Parks and Historic Sites

Glen Canyon Park: Tree-Lovers Fight for Non-Native Species

Another Yosemite Camper Dies From Hantavirus

Sadly, another adventurer who visited Yosemite this summer has reportedly died from a rare, rodent-borne disease otherwise known as the hantavirus. Health officials issued an alert yesterday, warning anyone who visited the national park this summer to watch out for flu-like symptoms -- and see a doc ... More >>

Summer Guide: Make State Park Reservations While You Can

Sadly, another adventurer who visited Yosemite this summer has reportedly died from a rare, rodent-borne disease otherwise known as the hantavirus. Health officials issued an alert yesterday, warning anyone who visited the national park this summer to watch out for flu-like symptoms -- and see a doc ... More >>

George Kohler, Missing S.F. Cyclist, Found Dead in Death Valley

​Authorities say they have found the body of 68-year-old George Kohler, who went missing last week during a bike tour in Death Valley. Police confirmed  that Kohler, an avid cyclist and personal trainer in San Francisco, was found in a shallow gully about less than two miles east of the Mesqu ... More >>

This Land is Our Land

​Authorities say they have found the body of 68-year-old George Kohler, who went missing last week during a bike tour in Death Valley. Police confirmed  that Kohler, an avid cyclist and personal trainer in San Francisco, was found in a shallow gully about less than two miles east of the Mesqu ... More >>

Jonathan Waknine, OccupySF Protester, Arrested -- Again

This doesn't exactly make for a peaceful presence ​Yesterday, we told readers about Jonathan Waknine, the 23-year-old OccupySF protester who was cited for carrying a concealed weapon. Police released him only to come back and for him 24 hours later. According to San Francisco police, Waknine was a ... More >>

Samuel P. Taylor, Tomales Bay State Parks to Stay Open with Help from Feds

​State and federal authorities announced today that two popular Marin County state parks will remain open with the help of the National Park Service.Samuel P. Taylor State Park, a campground nestled among redwoods in West Marin, and Tomales Bay State Park, which lies on the shore of its eponymous ... More >>

Ranger Noir: S.F. Park Patrol Run as Money-Making Machine

​State and federal authorities announced today that two popular Marin County state parks will remain open with the help of the National Park Service.Samuel P. Taylor State Park, a campground nestled among redwoods in West Marin, and Tomales Bay State Park, which lies on the shore of its eponymous ... More >>

Awesome Secret Underground Bunker in Marin Headlands Gets Sealed Up

​State and federal authorities announced today that two popular Marin County state parks will remain open with the help of the National Park Service.Samuel P. Taylor State Park, a campground nestled among redwoods in West Marin, and Tomales Bay State Park, which lies on the shore of its eponymous ... More >>

What Happens When (and If) State Parks Close

​State and federal authorities announced today that two popular Marin County state parks will remain open with the help of the National Park Service.Samuel P. Taylor State Park, a campground nestled among redwoods in West Marin, and Tomales Bay State Park, which lies on the shore of its eponymous ... More >>

New Offleash Laws to Favor Dog Walkers Who Make a Profit

Get ready for a lot more of this.​The San Francisco Board of Supervisors might gripe about the seemingly onerous plan to severely restrict dogs from roaming offleash in areas owned by the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. But when it comes to that key question of how to handle dogwalkers who h ... More >>

Federal Government Shutdown: Will You Be Kicked Off Ocean Beach?

Going, going ... gone?​With the specter of a federal shutdown looming tomorrow, San Franciscans have reason to worry. If our government ceases operating and everyone heads to the beach -- will we be able to head to the beach? Ocean Beach, after all, is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation A ... More >>

Mehdi Almotahari, Washed Up at Fort Mason

Body found​Medical authorities have identified the man whose body washed up on the shores of Fort Mason last week as 64-year-old Mehdi Almotahari. A visitor at Fort Mason spotted Almotahari's body floating in the water at about 4:45 p.m. on March 8. Medical authorities had trouble locating his fam ... More >>

Yosemite Buffalo Soldiers' History Should Be Part of School Curriculum, Jackie Speier Says

Buffalo Soldiers remembered​Too bad Mark Matthews, the last surviving Buffalo Soldier who died six years ago at age 111, isn't around to mark this historic moment.Congresswoman Jackie Speier is pushing through a bill that would --for the first time ever --give the nation's all black cavalry a prom ... More >>

Botanical Garden Fee Back on The Table; Supervisor John Avalos Says It's 'Disastrous'

A high price to pay ... for politics.​Supervisor John Avalos is miffed over legislation coming out of the mayor's office that would trump his bill that repealed the onerous admission fee for tourists at the Botanical Garden. Mayor Ed Lee has introduced legislation to reinstate the $7 fee -- perman ... More >>

Scott Wiener Takes Up Cause of Anti-Leash Activists

And so it begins​One of the more puzzling aspects of San Francisco politics is the bizarre level of conflict that arises with any discussion of dogs. The prolonged internecine conflict between those who wish to run their dogs free and advocates of more restrictive leash laws has periodically convu ... More >>

Supervisor John Avalos Wants to Scrap Botanical Gardens Fee for Tourists

Botanical Gardens...still not worth $7. ​As we predicted last year, most tourists won't want to pay $7 to enter the city's Botanical Gardens, especially since it's free to residents.That's partly why Supervisor John Avalos is proposing the city eliminate the fee (how often does that happen?) and r ... More >>

Get to know S.F.'s community gardens with SF Refresh

Botanical Gardens...still not worth $7. ​As we predicted last year, most tourists won't want to pay $7 to enter the city's Botanical Gardens, especially since it's free to residents.That's partly why Supervisor John Avalos is proposing the city eliminate the fee (how often does that happen?) and r ... More >>

Postcards from the Edge

Botanical Gardens...still not worth $7. ​As we predicted last year, most tourists won't want to pay $7 to enter the city's Botanical Gardens, especially since it's free to residents.That's partly why Supervisor John Avalos is proposing the city eliminate the fee (how often does that happen?) and r ... More >>

Mount Sutro battle pits tree lovers against native-plant lovers

Botanical Gardens...still not worth $7. ​As we predicted last year, most tourists won't want to pay $7 to enter the city's Botanical Gardens, especially since it's free to residents.That's partly why Supervisor John Avalos is proposing the city eliminate the fee (how often does that happen?) and r ... More >>

Do You Have First Amendment Rights in San Francisco Parks or Not?

Now valid in National Parks! Right?​Jurisdictional lines are funny things. Here in San Francisco you can hoist your banners and beat your drum to express the message of your choosing per your First Amendment Rights -- until you tread onto Ocean Beach, the Presidio, or other federal land. The Natio ... More >>

Off the Grid Organizer Seeking Permits for Street-Food Markets in S.F. Parks

Chris MacArthur/SF WeeklyRec and Park commissioners vote Thursday to allow Off the Grid-like markets in three city parks.​The organizer of S.F.'s Off the Grid street-food market at Fort Mason Center could soon be rolling out similar events in three city parks. At Thursday's regularly scheduled ... More >>

Caltrans Sued Over Highway Project Through Redwood Forest

​Environmental activists are suing Caltrans over plans to expand and reroute a highway that passes through Richardson Grove State Park, the Humboldt County preserve that boasts some of California's oldest and tallest coast redwoods.The suit was filed yesterday in San Francisco Superior Court by th ... More >>

Tourists Must Now Pay To Enter S.F. Botanical Garden. Are Locals to Follow?

Mila Zinkova...But you can still look at the pictures for free​The city of San Francisco, it seems, has stumbled upon a remarkable new way to generate cash. It will make people pay money for something they didn't really want in the first place. By a lopsided 8-3 vote, the Board of Supervisors on T ... More >>

Investigators to Inspect Dead Couple's Beached Boat

View Larger MapNational Park Service investigators will be poring over the 33-foot boat of a couple killed yesterday off Ocean Beach in an attempt to answer what compelled a middle-aged couple to head overboard to their deaths. "We don't know why the boat was in distress and we don't know why the pe ... More >>

Move to Ban Smoking in State Parks Gains Steam. Guns in National Parks? That's Fine.

This may soon be illegal in State Parks. It's still kosher in National Parks, though -- as are firearms. ​ Smoking in the park? Perish the thought. A smoking gun in the park? Well ... that all depends on the park. Yesterday, the state Assembly passed a bill enacting a broad smoking ban in the sta ... More >>

Garden-Variety Debate Continues: Public To Vent Tonight On Plan To Ding Out-of-Town Arboretum Visitors

It's pretty -- but is it seven bucks worth of pretty?Last month we wrote about a debate among the tulips: In order to make up for a shortage of funds, Recreation and Park Department officials were proposing a $5 to $7 entry fee for  Strybing Arboretum. And yet, since the city feels the arboretu ... More >>

The Wild Side

It's pretty -- but is it seven bucks worth of pretty?Last month we wrote about a debate among the tulips: In order to make up for a shortage of funds, Recreation and Park Department officials were proposing a $5 to $7 entry fee for  Strybing Arboretum. And yet, since the city feels the arboretu ... More >>

The S.F. Botanical Garden's wish list

It's pretty -- but is it seven bucks worth of pretty?Last month we wrote about a debate among the tulips: In order to make up for a shortage of funds, Recreation and Park Department officials were proposing a $5 to $7 entry fee for  Strybing Arboretum. And yet, since the city feels the arboretu ... More >>

Feds take the fun out of fungi hunting at Lands End

It's pretty -- but is it seven bucks worth of pretty?Last month we wrote about a debate among the tulips: In order to make up for a shortage of funds, Recreation and Park Department officials were proposing a $5 to $7 entry fee for  Strybing Arboretum. And yet, since the city feels the arboretu ... More >>

A Garden-Variety Debate: City Hopes to Charge for Entry to Arboretum to Build World-Class Facility. But Local Folks Just Want Place to Sit in the Sun.

Will folks pay to doze beneath this great cypress?When folks filed into an unpleasant Monday meeting regarding the city's plan to begin charging for entry to Strybing Arboretum, they were unhappy enough about what they figured was a plea for them to pay good money to maintain the previously free sta ... More >>

Tenderloin Listed as Federal Historic District

Not your average national park visitorsOne of San Francisco's most notoriously downtrodden neighborhoods has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places, a distinction that -- in addition to giving the neighborhood some welcome positive attention -- brings the potential for federal tax c ... More >>

S.F. park rangers want more power, guns

Not your average national park visitorsOne of San Francisco's most notoriously downtrodden neighborhoods has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places, a distinction that -- in addition to giving the neighborhood some welcome positive attention -- brings the potential for federal tax c ... More >>

The Pork Park

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is quietly trying to keep the Presidio on the public teat. That's a good thing.

An Inconvenient Plant

One of the world's rarest plants grows in the Presidio. Plans are under way to save it — and ax thousands of trees in the process.

Mother Nature or Nurture?

The question of whether to begin saving creatures and habitats from climate change

Fire Fighting

The question of whether to begin saving creatures and habitats from climate change

Our Fishy Friends

Lend a hand to salmon in need

The Nature of Politics

Dog owners, compliant pols viciously distort a reasonable attempt to preserve our environmental legacy

Best Local Version of Machu Picchu

Batteries Chamberlain, Crosby, Cranston, Marcus Miller, and Boutelle

Best Dismembered Piece of Hearst Legacy

Scattered Remains of the Santa Maria de Ovila Monastery

Ship of Fools

Men keep falling in love with the aging steam schooner Wapama. She always exacts her price.

Second Time Around

Men keep falling in love with the aging steam schooner Wapama. She always exacts her price.

Presidio Originals

The Muwekma Ohlone tribe pushes for a voice in Presidio planning -- and, perhaps, a piece of a national park

Bag It, Larry

No one seems to want a grocery store in the Presidio except Larry Buck

Between a Rock and a ... Rock

Environmental testing in the Presidio may be a Sisyphean task

When the Bay was Groun Zero

A look at the Cold War ghosts that haunt the rim of the city

Letters

A look at the Cold War ghosts that haunt the rim of the city

SLUGging It Out

Under the San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners, community gardeners get down and dirty