TREES IN THE PRESIDIO
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The Presidio some 1,480 acres and a little more all belonged to the Muwekma Ohlone and was stolen from them by the strangers who have NO conscience. While the Ohlone lived on the land we now call the Presidio, which means jailhouse thousands of bird, animal, insect, and plants were destroyed and vanished into history.
Now a few hundred years from forced occupation of the land because of two so called endangered plant species, which in reality are found in other places on the Presidio - some fanatics want to fell mature trees. Backing them the federal agency which has done next to nothing to preserve and protect Fish and Game and the environment that surrounds them all over the Bayarea. The National Park Service is in the business of Protection and Preservation. They do not do it because of one very simple reason they have no understanding what it means to do it. They talk the talk but very rarely walk the walk. The 6th U.S. Army and Presidio of San Francisco had a Forest Management Plan in place around 1991. Imagine it has taken the buffoons so long to put a Forest Management in place and it will take them even longer to execute a sensible plan. All the lands and facilities that now are controlled by the National Park Service in the immediate area of the Presidio of San Francisco belonged to the Army. Today the NPS control Upper and Lower Fort Mason, East Fort Barker, the coast line on the Presidio, Fort Funston, and Building 102 on the Presidio which the NPS has gutted and cannot fix since 1992. Endangered plant species are important but more importance should be given to the Shellmounds, the Sacred Burial Ground of the Muwekma Ohlone. You find them all over the Presidio of San Francisco, Upper Fort Mason, by the Cliff House, these are the sites that should be Preserved and Protected. They have NOT. It is a shame that the Presidio Trust and the NPS in these times of fiscal constraints want to fell hundreds of mature trees - when it is not necessary to do so. The NPS wasted millions of dollars before Nancy Pelosi introduced the Trust Bill and planted a quasi-governmental agency called the Presidio Trust who also wasted millions under fired James Meadows. Nancy should garner some strength and whip these mostly white folks and keep them in line. The Presidio trees were planted by the Army and well taken care off. Then came the NPS and the Presidio Trust and they let most of the Presidio trees fall into a destructive mode. It is very easy to cut trees but not too easy to plant and water them as the Army did for years. Again and again the NPS and the Presidio Trust has taken the wrong route when it comes to leadership and vision. The likes of James Meadows, Mai-Liis Bartling, B.J. Griffin, Susan Hurst, Brian O'Neill all make good subjects for the study of corruption and lack of leadership. It is only in a corrupt melieu that such parasites ferment. The mature trees at the Presidio of San Francisco should be left alone. The endangered plants are doing fine right now. If one really does the homework the endangered plants were propagated on the back and hard work of volunteers. Many of them young people who are NOT paid. The Presidio Trust will allocate millions of dollars to fell the trees and pocket the money. They have done it before and will do it again. The Presidio today is a White Enclave where the worst type of corruption goes on and discrimination is found everywhere. Let us spend the millions on diversity. Let us give the Buffalo Soldiers a place and a monument. Let us not waste the tax payers money on stuff that really can wait in these times of fiscal constraints. Let the trees stand tall and remain. They were planted by the Army and well cared for before some maniacs decided to bring them down. What nerve? |
