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Greetings volunteers!
In This E-newsletter:
Greetings volunteers!
We accomplished an amazing amount of work last week! Between a full Saturday workday and our MLK Day of Service, volunteers at Lands End planted 4,426 plants--in less than six total work hours! Thanks so much to everyone who came out and helped. We couldn't ask for anything more from our volunteers.
With that bump in our numbers, we're up to 14,000 total plants planted this season. And we've completed planting in the new Navy Memorial parking lot. Job well done! This week we'll move on to planting some infill throughout the rest of Lands End, starting with the Sutro Sign Corner and Ocean Terrace. We'll also be pulling invasive grasses and taproot rosettes at those sites.
See you all on site!
Did You Know… Foghorns
The sound of a foghorn blowing is as integral to the
atmosphere of San Francisco as taxis honking in New York, or church bells ringing in  Charleston. But how much do you know about these enigmatic tones?
Did you know that there are five foghorns mounted on the Golden Gate Bridge? They are located just below road
level, facing both east and west to notify ships heading into and out of the
bay of fog conditions.
The U.S. Coast Guard sets the tones and timing of the foghorns
in the United States.
Each horn has a unique frequency and timing interval, which is referred to
collectively as its "signature." These signatures are listed on USCG navigational
charts.
Two of the foghorns on the Golden Gate Bridge
are situated on the south tower. When fog is present, they sound together
every 20 seconds in a low, single tone. Each blast lasts two seconds.
Three additional horns are mounted mid-span on the bridge,
one facing east and two facing west. They emit together two higher tones together, then
have a 36-second pause.
Ships heading into the bay navigate between the south tower
and mid-span horns for safe entry. Ships heading out of the bay stay north of
the mid-span horns.
Safe travels, seafarers!
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This week
Thursday, January 20, at Presidio Coastal Bluffs, 1-4 pm: For a little change of pace, we'll be planting some at Battery Crosby this Thursday. But don't fret—there will still be opportunities to pull cape ivy, if you are so inclined.
Saturday, January 22, at Lands End, 1-4 pm: We've finished planting the new parking lot! This week we'll move on to some infill planting at the Sutro Sign Corner and Ocean Terrace. We'll also pull some invasive grasses and large taproot weed rosettes at these sites.
Special Announcements
Lands End Lookout
Pre-Construction Kickoff
Parks Conservancy Project Manager Anne Baskerville will describe the site plan, renderings, and construction schedule as we prepare to break ground. To RSVP, call
(415) 561-3054 or write us an e-mail.
The Life of Marine Mammals on the Pacific Coast Peter Winch from the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary will direct our attention west to the Pacific and the marine mammals migrating off the coast. To RSVP, call (415) 561-3054 or write us an e-mail.
Park Academy
classes
The Conservancy offers great enrichment classes.
January's highlight is a moonlit frog walk at Mori Point. To see a full
schedule, click here.
Lands End video online!
Remember the fun of our planting launch on November 6 with this great video! Planting: Day One
E-newsletters
We offer regional newsletters for San Mateo, San Francisco, and Marin! If you would like to subscribe to a specific regional newsletter, e-mail us.
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Friend and Foe
Friend: Miner's Lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata)
Miner's lettuce has three different leaf shapes that grow together on each plant. Young grass-like foliage grows surrounding the base. More mature leaves are flared at one end, so they are three-sided but rounded. Finally, a fully rounded leaf sits at the base of the plant's flower. This leaf is actually two leaves completely fused together.
Flowers are small and white, with five petals. They bloom from February through May. Moving into the dry months of summer, miner's lettuce leaves turn reddish.
©1995 Scott and Sandi Stevenson
Miner's lettuce is native to our coastal scrub habitats in San Francisco. It earned its name by being a leafy vegetable eaten by pioneering miners in California, because it was one of the few greens they knew they could eat safely.
Foe: Wild radish (Raphanus sativus)
Wild radish is one of our most common foes in San Francisco. You can probably recognize the giant seed pods and signature cross-shaped flowers with your eyes closed. But this time of year it might be a little bit  trickier to identifiy radish out in the field.
When it is young, radish can resemble the native miner's lettuce. One of the leaf shapes of miner's lettuce--the rounded triangle--is very similar to the radish cotyledon. Keep in mind that the radish leaves are more heart-shaped, and will be very young and small—less than a centimeter across. The miner's lettuce leaves in this shape will be a part of a more mature plant, and will be included with rounded and grass-like leaves in a single plant.
Program Meeting Locations
Presidio Coastal Bluffs
We meet in the parking lot of Battery Godfrey at the end of Langdon Court. Click here for a map to Battery Godfrey.
Lands End
We meet at the trailhead in the Merrie Way parking lot off of Point Lobos Avenue (near Louis' restaurant). Click here for directions to the Lands End trailhead.
Both our worksites are easily accessed by public transportation. Use the trip planner on transit511 for more information.
We hope to see you there!
Alex, Jim, Eric, and Kara
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