Yerba Buena Island Natural History Walks

Yerba Buena Island is unknown to over 99% of San Franciscans, even less by denizens of the greater Bay Area, who may only know it when they drive over the Bay Bridge which spans are connected by the tunnel that traverses the island. Even if city dwellers have ventured over to Treasure Island for the music festival, the flea market or for school-age sports, they drive right through Yerba Buena and onto Treasure. But unlike Treasure, which is an artificial island constructed in the 1930s, Yerba Buena Island is one of the Bay’s many natural islands. While it doesn’t approach the size of Angel Island, it is one of the Bay’s largest islands, and as a result has experienced a lot of human activity in the modern era, including being an Army reservation, a Naval base, and it still harbors a Coast Guard base on its southeast side. Reportedly, an Ohlone fishing village existed on the Island.

Whether or not Yerba Buena Island was named for the Spanish village of Yerba Buena or directly for our local spearmint, Clinopodium douglasii, in fact, yerba buena, the plant, was extirpated from the island in the modern era. Still, the island is home to several distinct native plant communities and some interesting wildlife, including land and water birds, harbor seals, alligator and western fence lizards, albino raccoons, and even possibly a new-to-science banana slug! Plant communities were all described in the Yerba Buena Island Habitat Management Plan, the biologist for which was none other than Mike Wood, long-time Yerba Buena Chapter Rare Plants Co-Chair and author of the recent Chapter publication, the Annotated Checklist of the Vascular Plants of San Francisco. Mike originally described and the Treasure Island Development Authority and San Francisco Environment Department are now managing, coast live oak woodlands, coastal scrub, valley wild rye grassland, foredune, and willow riparian communities. In addition to the existing natural areas, which are represented around the lower elevations of the island, the City and the Treasure Island/Yerba Buena Island developer have revegetated several new sites with local native plants grown by Literacy for Environmental Justice.

Join long-time Chapter Rare Plants Chair, Peter Brastow, for a tour of some of Yerba Buena Island’s natural and resurrected ecology, including the locally very rare fiesta flower (Pholistima auritum). We will mostly explore the northwest quadrant of the island, but Peter will orient folks to the entire island and other places they can visit on their own after the field trip. Sign this waiverto attend.  Meet at Building 1 on Treasure Island.

Yerba Buena Island is unknown to over 99% of San Franciscans, even less by denizens of the greater Bay Area, who may only know it when they drive over the Bay Bridge which spans are connected by the tunnel that traverses the island. Even if city dwellers have ventured over to Treasure Island for the music festival, the flea market or for school-age sports, they drive right through Yerba Buena and onto Treasure. But unlike Treasure, which is an artificial island constructed in the 1930s, Yerba Buena Island is one of the Bay’s many natural islands. While it doesn’t approach the size of Angel Island, it is one of the Bay’s largest islands, and as a result has experienced a lot of human activity in the modern era, including being an Army reservation, a Naval base, and it still harbors a Coast Guard base on its southeast side. Reportedly, an Ohlone fishing village existed on the Island.

Whether or not Yerba Buena Island was named for the Spanish village of Yerba Buena or directly for our local spearmint, Clinopodium douglasii, in fact, yerba buena, the plant, was extirpated from the island in the modern era. Still, the island is home to several distinct native plant communities and some interesting wildlife, including land and water birds, harbor seals, alligator and western fence lizards, albino raccoons, and even possibly a new-to-science banana slug! Plant communities were all described in the Yerba Buena Island Habitat Management Plan, the biologist for which was none other than Mike Wood, long-time Yerba Buena Chapter Rare Plants Co-Chair and author of the recent Chapter publication, the Annotated Checklist of the Vascular Plants of San Francisco. Mike originally described and the Treasure Island Development Authority and San Francisco Environment Department are now managing, coast live oak woodlands, coastal scrub, valley wild rye grassland, foredune, and willow riparian communities. In addition to the existing natural areas, which are represented around the lower elevations of the island, the City and the Treasure Island/Yerba Buena Island developer have revegetated several new sites with local native plants grown by Literacy for Environmental Justice.

Join long-time Chapter Rare Plants Chair, Peter Brastow, for a tour of some of Yerba Buena Island’s natural and resurrected ecology, including the locally very rare fiesta flower (Pholistima auritum). We will mostly explore the northwest quadrant of the island, but Peter will orient folks to the entire island and other places they can visit on their own after the field trip. Sign this waiver to attend.  Meet at Building 1 on Treasure Island.