The story is written by Bridget Llanes, Health in Nature Program Manager at Mount Sutro Stewards.
A visit to Mount Sutro can provide opportunities for rest and rejuvenation with Sutro Stewards Volunteer and Health in Nature programs.
Fringecup (Tellima grandiflora) blooming on Mt. Sutro Stewards in the Spring.
UCSF has a resource for health and wellness, a jewel of biodiversity, right in the backyard of its campus. Mt. Sutro Open Space Reserve is tended by UCSF and volunteer programs managed by Sutro Stewards. It is home to rare plants such as maidenhair fern (Adiantum jordanii), Dutchman’s pipevine (Aristolochia californica), San Franciscan wallflower (Erysimum franciscanum), and San Francisco gum plant (Grindelia hirsutula). These plants are hosts to equally rare pollinators that thrive in the dewy coastal scrub of the mountain. Sutro Stewards care for the mountain through volunteer programs that you are welcome to join. Founded by a group of neighbors in 2006 to enhance and protect Mount Sutro through weekly and bimonthly volunteer programs such as Conservation, Nursery, and Trails programs, Sutro Stewards addresses threats to our climate through curbing erosion and sequestering carbon with habitat restoration using native plants grown at the Sutro Stewards nursery. You can find out more about volunteering with these programs on sutrostewards.org.
Wide-Reaching Programs
TheHealth in Nature program is Sutro Stewards' newest program. It began in April 2022 to reach underserved communities with Nature Immersion experiences. In partnership with UCSF, this program also intends to research the health benefits of participants attending repeated programs and share our findings with the community.
Sutro Stewards program participants.
Our programming includes sensory scavenger hunts, native plant walks, Tai Chi and Qi Gong in the garden, mushroom explorations, monthly meditations in nature, and chert circles. Since April, the program has already served nearly 40 participants and has two committed, monthly programs this fall with at-risk youth and the GROWTH program (a part of Citywide/UCSF). If you are a researcher and/or are interested in working with your patients as a part of a Nature RX program, please contact Health in Nature here.
We have recently launched a Health In Nature Mediation Series every 1st and 3rd Thursday, noon-1 p.m. at the Aldea Center. You can drop in anytime. Guidance is offered by the Health in Nature program manager, Bridget Llanes, and special guests at 12:10, 12:30, and 12:45 p.m.
You can learn more about Health in Nature programming like mountain walks, immersions, and meditations on our website. We have family-friendly community natural history walks every last Saturday of the month 9:30-11:30 a.m.
Please contact Bridget Llanes at bridget@sutrostewards.org if you have any questions or want to be involved!
