Partner Spotlight: Sutro Stewards



Sutro Stewards is a project of the San Francisco Parks Alliance that has mobilized community since 2006 to steward and enjoy the UCSF Mount Sutro Open Space Reserve in the heart of San Francisco (SF). Volunteers formed the organization in response to UCSF’s 2000 Open Space Management Plan. UCSF owns and manages 61 acres of Mount Sutro and SF Recreation & Parks manages 20 acres. Sutro Stewards works in collaboration with UCSF to maintain and manage trails, remove invasive plants, and restore native vegetation.

Three year-round volunteer programs achieve Sutro Stewards' goals of conservation and public access. The trails program maintains and restores 5.5 miles of multi-use trails. The habitat conservation program removes invasives and restores native plants at more than 20 active sites in the reserve. A native plant nursery program grows 100+ plant species native to SF for restoration and the community.  Each year, more than 1,000 volunteers contribute to the removal of many weeds, including Armenian blackberry ( Rubus armeniacus ), English ivy ( Hedera helix ), Cape ivy ( Delairea odorata ), and panic veldtgrass ( Ehrharta erecta ). 

Conservation, Education, and Nursery Program Manager, Liza Kachko shared that “In the last four years, we have expanded from a handful of restoration sites to over two dozen. All our efforts are accomplished with volunteers hand pulling, digging, and weed wrenching out invasives and replacing them with native plant grown in our nursery. Many areas have been transformed from Armenian blackberry thickets to include many species of native forbs, shrubs, and grasses.”

Check out upcoming events with Sutro Stewards and get involved to restore this unique mountain in the City!