A wild free-flowing stream in San Francisco?

Presidio's Tennessee Hollow offers unparalleled restoration opportunity

The Tennessee Hollow watershed, covering much of the eastern half of San Francisco's Presidio, is the subject of an ambitious creek restoration proposal, where underground streams could be brought to the surface and wildlife habitat restored.

The Presidio, rich in military and cultural history, is a place of unsurpassed beauty perched at the edge of the Pacific. "It lies upon a maritime frontier, and it also lies upon the verge of California," wrote Roger Kennedy, former director of the National Park Service, in the Preamble to the Presidio's 1994 national-park Management Plan. "The Presidio is, therefore, an ideal setting in which to consider seriously how we must live in intersections and inter-relationships with both the natural and constructed environments."

Most of Tennessee Hollow's three tributaries and much of the main watercourse are hidden from view in underground culverts. Unlike most San Francisco creeks, however, this one is not connected to the sewer system, and so is fully capable of being returned to its natural systems and habitats, from its headwaters near Inspiration Point to its union with the Crissy Marsh. At the Hollow's heart lies the legendary El Polín Spring, location of one of the earliest Spanish-period archeological sites, and most days a place of quiet solitude.

Remarkably, many of the stream courses are relatively undisturbed, though they flow under an unnatural canopy of eucalyptus that degrades water quality by releasing complex phenols that sometimes form an oily sheen on the water.

One stream course, though, flows right through a '60s-era housing development, and two others run under recreational play fields. One of the play fields has been closed for 10 years, as it sits on a hazardous-waste site, one of six contaminated sites within the watershed. Other challenges to restoration include inappropriate recreational and other uses (commercial dog-exercising businesses, for example) as well as development pressures. A successful restoration proposal must deal effectively with these challenges to restore ecological integrity and provide wildlife habitat.

The Presidio Trust, the governmental entity responsible for management of the interior 80% of the Presidio as a national park, is expected to soon release an Environmental Assessment or, preferably, an Environmental Impact Statement for the restoration of Tennessee Hollow. It is essential that the environmental document include an analysis of a full- or maximum-restoration alternative. Without it, decision-makers and the public will lack the information necessary to select the best course of action, inviting the risk that restoration will be incomplete and will fall short of the watershed's potential for renewed ecological integrity.

WhatYouCanDo

Please write to:

Presidio Trust Board of Directors
c/o Mr. Craig Middleton
Executive Director, Presidio Trust
P.O. Box 29052, 34 Graham St.
San Francisco, CA 94129.

Ask the Board to perform a full Environmental Impact Statement for the restoration of the Tennessee Hollow watershed, not just an Environmental Assessment. In either case, urge that the analysis include a full- or maximum-restoration alternative. Emphasize that the Board should consider ecosystem function and integrity as an essential element of the Presidio, and that this restoration project within a major city should be designed ambitiously to serve as a national and international example.