Author's New Book Looks at City's Trees from a Unique Perspective
Mike Sullivan stands in front of a primrose tree on
11th Avenue. By Jonathan Farrell As an arborist, Mike Sullivan points to a California Buckeye at the corner of McAllister and Willard streets and calls it a "true San Francisco native." The 150-year-old tree, not far from the University of San Francisco campus, was almost chopped down by a developer in 1999. Sullivan considers this his favorite tree in the City; one prominently featured with many others in the author's first book, "The Trees of San Francisco." In addition to giving walking tours, he also helps coordinate neighborhood tree plantings. In his book, Sullivan shares his knowledge of trees and love of local history. Sullivan is an attorney at the law firm of Howard Rice & Associates. But when he is away from his fellow lawyers, he is an arborist and volunteer at the Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF). The Friends of the Urban Forest is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and understanding trees and foliage in an urban setting. When Sullivan is at work at the Embarcadero Center, he can watch a nesting spot for parrots. "These parrots migrate regularly to Cole Valley," he said. Sullivan confessed that his other love, besides trees, is the City. Arriving here for a visit from upstate New York in 1983, it was love at first sight. By the following year, he found a job and was back to stay. Sullivan says growing up on the east coast - around maple, birch and oak trees - fostered his love of trees. When he settled in San Francisco, he was amazed at the area's diversity species of trees. This intrigued Sullivan, who began to uncover not only a history of trees, but of San Francisco itself because each neighborhood has a character and charm that has contributed to the cultural mosaic of the entire City. Before the Spanish landed in 1776, San Francisco was grass hills and sand dunes, with few trees. Among the few natives were the Buckeye and Wild Oak, usually huddled in small, sheltered valleys. These were familiar to the indigenous peoples. As Europeans settled in the area, they brought with them their ideas and agricultural traditions. Over the next 150 years, the landscape the native tribes cherished began to change dramatically. Sullivan points out that the planting of trees and foliage was undertaken during a relatively short time span, compared to San Francisco's long natural history. Frederick Law Olmsted - the designer of New York City's Central Park - was skeptical that San Francisco's idea for a park in in the dunes in 1865 would work. Determined, despite Olmsted's misgivings, city officials gave the job to a 24-year-old man named William Hammond Hall. Hall's 1870 design made a green space out of acres of sand dunes. But despite the amazing success of Golden Gate Park, Sullivan says most San Francisco neighborhoods were barren of trees. Few trees lined San Francisco streets until the advent of the ecology movement in the '70s. From that initiative, arborists have continued to provide more trees, through various city-sponsored projects. Sullivan's book mentions that some of the early arborist endeavors were trial and error. Some trees grew well, while others did not. In 1981, as municipal budgets for tree planting projects were being slashed, the FUF was formed. Strybing Arboretum often works with FUF on programs to maintain and foster the life of trees in the city. Scot Medbury, staff director at the Strybing Arboretum, encouraged Sullivan to write the book. "It's a beautiful book," Medbury said. Published by Pomegranate Communications, the book includes a Walking Tours section. "I wrote the book for the average person, with points of interest, maps and sidebars," Sullivan said. FUF Program director Doug Wildman was also pleased with the book. "Subsidies are now available to help plant more trees in the Sunset District," Wildman reported. For more information, call the Friends of the Urban Forest at (415) 561-6890 or go to the website at www.sftrees.com. |
