by Mike Rothmann, Committee Chair
RESTORING THE VISION: ADDRESSING TREE MANAGEMENT IN PIONEER AND JACK EARLY PARKS
The Parks & Trees Committee, and by extension this column, focuses mostly on advocating for the expansion of our urban forest. We’ve worked hard to fill empty sidewalk basins and to save perfectly healthy mature trees from being removed in the name of development.
Here, however, I’d like to shift focus to pruning and in some cases, removal. Several factors have led me to write this article. In addition to the unprecedented tornado warning (which, while not resulting in an actual tornado in San Francisco, did bring high winds and dramatic photos of cars smashed by fallen branches and trees), a recent trip to Japan, where shaping and maintaining trees is an art form, have profoundly shifted my perspective.
Our public spaces are crucial, and, recently, I’ve come across two in particular that feel neglected: Pioneer Park and Jack Early Park. These two parks, Pioneer Park, under the supervision of the Recreation and Parks Department (RPD), and Jack Early Park, in a gray area but technically managed by the Department of Public Works (DPW), have trees that have become so overgrown that they interfere with the original design and pose a potential risk for catastrophic failure.
How many of you have seen tourists fumbling with the coin-operated binoculars under the empty pedestal by the parking lot in front of Coit Tower? The views have mostly been blocked by overgrown cypresses for years. Despite their name, Monterey Cypresses are not native to the region. Although historic (the trees in question approaching 100 years old), they do not contribute to the iconic foliage on the hill that defines the skyline and could incrementally be replaced with native oak varieties, slow growing trees with larger canopies and less vertical growth.
In an SFGATE article from January 2024, the question of replacing the trees was posed to a representative from RPD, who cited the structural stability of the hill as the reason for the deferred maintenance. I question whether this is true, especially given that Rec/Park has successfully tackled restorations on even more challenging terrain, such as the bluffs that face the ocean in the Presidio.
For those who haven’t visited Jack Early Park, it’s on the north end of Grant Avenue and consists of a staircase leading up to a viewing platform. Created in 1962 and worked on until his death, the park is named after Telegraph Hill Dweller Jack E. Early. He called the north side of Telegraph Hill ‘Alcatraz Heights’ and planted only one eucalyptus and one Monterey pine. I doubt he would appreciate that a pepper tree and a Victorian box tree immediately adjacent to the viewing platform have grown so tall that they now block the view envisioned and created by this iconic ad man.
DPW prioritizes pruning street trees and has justifiably removed robust species, such as the Ficus macrocarpa, from its approved planting lists in the name of safety. Even though we have continuously urged the city’s agencies to plant more trees to expand the urban forest, when trees begin to obscure and detract from the City’s natural beauty, it’s time to remember that balance in nature sometimes needs help.
Public parks are a gift to visitors and residents alike. They should be maintained with the original design intent or intentionally improved, continuing the tradition of beautifying our City. In 1994 for his work on the Park, Jack Early was recognized by San Francisco and by a young nonprofit, Friends of the Urban Forest. In Jack Early’s obituary, then THD President Bob Tibbits said, “Jack Early Park stands as an inspiration to all would be urban foresters.” Jack Early put 33 years of his life into his mini park and demonstrated a commitment to his community in doing so. Telegraph Hill Dwellers and the Parks & Trees Committee will continue this work in 2025!
