Before their scheduled Wednesday work party, eight Glen Canyon Park volunteers were treated to a field trip along Islais Creek, in order to best view the fruits of their labors. Their guide on April 20th was Randy Zebell, a San Francisco Recreation and Parks gardener. Winding down a path leading to the creek bed, the neighborhood volunteers, who give up three hours each week to introduce California native plants and unearth invasive weeds that threaten the plants, were shown healthy red alder, blue elderberry, creek monkey flower, fringe cups and blue ceanothus, which witnessed a host of bumble bees gathering pollen.
Recalling what the area, which lies only a few yards north of the Recreation Center, once looked like, Zebell commended the workers on their efforts. “It is amazing the complete cover that now exist,” Zebell said. “It’s now possible to get back in touch with the diversity that was once here.”
Zebell made the point that Glen Canyon is one of the few areas left in San Francisco that offers such a rich environment because, with the exception of the Presidio, only Glen Canyon has an above ground creek running through it.
