Test Plot Log

UNDER THE EUCALYPTUS

San Bruno Mountain Test Plot
By Victoria Bevington
Test Plot and ULAP Fellow

DATE: November 13 2023

This is the first time in a while I’ve been at the Test Plot alone. A nice moment to reflect on just the plants and myself, here in late fall in the middle of the hardest times for these new plantings. It’s good to see who is still here after making it through some lucky late winter rains and the typical dry summer.

I was there on the day these plants were put in (March 2023), and I often think back about how fortunate we were that it rained immediately the day after they went into the ground. As much as I want to report on how the activity of the human stewards of this piece of land has affected their survival, so much of it seems to be about fluctuating environmental factors which no one can control. If it had been a winter as thirsty as the previous year’s, how different would things look here?

Our intent when developing the Test Plot was to examine what plants would survive under the eucalyptus canopy, and what some rudimentary maintenance would do to help along their chances. There is no supplementary irrigation, no gopher cages although we’ve established a fence around the plot to keep out the aggressive San Bruno Mountain rabbit population.

Again, our variables are nullified by huge inhuman factors. The eucalypts around us have decided that everything is to be mulched by their leaf fall. The allelopathic qualities of these leaves as they decompose is something else we may want to monitor.

Quadrat sampling, monitoring biodiversity at the Test Plot with Brandon, Jen and Victoria.

General

Mulch vs nonmulch sections don’t make much of a difference - the overhead Eucalyptus have mulched them all
A few common weeds returning: grasses, sow thistle, meadow vetch and weedy geraniums
Blackberry sprouts everywhere; ones we flipped back along the fence are still alive. They are particularly prolific in freshwater seeps and marsh section; wettest region

Prairie + Grassland Section

Some existing miners’ lettuce returning
Phacelia californica doing great
Clarkia rubicunda dead
Gopher activity has done a lot of damage

Oak Woodlands

Artemisia douglasiana doing particularly well

Freshwater Seeps + Marsh

Cornus seneca vastly differing in sections, but I suspect the mulch vs nonmulch is not a factor
Helenium puberulum + Symphotricum chilense doing well
Gopher activity here as well

Coastal Sage Scrub

Lovingly planted yarrow and Epilobium doing well

A native volunteer we love, the return of Miner's lettuce

Achillea millefolium (yarrow) doing very well in the Coastal Scrub Mix section at the Test Plot

Cornus seneca (dogwood) doing very well in one planting of the Riparian section at the Test Plot.

Cornus seneca (dogwood) doing very poorly in one planting of the Riparian section at the Test Plot. Compare with the other dogwood.

Community Activity

We’ve done so much this past summer and into the fall! In no particular order: work with Yoni Carnice and ULAP, a cultural collective centering the stories and work of Pinoy creators in and around the Bay, particularly around Daly City. We’ve done art and flower-arranging workshops with community elders, and a visit with a legendary Daly City artist, and have further plans for the winter. ULAP also just launched its new website, where you can find resources and records of our various projects.

We’ve done several interpretive events in and around the Test Plot, including a Red Elderberry hike and Eucalyptus Hike. Both walks were an exciting way to further explore the surrounding landscape through the lens of these two specific species. And, of course, we did a number of work days at the site that involved mulching, weeding, planting, and monitoring species composition and survivorship.

My own work involved interviewing members of my family and weaving what I learned with voices from the community. Earlier this year, we put out a community survey that, while asking practical questions about public familiarity and uses of the mountain, also collected more poetic answers to questions like “Why do you think Daly City is so foggy?

I created a zine that enfolds the answers into a written piece, mixed together with interviews I conducted with members of my family. I talked with my mom and my uncles, who themselves were second-generation immigrants, illustrated the difficult experience of growing up Asian-American in a Daly City that had not yet become the Pinoy Capital of the Bay Area. I also interviewed my brother, and with his experiences and mine, tried to briefly sketch a portrait of my family and its complicated diaspora.

A group tour organized by ULAP with Demetrio Braceros, local artist and retired city gardener of Cayuga Park, of his home and workshop.

Flowering arranging workshop with materials from San Bruno Mountain, Blake Garden, and neighborhood donations at the Kapihan coffee hour at the Lincoln Community Center in Daly City.

Workshop in remembering landscapes from childhood, led by Yoni Carnice at the Kapihan coffee hour at the Lincoln Community Center in Daly City. This is Dolores sharing her beautiful drawing.

Photo Collage from the "Why Do You Think Daly City is So Foggy?" zine

Photo Collages from the "Why Do You Think Daly City is So Foggy?" zine

Quick selfie in Demi Braceros's famous treehouse at his house.

Perfumer Mauricio Garcia explains scent chemistry and components of eucalyptus at the end of the Eucalyptus Hike.

Ariel Cherbowsky speaking on eucalyptus management and restoration on the mountain on the Eucalyptus hike.