Program areas at San Bruno Mountain Watch
Mission Blue Nursery Program San Bruno Mountain Watch operates the Mission Blue Nursery to grow the native flora of San Bruno Mountain. In 2022, San Bruno Mountain Watch continued hosting programs at the nursery for the public to participate in plant propagation and maintenance activities. Nursery volunteers contributed 1340 hours of service at the nursery during this year. The nursery grew native plants for various restoration projects on San Bruno Mountain and propagated rare and endangered plants for plant conservation and seed amplification projects. Native plants were also provided to other urban greening projects throughout the San Francisco Peninsula. The nursery hosted three public plant sales and offered plants through individual plant pick-up appointments, and donated plants to community garden partners who are beneficiaries of the Environmental Justice Fund at Mission Blue Nursery.
Education Program San Bruno Mountain Watch's education program connects the public with the cultural and natural history of San Bruno Mountain through field trips, presentations, digital resources, and service-learning opportunities. In 2022, San Bruno Mountain Watch celebrated and distributed a newly published book titled San Bruno Mountain: A Guide to the Flora and Fauna, authored by Doug Allshouse and David Nelson, The organization continued creating educational resources as part of the San Bruno Mountain Digital Learning Initiative, expanded the San Bruno Mountain Archives with new collections, developed new interpretive zines for various projects on the mountain and hosted school field trips and academic internships.
Ecological Restoration Program San Bruno Mountain Watch leads ecological restoration efforts in collaboration with community volunteers, students, corporate groups, park agencies, and local cities. Volunteers contributed 2,591 hours to community-based ecological restoration efforts led by our organization in 2022. San Bruno Mountain Watch continued grassland restoration efforts as part of the San Bruno Mountain Habitat Conservation Plan, planting native host and nectar plants to improve habitat for the mountain's endangered Mission Blue and Callippe Silverspot butterflies. The organization also participated in a host plant seeding project in partnership with Creekside Science, hosting community events where volunteers helped sow over 25,000 silver,summer and varicolor lupine seeds on the mountain, the host plants of the mission blue butterflies. Invasive plant removal efforts continued in areas like the San Bruno Mountain Dunes, Buckeye and Owl Canyons, and the southern slopes of the mountain through the efforts of the South San Francisco Weed Warriors. New sections were planted at the San Bruno Mountain Botanical Garden. San Bruno Mountain Watch also carried out a restoration effort within salt marsh and transitional habitats at the shoreline of Colma Creek as part of the Colma Creek Restoration and Adaptation project. The creek begins on San Bruno Mountain and drains into San Francisco Bay.