In October 2009, GG Gunther and her mother were walking around their neighborhood in the Sunset. They met Iris Clearwater, Stewardship Coordinator at Nature in the City. She was looking for volunteers to start street parks along the Green Hairstreak Corridor, a project to restore habitat for the San Francisco native endangered Green Hairstreak butterfly. GG liked the idea and followed through. In January 2010 at age 13, GG became the youngest San Francisco Street Parks steward and planted the plot at the end of her street.
"I didn't know anything about native plants before we started," says GG, who can now tell her Coast Buckwheat from her Deerweed, the two only plants where the nickel-size butterfly can lay eggs. Now an 8th grader at Hamlin School, GG is made of environmentalist fiber. Not only has she learned facts about plants but she's learned how to use the facts in a specific context relevant to her neighborhood.
Green Hairstreak butterflies are rare butterflies endemic to San Francisco and isolated in three parts of the city, two in the Sunset and one in the Presidio. The idea of the corridor, an initiative from Nature in the City, is to create a natural bridge between isolated hosting habitats for butterflies to thrive and re-conquer the land that once was theirs.
"Street parks provide hopscotch spots for butterflies," says Ms. Clearwater, explaining that Rocky Outcrop is connected to Grand View through GG's spot at 14th avenue and Noriega. GG's spot is part of a city-wide movement to create street parks, an initiative of the San Francisco Parks Trust and the city's Department of Public Works.
Through this program, anybody can choose to adopt a parcel next to their home and if it fills certain requirements, they can plant it and turn it into an edible garden, a dog park or in GG's case, a habitat for endangered species. "GG adopted a parcel at 13 years old and now the site is planted with host plants she identified," says Julia Brashares from the San Francisco Parks Trust.
After she learned about that program, GG filed her application in December 2009. It was accompanied by a rough sketch of the intended planting. By then, she had identified which plants she needed with the help of Ms. Clearwater. Weeks later, GG received a hundred plants in her garage and grew them in her backyard. Meanwhile, she got the parcel ready.
Before planting, GG still had to dig up all the native grass so the plot would be bare for the butterfly's host plants. It poured on the day she and friends cleared the parcel but they did what they had to do. Next, GG appealed to her local community by distributing flyers to her neighbors so they would become interested in the project. GG also mentioned her project at school and enrolled two of her friends, one of whom incidentally enjoyed the weeding part, much to GG's dismay.
On the day of planting, a handful of neighbors showed up to lend a hand. The site, small even by San Francisco standards, was planted in one day. "We used the rocks that we had dug up to line the site," says GG, pointing to the rocky borders of the parcel. Showing a sausage-shaped hay bale, GG explains how the hay prevents soil erosion. The site being on a slope, it made sense to keep the new top soil in place.
As the dry season approaches, the question of irrigation will be next on GG's agenda. Fortunately, the neigbor across the street has authorized GG to use his hose to water the parcel. All the site needs now is a little time to grow.
As for GG, the whole street park adventure has been a great learning experience in environmental activism as well as in community chemistry. "I'm very proud of my site," she says, "I feel connected to it."
Connecting people with nature, isn't that the essence of greening a city? The park at 14th and Noriega also shows that the old saying holds true. It does take a village to accomplish great things.
Feeling inspired?
You can help too by planting the right plants in your backyard or adopting a parcel next to you to turn it into a green oasis. Find out more about community street parks here or about the Green Haistreak Corridor here.
* Photo credit: Green hairstreak butterfly photo by Iris Clearwater
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