Aug 17, 2018
Sutro’s Vision: A Forest in the Middle of the City
On a foggy August day, you might consider wandering through the trails and woods atop Mount Sutro, which some locals consider one of San Francisco’s gems. You might soon discover after trudging through the solitude of this dense woodland of 200-foot tall eucalyptus trees that its birth dates back to the late 19th century, not the times of our Ohlone ancestors.
We owe special debt for Sutro forest to the silver mining magnate, philanthropist and mayor Adolph Sutro. In the 1880s, the German American engineer returned to San Francisco a wealthy man from his remarkable engineering work in Nevada’s silver mine tunnels. He bought 1,200 acres of sandy, coastal sage and chaparral slopes in the western edge, which included Twin Peaks.
There, Sutro started planting thousands of eucalyptus trees on sand, coastal sage and chaparral slopes in 90 acres of his purchase. He created a lush forest ecosystem and donated the forest to UCSF in 1895. Since then, its endured as a protected open space reserve for the public. UCSF’s recent effort to remove a majority of the trees for campus safety has generated a great deal of neighborhood controversy and concern .
Sutro admired nature’s beauty and was dedicated to greening the City at a time when few if any other cities in the United States had public parks. Historians say Sutro believed that parks fostered four important virtues for a harmonious and good society: public health, prosperity, democratic equality, and social coherence. Not surprisingly, Sutro was also a central force organizing California’s first Arbor Day on November 26, 1886, according to historian Richard Brandi in his essay, “Farms, Fire and Forest: Adolph Sutro and Development “West of Twin Peaks.”
Some of San Francisco’s most desirable neighborhoods cover the areas of Sutro’s original farms and foresting efforts. Those communities include Forest Hill, St. Francis Wood, Ingleside Terrace, Westwood Park and Westwood Highlands.
Homeowners have long desired the homes in these wooded neighborhoods for their charming characteristics of generous lot sizes, detached homes and their emphasis on the way by which communities are integrated through both design and layout. The cohesive design of these neighborhoods makes them appealing today and is unique in San Francisco.
The forest’s longevity benefited from Sutro’s vision and unflinching stewardship, that prevented forested areas from being cut down and transformed into rectangular street grids typical of urban planning efforts shaping cities in the early 20th century.
Adolph Sutro will long be remembered for building the Cliff House, Sutro Baths and his efforts battling the Southern Pacific railroad. But it was his exceptional vision and stewardship of nature’s beauty that has long benefited many generations of San Francisco families since first planting a forest on Mount Sutro.
