Greetings Sign Hill Stewards,

The palette of springtime is a sight to behold on Sign Hill’s grasslands. The happy yellow rosettes of footsteps-of-spring are the opening act followed by broad strokes of orange California poppies, bursts of vibrant purple lupines and Ithuriel's spears, and a grand finale of brilliant pink clarkias that cascade across the hillsides, aptly named farewell-to-spring. The more you visit, the more you may become enchanted by the diversity of wildflowers these native grasslands offer, some of which only blossom for a few weeks, or even days. Sign Hill Stewards workdays are a unique opportunity to explore some of the most remote corners of the park where there is always something new to discover. 

This spring was record-setting for Sign Hill Stewards. We had over 180 new volunteers and collectively we dedicated over 600 hours to controlling invasive species and planting native seeds on Sign Hill and the Bay Trail along Colma Creek. A majority of our new volunteers were involved with the many corporate groups that chose to donate their time to environmental restoration including Pliant Therapeutics, Sana Biotechnology, Atomic AI, and a huge group of volunteers from Genentech Biotechnology. Additionally we had a fantastic pair of volunteer interns join us from Design Tech High School, as well as a work crew from the San Francisco Conservation Corp (SFCC). It is incredible the work that can be done when many hands come together!

Candace LaCroix

Natural Resource Specialist

Leading the Sign Hill Habitat Restoration Project

Over the past year our Natural Resources Aide, Luis Reyes, has been such an invaluable asset on Sign Hill supporting all aspects of the restoration project including land management, environmental restoration, scientific data collection, and volunteer leadership. In mid-April we received the bittersweet news that he would be accepting a new full-time job at One Tam as a Forest Health Community Engagement Fellow. He will be dearly missed by SSF Parks staff and all of the Sign Hill Stewards that had the pleasure to work with him. 

We congratulate him on his new role and wish him all the best as he continues to grow in his career! We are confident that the skills in the field and environmental interpretation Luis brings to One Tam will enrich their programs and the community around Mount Tamalpais.

Luis has left big shoes to fill here at SSF Parks, but we hope to find another special someone to join our Sign Hill Restoration Project as Natural Resources Aide. If you or someone you know might be interested, please keep an eye on calopps.org where the position should be posted later this summer.

On April 19, a team of enthusiastic volunteers from Pliant Therapeutics had a Weed n' Seed event on Sign Hill where they removed invasive thistles and followed up with planting a mix of native grass and wildflower seeds.

On April 26, groups from Sana Biotechnology and Atomic AI gave a big boost to our Sign Hill Stewards workday.

On June 4, a huge group of over 75 volunteers from Genentech Biotechnology came to Sign Hill to help us cut down and tarp Eucalyptus tree regrowth. They also cut down and hauled off loads of black acacia regrowth.

It was incredible how much this hard-working group got done.

Just look at all those helping hands!

Later that week another huge group from Genentech volunteered to help pick up trash and remove invasive weeds from the Bay Trail along Colma Creek.

The target weeds were the highly invasive ice plant (Carpobrotus edulis)

and sweet fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) that is taking over huge sections of the Bay Trail. We focused on areas nearest the mouth of Colma Creek that provides important habitat for many shorebirds.

The work accomplished in this area was truly unprecedented. I could not have imagined before and after shots like these!

A huge thank you to all of these volunteers and the South City companies that chose to donate time to protecting the natural environment. We hope to see you again next year!

This spring we welcomed two Design Tech High School interns, Kira and August, who supported SSF Staff in a variety of tasks on Sign Hill including conducting our annual mission blue butterfly (Icaricia icarioides missionensis) surveys.



They learned to distinguish the three different species of lupine that are the butterfly's host plants, as well as what their eggs and larvae look like.

The interns also planted a habitat restoration area along the top of Ridge Trail with a native seed mix, much of which was collected locally on Sign Hill. The planting area had been completely covered with Italian thistle (Carduus pycnocephalus) but was cleared by a fierce group of Sign Hill Stewards earlier in the year.

Kira is interested in studying biology and August wants to pursue a career in environmental engineering. It will be exciting to see how these bright students will apply their experiences on Sign Hill in their future careers!

Sign Hill Stewards participated in various Weed n' Seed events this spring where we braved pulling very pokey Italian thistles and followed up by planting a seed mix of native grasses and wildflowers in the disturbed areas.

It is always surprising how much a dedicated group of volunteers can get done in just a couple of hours. Just look at this truck bed full of weeds!

As spring rolls on the short-podded mustard (Hirschfeldia incana) starts to spring up, so Sign Hill Stewards are taking action to cut down as many as we can before they drop their seed.

Now you see it...

now you don't!

We also got support from the San Francisco Conservation Corp (SFCC) this year to clear the 100 foot firebreak around the perimeter of the park. They have been a great resource with the limited staff we have available, and this is strenuous work!

We are so grateful to the many hands that come together to support the Sign Hill Restoration Project and help make the park a better place for wildlife and people!

If you would like to join us for an upcoming Sign Hill Stewards workday please check out the calendar of events and register on Eventbrite.

The Sign Hill Restoration Project is centered around protecting and restoring habitat for the endangered mission blue butterfly (Icaricia icarioides missionensis) on Sign Hill. Therefore, an important aspect of the project is to monitor the butterfly's population to observe changes over time.

We want to be aware of any fluctuations in population, the start and length of the flight season, and how different areas of the park are being occupied. Mission blue butterflies are intimately connected to the environment and their host plants the silver lupine (Lupinus albifrons), summer lupine (Lupinus formosus), and varied lupine (Lupinus variicolor). Their flight season generally lasts from March-June, but environmental factors such as rainfall and temperature can impact their emergence and length of flight period. There are so many dynamics at play, it makes studying these insects fascinating!

Our survey consists of visiting 30 randomly-selected host plants across the various habitat islands in the park. We visit the same plants every 7-10 days throughout the season since this is the average lifespan of adult butterflies. Surveys begin in February so that we are sure not to miss the start of flight season, and this is also a great opportunity to observe the larvae beginning to emerge.

Each year SSF Parks Natural Resources team, occasionally accompanied by volunteers, conducts mission blue butterfly egg-count surveys. We choose to survey eggs because, unlike adult butterflies that tend to be difficult to spot when it is cold or windy, eggs remain stationary and give us a more reliable measure of the population. We also count any larvae or adults that we encounter.

This excellent lifecycle diagram created by previous Design Tech High School intern, Kendall Lee, is helpful for understanding the whole lifecycle of a mission blue butterfly.

The larvae can be really tough to spot since they move slowly and their green fuzzy appearance is perfect camouflage against their host plants. Fortunately we have a little help finding them from native ants. The larvae have a symbiotic relationship with these native ants which feed on a sugary substance called "honeydew" secreted from the larva's abdomen, and in exchange act like little body guards protecting them from predators and parasites.

READER CHALLENGE!

Can you spot the larva in each of these photos?

Pretty tricky huh?

Fortunately spotting the eggs is a lot easier. Usually by March we start to see adults in flight and their eggs, however for the last couple of years with more rainfall, adults have not emerged until April.

As the season winds-down and egg counts are decreasing, the larvae that emerge are preparing to go into diapause, or hibernation. This year we noticed some extremely small larvae that appeared to have just hatched. We do not see native ants tending these younger late-season larvae.

I hope you will enjoy studying the charts below which highlight the results of this year's survey and the interesting patterns they reveal. We hope to see these numbers increase in the years to come as we continue to enhance and expand mission blue habitat across the park!

THIS SATURDAY!

Sign Hill Walk Hike Talk Rite Tops Left

with Gabriel Garza

Saturday, July 6, 2024 | 2-4pm

Location: 799 Poplar Ave, South San Francisco, CA 94080

Free event | Register here

On the occasion of Malaprop Pablum, an exhibition of works on aluminum by Gabriel Garza in /room/, join the artist and Candace LaCroix, Natural Resource Specialist at South San Francisco Parks and Rec, for a short hike to the iconic South San Francisco sign at Sign Hill. Garza and LaCroix will explore the sign’s history and impact with the group.

Gabriel Garza was born and raised in Los Angeles and currently resides in San Francisco. He produces signage that works to give functional encounters with language a sense of poetics. Pamphlets, construction signs, and homemade business cards display an amateur or practical design that he admires. He borrows from these aesthetics, embracing the limitations of commercial design and the poor quality of signage vernacular to make sculptures. He received his BA in Art from UCLA in 2017 and is joining the USC Roski MFA program this Fall.

*This event includes a hike that is steep at times and not wheelchair accessible. For additional accessibility information, please email gaberealgarza@gmail.com.

One of our most dedicated Sign Hill Stewards, Andrey Friedman, submitted this breathtaking photo of Sign Hill at sunset. It is wonderful to see how public open spaces like Sign Hill can serve as an inspiration for art. Thank you Andrey for sharing your work!

Do you have Sign Hill-inspired artwork to share? We would absolutely love to see it! Please email submissions to candace.lacroix@ssf.net.

March 27, 2024

A bumble bee sleeps peacefully on a checker bloom (Sidalcea malviflora) in the cool morning.

Patches of deep purple coast larkspurs (Delphinium decorum) unfurl on the north-facing slopes.

Plentiful Largus cinctus bugs can be found grazing on lupine plants, which they seem to have a preference for.

Flushes of California goldfields (Lasthenia californica) paint large swaths of Sign Hill in vibrant yellow.

A jumbo-sized Jerusalem cricket, a nocturnal burrow-dweller, is spotted above ground.

April 24, 2024

A golden violet (Viola pedunculata), host plant to the federally endangered callippe silverspot butterfly (Speyeria callippe callippe) blooms abundantly.

After three consecutive summers of mowing with the Green Climber, the valley on the east side of the park that was once filled with short-podded mustard reveals it's seed bank is still rich in annual lupines (Lupinus bicolor).

April 26, 2024

A wily pocket gopher circumvents some gopher wire in the demonstration garden by the parking lot.

May 13, 2024

California phacelia (Phacelia californica) planted in the early years of the Sign Hill Restoration Project continues to bloom radiantly.

A field crescent butterfly (Phyciodes pulchella) lands on a summer lupine long enough to catch a shot.

The impressive colors and patterns of an alligator lizard are visible through the green grasses. As the grasses dry in summer, they will be harder to spot.

May 17, 2024

As the grasses begin to dry out, it is time to start working on a 100 foot firebreak around the perimeter of the park. The Green Climber is an incredible tool to help us accomplish this work, especially with stunningly-tall invasive thistles.

May 20, 2024

The fencing protecting callippe silverspot habitat at the top of the hill has been repaired by removing the bent post.

May 23, 2024

Mesh baggies are placed to collect lupine seeds for mission blue butterfly habitat restoration work across the park.

Native brownie thistles (Cirsium quercetorum) bloom in some of the more intact native grasslands. We like these thistles!

June 3, 2024

Coastal buckwheat (Eriogonum latifolium), one of the mission blue butterfly's favorite nectar flowers, is in full bloom.

June 8, 2024

A snake skin is left coiled at the entrance to an underground burrow, likely from a gopher snake.

June 12, 2024: SWALE UPDATE!

The swale, which remained wet for nearly 6 months, has completely dried with the approach of summer. Excitingly, after clearing the tall weeds, you can observe that the areas which remained wet longest are now dominated by the native grasses we sowed including red fescue (Festuca rubra) and meadow barley (Hordeum brachyantherum). There were even some native wetland species that recruited naturally including tall cyperus (Cyperus eragrostis) and toad rush (Juncus bufonius). A testament to historically wetter times and Sign Hill's fascinatingly robust seed bank!

Festuca rubra

Cyperus eragrostis

Hordeum brachyantherum

Juncus bufonius

When: Every other Friday from 9am-12pm and the second Saturday of each month from 9am-12pm. Only cancelled for heavy rains.

Where: Volunteers will park at the Sign Hill Parking Lot nearby 964 Ridgeview Ct, South San Francisco, CA and hike with staff to the restoration site.

Registration: Registration is required. Volunteers under the age of 18 must have a youth waiver signed by a parent/guardian. Youth under the age of 15 are welcome and must be accompanied by an adult. Click the link below to RSVP.

What to bring: To prepare for working outdoors, please bring work gloves, plenty of water, sturdy shoes, long pants and long sleeves, a hat/sunscreen, and a completed waiver for each volunteer. Volunteers should expect some hiking on steep terrain.