Associate Director of Landscape & Grounds, Morgan Vaisset-Fauvel, and his small but mighty team of forestry technicians and groundskeepers has been extremely busy over the past four months as approximately 400 trees have been damaged on Mount Sutro by the constant barrage of storms.
“I have been working in the Bay Area for years, and I’ve never seen this type of extreme weather,” he said. “We are hoping this is not the new winter weather pattern for the Bay Area in years to come.”
Trees block some trails.
Mount Sutro’s 911-foot elevation leaves it exposed to high winds and extreme weather compared to the rest of San Francisco. On March 21, rare strong winds from the southeast blew up Woodland Canyon where it’s estimated 70 trees fell in a three-hour span. Vaisset-Fauvel said the winds were strong enough to push the trees backwards from the opposite of their natural lean. “This is astonishing as the biggest trees in that area are 100 to 120 feet tall and up to 60,000 pounds. Most of these are Eucalyptus with some Acacia and a few older Monterey Cypress.”
Many of the trails on Mount Sutro are littered with fallen trees, stems, and branches. Vaisset-Fauvel and his team have been working as fast as possible to remove the debris to keep the public space open but, unfortunately, they can’t keep up with Mother Nature. “We’ve had to close some areas because it’s simply not safe to enter,” he said. “There are potholes left by tree stumps and large branches that present tripping hazards.”
The team working on Mount Sutro, includes: Forestry Technician Rafael De Lara Rodriguez; Groundskeeper Rosio Rodriguez; Groundskeeper David Rosas; Forestry Technician Jesse Wherry; Groundskeeper Salvador Buenrostro Cacho; Pest Control Program Coordinator Ronda Metcalf; Groundskeeper Michael Vieira; Groundskeeper Cesar Blanco Medina; Groundskeeper Rafael Avalos Heredia; Grounds Laborer Leonard Williams; Landscape Supervisor Dunja Duranovic; Landscape Supervisor Denny Nguyen; Groundskeeper Chase Williams; and Groundskeeper Carlos Avalos Mejia. The team included employees who work regularly on Mount Sutro along with others who were pulled from their duties to assist with storm issues and damage.
“This team has been essential,” said Vaisset-Fauvel. “They’ve been doing everything from removing debris to installing barricades, erecting signage, flagging traffic and more.” Hikers should not enter any area on Mount Sutro where signage has been placed indicating the trail is closed. “We have not been able to mitigate all of the hazards on some trails,” he said. “Some of the work is complicated, and all of the Bay Area contractors who specialize in this type of tree hazard removal are busy.”
Assistant Vice Chancellor for Facilities Services, Jon Giacomi, thanked the team for its work.
“I would like to thank Morgan and the entire landscaping and grounds team for their incredible dedication and commitment to UCSF for the past several months," Giacomi said. "Things haven’t let up since the December storms and the team has been in days, nights, and weekends to help keep our community safe.”
In addition to the tree risk hazards and landslide issues, this is the middle of nesting season for hawks and owls. Vaisset-Fauvel said a biologist will be brought in to review the remediation work to make sure it does not damage bird habitat. “We want to make sure we are protecting our hawks and owls,” he said.
Vaisset-Fauvel said the Historic Trail, which begins near the Woods Lot off Medical Center Way, will be closed for a long period of time as there is a risk of the trail falling into a new open landslide on Medical Center Way. “It’s important to understand that the hazards creating road closures aren’t always related to trees.”
Clearing the road at Mount Sutro.
The storms not only took a toll on the trees at Mount Sutro, but they also damaged the infrastructure in the area. “We discovered multiple storm drain failures which created potholes and even caused a landslide along Medical Center Way,” Vaisset-Fauvel said. “Our aging infrastructure system cannot absorb the amount of water generated by these types of storms.”
Facilities Services was able to re-pipe a portion of the area near Medical Center Way to stop the landslide. “We’re going to be working diligently this spring on repairing and replacing the Medical Center Way storm drain system. We need to wait for things to dry out a little.”
Vaisset-Fauvel said the retaining wall along Koret Way held firm during the storms, retaining all the sludge from the landslide. “The wall was able to absorb most of the soil and rocks, making our clean-up work easier and safer,” he said. Vaisset-Fauvel said the team still had to remove about 140 trees precariously perched above the slide to reduce the weight on the new edge. “We removed about 500,000 pounds of tree weight. Currently, the Koret landslide appears stable, and we haven’t seen any soil movement since January. We are waiting for more dry weather to remove some of the soil, and we are working with our geologist and structural engineers to extend the wall north.”
