A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
September 9, 2008
3. Watersheds –
Presidio's creeks will spring back to life
San Francisco Chronicle – 9/9/08
By Peter Fimrite, staff writer
(09-08) 18:23 PDT
The gurgling spring that attracts hummingbirds and other wildlife is at the heart of the Presidio's 270-acre Tennessee Hollow Watershed, which has three freshwater creeks.
"Right now we are standing next to the headwaters of the central tributary," said Allison Stone, the senior environmental planner for the Presidio Trust, which has a 20-year plan to restore the entire watershed to the way it was before the U.S. Army channeled the creek into pipes and then covered it with dirt and debris. "This spring has the highest abundance and diversity of migratory birds in the area."
The spring now disappears under the asphalt
Legend of the spring
The legend, dating back to the earliest Spanish settlers, is that drinking El Polin water improves fertility, but Stone advised against drinking it.
"It is not potable," she said.
The immediate plan is to restore about 20 acres, including adjacent hillside areas, trails, picnic and interpretive areas, during the next five to seven years at a cost of about $14 million. The money also will cover the cost of relocating a soccer field.
Starting Monday, 58 nonnative eucalyptus, cypress and pine trees will be removed from around the springs. Community volunteers will replant the site with native
Over the next year and a half, an asphalt loop road will be removed and transformed into a pedestrian boardwalk and trail with a picnic area, public restrooms and benches. The historic stone channels, built in the meadow by the Army in the 1930s, will be restored, and interpretative gardens and archaeological displays will be set up.
The 66 units of outdated, boxy military housing adjacent to the site eventually will be removed, but Stone said the restoration of an area known as Morton Street Field will be done first.
New channel for creek
That project will remove a soccer field and an old earthen dam and build a new, open channel for the creek. The plan, which involves relocating the field and expanding the playing surface at Julius Kahn Playground, at first generated an outcry from those who wanted to preserve playing fields, but it has since been approved by the Presidio Trust.
"This is the creek," Stone said, pointing to a storm drain grate behind the field. "You can hear the creek."
The trickle of water now heard only in that storm drain once was the lifeblood of the Presidio, quenching the thirsts of Native Americans, early Spanish colonial settlers and the
Important waters
The waters were crucial to the Yelamu tribe of the Ohlone Indians, who once inhabited the Crissy Field area of
The 193 residents who founded El Presidio de
They are believed to be the homes once inhabited by the family of Marcos Briones, a colonial soldier and a founder of El Presidio de Monterey. Briones and his children produced dozens of offspring, a fact that could be the source of the El Polin Spring legend. It was said that all maidens who drank from the spring during the full moon were assured of many children and eternal bliss.
There used to be a plaque at the site retelling the legend, but it was stolen, Smith said.
The Tennessee Hollow Watershed is made up of three tributaries in a bowl-shaped valley. The creeks, one of which is seasonal, come together at a bridge known as Lovers'
The watershed was named after a regiment of volunteers from
Flumes once were built along the coast to transport the Presidio water to San Franciscans, but other sources eventually were found.
Flow to Crissy Field
Stone said the plan is for the creek eventually to flow freely all the way to the Crissy Field Marsh and for a trail allowing visitors to trace the beginning of the creek and follow it all the way to the marsh and out to the bay. She likened the project to the creation of an outdoor museum.
"Here within the park we have an entire watershed system with spring-fed creeks ... and so much history from indigenous tribes to the establishment of the Presidio to the boom of the Gold Rush," Stone said.
"We think of the Presidio as the birthplace of
This will be the biggest change people will see in the Presidio for awhile and to be able to do it so close to the city is unusual."
Want to go?
A guided walk starting at El Polin Springs and covering the Tennessee Hollow environmental restoration project will be conducted for the public from 10:30 a.m. to noon Saturday. For directions and to RSVP, call (415) 561-5357 or e-mail jnichols@ presidiotrust.gov.#
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/09/MNTK12OUML.DTL
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