Bayview Park is a disturbing example of the culture clash between NAP and the general public.  The general public has a definite reverence for the trees here in San Francisco.  NAP has a very different viewpoint when the trees are non-native (which most of them are).  In this park, we cannot tell you how many trees will be removed.  The text of the NAP plan tells us 511 trees are to be removed.  However, residents complained when they became aware in 2001 that NAP gardeners had removed over 1000 trees at this park. (An interesting article about this was written by Ken Garcia and published in the SF Chronicle. Click here to view the article.)  NAP’s explanation was that they removed saplings and seedlings, which they do not define as trees.  This is in direct contradiction to the commonly held dictionary definition of a sapling or a seedling which specify both a sapling and seedling as a tree.  Please see Wayne’s World Item #4 for further explanation.  If you look to Figure 6.17-5 in this plan (shown below), you will see that 6000 trees are to be removed at Bayview Park under the purview of NAP!   This number is NOT reflected in the totals for tree removal that NAP has submitted to the public.  We can only guess that EIP Associates who created this Figure 6.17-5 may have included the number of seedlings and saplings to be removed in their totals, and NAP forgot to modify the total to conform to their “new and improved” definition of a tree.  The deceit involved in this aspect of the NAP program is truly disturbing.  It is reasonable to question all of the aspects of the NAP plan after this example of their attitude regarding the truth.

The entire 43.8 acres of Bayview Park have been declared a “natural area” in this plan.  The only Federal or State listed threatened or endangered species possibly present here is the Mission Blue Butterfly.  The habitat for the Mission Blue Butterfly is only 1.3 acres, and the Mission Blue Butterfly was last sighted in 2001.  Guidelines set forth in NAP’s establishment as explained by NAP Director Lisa Wayne, are to “preserve what is left of the original habitat and protect it from further degradation…enhance these little remnants that are degraded”.  By those standards, only 1.3 acres of Bayview Park would be a natural area.  Certainly erosion control could be accomplished here without creating a natural area in the entire park.  By establishing the entire park as a “natural area”, NAP intends to do the following.

• Remove numerous trees, details of which are above.
• Close 1500’ of social trails in the park.
• Allow access to the park on designated trails only. Fencing will be installed should NAP deem it necessary.
• Comprehensive erosion control plan will be implemented.
• Ban and enforce the ban of off-road motorcycles in the park.
• Reduction in “predation pressure”.  This would refer to the killing of feral cats and any other wildlife NAP deems unacceptable.
• Creation of a seasonal wetland.

NAP has allowed local native plant and bird enthusiasts to arbitrarily identify a group of “sensitive” species  that they intend to plant throughout the park.  By planting these species, and removing the non-native species that already exist in the park, NAP hopes to justify their designation of the entire park as a “natural area”.  This, however, is a direct violation of their mission, which was to protect currently existing habitat, NOT create habitat in order to exclude those who wish to recreate at the park.