out to Jessica for not tying down a stake that was rubbing a branch,\u201d and a \u201cshout-out to our group for tying ties, like, the fastest I\u2019ve seen a group do ties in a long time.\u201d Odette gets his gold star for \u201cjust always looking for ways to help and keep busy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Odette stands back, more happy than weary, and takes the work in. \u201cThis whole block would basically be treeless if it wasn\u2019t for FUF planting all these trees.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After some handshakes and a few phone exchanges, the volunteers disperse. We leave the Bayview, but a final sentiment from Patterson, a Bayview resident, lingers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t build trees like houses, man. You know what I mean? When you cut them down and cut them up? They\u2019re gone forever, like humans.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friends of the Urban Forest tries slowly to restore an urban canopy in a neighborhood with little greenery. By TOM MOLANPHY NOVEMBER 23, 2023 (48hills.org) For a few hours last Friday morning, an olive tree in Bayview Hunters Point received a level of attention rivaling Biden at APEC. Three canvas… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1499],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30150"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30150"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30158,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30150\/revisions\/30158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}