2011 San Francisco Green Film Festival

We are excited to be a part of the first annual San Francisco Green Film Festival.

Butterflies & Bulldozers kicks of the Festival’s schedule on Friday, March 4th!

I will have the details on Michael Murphy’s memo and some other comments in an upcoming post.

Callippe Silverspot butterfly/Credit: USFWS

More information on the Blue Planet Film Fest web site.

The screening was also an opportunity to raise awareness (and money) for the Friends of the Brisbane Library.  When we lived in Brisbane, we visited that library nearly every week.  It is a wonderful community resource which deserves a new and bigger space!

Butterflies & Bulldozers is an independent documentary that does not advocate the views of any organization; rather it explores the fifty-year fight to save San Bruno Mountain with interviews that provide a variety of perspectives.   David Schooley and San Bruno Mountain Watch play a large role in this ongoing struggle, and the film covers their story in detail.  There are, however, other ways of looking at the complex questions raised by San Bruno Mountain.  Most people who have seen the film tell us they appreciate our balanced and objective approach to the subject.  We look forward to sharing it widely with local communities and to hearing your comments.

David Schooley came all the way from Berkeley to attend the screening. That was a wonderful bonus. He received a very warm ovation from the audience, and made his usual gentle but firm remarks for his cause.

After the screening we talked with some of the attendees who included folks from the Wilderness Society, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and other film festivals. All of the comments were positive and constructive.

Dr. Jeffrey Stine, head of the Environmental History program for the Smithsonian, made extremely kind introductory remarks about the film and the filmmakers. We thank him very much. He also dedicated the day of screenings the great conservationist and former Interior Secretary Stewart Udall. Mr. Udall died the previous day.

Ironically, we had been planning to interview Secretary Udall for our film on Aldo Leopold. We are very sorry to have missed that opportunity. We showed our work-in-progress preview of Green Fire: The Life and Legacy of Aldo Leopold after the B&B screening. It was also well received. Our films were preceded by Forever Wild, a new documentary about activists who have saved their local wild places — an inspiring theme for wonderful day in our nation’s capital.

The Environmental Film Festival is underway. Once again, they have assembled a diverse assortment of interesting films. We have seen just handful, but they are inspiring. Our film premieres later today at the American History Museum.

Details

• Event Type: Butterflies & Bulldozers Premiere
• Date: Sunday, March 21st 2010
• Time: 3:15pm
• City: Butterflies & Bulldozers Premiere in Washington, D.C.
• Venue: National Museum of American History
• Address: Carmichael Auditorium 14th St. & Constitution Ave., NW
• Country: United States
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• Landscape formation occurs underwater during the Cretaceous period, 130 million years ago.
• Ohlone tribes reside on San Bruno Mountain for over 5,000 years
• 1769 Spanish expedition led by Gaspar de Portola “discovers” San Francisco Bay
• 1774 Fernando Rivera and four soldiers climb the mountain.
• 1775 Mountain named by Spanish soldier Bruno Hecata after his patron saint, Bruno of Cologne, founder of the Carthusian Order.
• 1825 End of Spanish Mission period, beginning of Mexican period.
• 1835 Mountain given to Jacob P. Lesse, son-in-law of Gen Mariano Vallejo, as part of Spanish land grant called Canada de Guadalupe, la Visitacion y Rodeo Viejo
• 1843 Lesse trades his land to Robert Ridley for other property in Sonoma. Ridley never lives on this land and later loses it in a lawsuit over a gambling debt.
• 1848 Gold discovered on the American River at SutterMill. San Francisco becomes the only major city in the western part of the United States.
• 1848 Beginning of American period.
• 1850 California becomes a state. San Francisco Bay encompasses 650 square miles
• 1852 Callippe Silverspot first described by Boisduval
• 1864 Map of San Bruno Mountain
• 1865 “San Bruno Mountains” officially named by the Geolgical Survey of California
• 1884 Union Pacific railroad magnate and banker Charles Crocker acquires most of the Spanish land grant that includes San Bruno Mountain. He buys 3,000 acres for $4,000 in a foreclosure sale.
• 1888 Charles Crocker dies.
• 1890 South San Francisco selected for stock yards and meat processing by G.F Swift.
• 1891 Lands transfer to Crocker Estate Company, later called Crocker Land Company
• 1895 Quarry operations begin under lease from Crocker Land Company.
• 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and fire destroys thousands of homes in that city, creating thousands of homeless refugees. Debris from earthquake is dumped in Bay wetlands east of Visitacion Valley at the San Mateo County line. This filling would continue advancing southward for 50 years until it reached the base of the mountain.
• 1908 American Realty files subdivision map for the “City of Visitacion” at the site of present day central Brisbane, creating home sites for people displaced by the San Francisco earthquake. The lots were too expensive at over $1000 and only a handful of homes were built there over the next 20 years.
• 1908 South San Francisco incorporates as a city in San Mateo County.
• 1911 Daly City, named after resident John Daly, is incorporated in San Mateo County.
• 1915-1939 Electric and gas lines built across the mountain.
• 1924 a portion of Colma is incorporated as necropolis for the remains of San Francisco’s dead.
• 1925 Willis Jepson describes Franciscan ecological region.
• 1929 Arthur Annis begins selling lots in the former City of Visitacion, now renamed Brisbane. The depression and the nearby heavy industry and garbage dump keeps land prices low. Lots were priced from $50 to $300.
• 1937 Mission Blue butterfly described by Hovanitz
• 1939-1941 Transmission tower built on mountain.
• 1943 David Schooley born in Wisconsin.
• 1943 Two U.S. fighter planes crash into San Bruno Mountain in a thick fog.
• 1945 World War II draws many shipyard workers to Hunters Point, South San Francisco and Brisbane.
• 1947-1956 Radio towers constructed on Radio Ridge.
• 195X Nike Missile launch site constructed.
• 1956 “north hill” is leveled for fill to build the new Bayshore Freeway.
• 1959 Crocker Industrial Park opens in Guadalupe Valley and wins an award for landscape design.
• 1959 Army Corps of Engineer study recommends filling most of San Francisco Bay to accommodate future growth.
• 1960 San Francisco Bay is 430 square miles, 40 percent smaller than a century before.
• 1960 San Francisco closes landfill in the area now known as the Baylands.
• 1961 Brisbane incorporates as a city to deter urban renewal plans proposed by San Mateo County
• 1961 Save the Bay is formed by three women from Berkeley.
• 1962 Westbay Associates is formed by Crocker Land Company, David Rockefeller, Lazard Freres, Ideal Cement, Leslie Salt and others.
• 1962 Berkeley activist and folksinger Malvina Reynolds has a surprise hit with Little Boxes inspired by the ticky tacky development on the Daly City side of San Bruno Mountain.
• 1962 San Bruno Elfin first described by science.
• 1962 California surpasses New York as the most populous state.
• 1963 Guadalupe Canyon Parkway is built across the mountain over Colma Creek.
• 1965 Westbay Associates unveils the Westbay Project to remove 200 million cubic yard from the top of San Bruno Mountain and put them in the bay. The new plateau and fill lands will cover 26 square miles.
• 1965 Save the Bay group fights to pass the McAteer-Petris Act which regulates additional filling of Bay and creates the Bay Conservation and Development District (BCDC)
• 1965 Brisbane General Plan forecasts population growth from 3,000 to 26,000 residents by 1990. Most of this new growth is planned to take place on San Bruno Mountain.
• 1966 San Francisco Garter Snake placed on Endangered Species List (pre-ESA)
• 1967 Westbay plan is defeated by popular outcry and strategic moves by Brisbane City Council.
• 1968 Elizabeth McClintock publishes Flora of San Bruno Mountain.
• 1969 David Schooley visits Brisbane for the first time.
• 1969 Foremost-McKesson buys Crocker Land Company.
• 1970 First Earth Day celebrated in April.
• 1971 8/26 Foremost-McKesson presents plans at South San Francisco city hall for development with 38,000 residents on the mountain. The project is called Visitacion Rancho.
• 1971 Sept 7 San Mateo Times article re: Bette Higgins letter to the editor.
• 1971 Oct 3, “Walk on the Mountain” to protest plans for Visitation Rancho development.
• 1971 Nov 3, Crocker Land Company presents plans and studies to San Mateo LAFCO and requests sphere-of-influence determination.
• 1971 Mimi Whitney, Bette Higgins, David Schooley and others form the Committee to Save San Bruno Mountain.
• 1971 Dec 28, San Mateo Board of Supervisors Regional Planning Committee (RPC) to study proposed plan for”regional resource park within Visitacion Rancho development.
• 1972 Supervisors amend San Mateo County general plan to included park on San Bruno Mountain.
• 1973 Hawaii-based developer Amfac (C&H sugar) purchases half interest in Visitacion Rancho from Foremost-McKesson. The joint venture is called Visitacion Associates.
• 1973 LAFCO grants Brisbane ”sphere-of-influence authority over a significant portion of the mountain. This move is supported by Visitacion Associates.
• 1973 December, Visitacion Rancho is scaled back to the Crocker Hills project by Visitacion Associates.
• 1973 Congress passes, and President Nixon signs the federal Endangered Species Act, offering strong protections to listed animals.
• 1974 Dec 11, the Committee brings a billy goat named Watergate to County Parks and Rec Commission meeting to protest the fact that the proposed park on the mountain is planned on steep land unsuitable for recreation and only usable by “billy goats”.
• 1975 Visitacion Associates pegs asking price for the saddle at $30 million.
• 1975 Fred Smith moves to Brisbane.
• 1976 Jan 28 Battle of Colma re-created on the mountain.
• 1976 Jan 28 900 attend Supervisors hearing in Daly City War Memorial Building. Lou Papan irks Supervisors by removing Saddle from eligibility for $4 million in State funds. (A deal on this later brokered by Leo McCarthy).
• 1976 March 24th, San Mateo county supervisors approve Saddle in Open Space compromise. This decision dramatically reduces the Crocker Hills project.
• 1976 the Mission Blue and San Bruno Elfin butterflies are listed as endangered species under the ESA of 1973.
• 1976 Sept 10, Visitacion Associates files lawsuit (dismissed in 1977)
• 1977 March 26, Dick Arnold article on his study of the butterflies.
• 1977 July 22, State Park and Rec votes to allocate $4M for mountain park.
• 1978 Visitacion Associates sells 1,165 acres for $6.2 million and donates 546 acres along the ridge top to San Mateo County.
• 1978 Fred Smith elected to Brisbane City Council
• 1978 US Fish and Wildlife Service proposes to list the Callippe Silverspot and to designate areas of San Bruno Mountain as its ‘critical habitat’ but Congress passes the Endangered Species Act Amendments of 1978, changing procedures for the designation of critical habitat.
• 1979 Congress allows completion of Tellico Dam in Tennessee despite presence of endangered fish called the Snail Darter.
• 1979 Visitacion Associates wants LAFCO to take away Brisbanes ”sphere of influence and give it to Daly City for the purpose of developing the Northeast Ridge.
• 1980 297 acre saddle area purchased from Visitacion Associates by State of California for $5.2 million
• 19?? Cadillac Fairview, owned by Canada’s Bronfman family (Seagram’s distillers), options the development rights to the Northeast Ridge. The plan calls for 1,250 units.
• 1980 On April 3rd, LAFCO authorizes Brisbane to annex the Northeast Ridge and Crocker Industrial Park.
• 1980 On April 8th, the Fish and Wildlife Service publicly announces “critical habitat” for the Callippe Silverspot butterfly on the NE Ridge.
• 1980 July 9th, Tom Adams charges Fish and Wildlife with caving to political pressure to not list the Callippe Silverspot. (See July 9, 1980 San Mateo Times article on VA pressure)
• 1980 November, Ronald Reagan is elected President of the United States.
• 1980 Thomas Reid begins study of Mission Blue butterfly habitat.
• 1981 South San Francisco voters defeat initiative seeking to preserve the south slope and Juncus Ravine by prohibiting city services to mountain.
• 1982 On Sept 14th, the Habitat Conservation Plan, a compromise between the developers, government agencies and some conservationists, is agreed upon. Visitacion Associates spends $1 million on the plan, which is written by Thomas Reid Associates.
• 1982 Section 10(a) is added to the Endangered Species Act authorizing the HCP process and allowing “taking” of endangered species and their habitat, if other suitable habitat is retained and improved.
• 1982 August 27th 2,062 acre park master plan in approved.
• 1983 The U.S. Department of the Interior approves the San Bruno Mountain HCP and issues a 10(a) permit for the taking of butterfly habitat. The HCPs allow development to move forward on the Northeast Ridge in Brisbane and South Slopes in South San Francisco.
• 1983 Brisbane annexes the Northeast Ridge and Crocker Industrial Park.
• 1983 David Schooley and others split with the Committee to Save San Bruno Mountain over the HCP. They form a new group called Friends of Endangered Species (FOES) and take the issue to court claiming that the biological study was inadequate.
• 1983 Cadillac Fairview drops out as the development company without signing a development agreement for the 1,250 unit project.
• 1984 Southwest Diversified takes over as the Northeast Ridge developer. This new company includes several former Cadillac Fairview executives.
• 1985 May 17, Friends of Endangered Species loses appeal in Ninth Circuit Court.
• 1985, May 24, a drilling rig owned by W.W. Dean is vandalized. This rig had earlier damaged habitat within the HCP.
• 1985 Brisbane City Council passes a slow-growth Housing Element amendment to the City’s General Plan. Southwest Diversified sues the city and the council members in federal court, claiming their civil (property) rights have been violated.
• 1986 The Southwest Diversified Suit is dismissed, largely because there was no development contract in place. They agree to mediation with the City. This leads to a scaled down version of the project.
• 1986 May 2, Dedication of San Bruno Mountain State and County park. Several smaller land gifts brought the park total to 2,266 acres by this time.
• 1986, May 12, San Mateo County park ranger Michael Fritz tells “hermit” Dwight Taylor that he has to leave.
• 1989 Developer W.W. Dean terraces Paradise Valley on the South Slope, then loses construction funding in the Savings & Loan crisis.
• 1989 Brisbane city council Addendum to Northeast Ridge EIR approved, allowing permitting construction of 597 units.
• 1989 Dec 18, The Trust for Public Lands acquires Owl and Buckeye Canyons from Ralph and Marie Johnson, owners of the Quarry.
• 1992 Construction begins on Phase 1 of Northeast Ridge development with 578 units.
• 1993 The Resolution Trust Corporation sells the failed W.W. Dean mortgage to Arizona firm SunChase.
• 1994 “No Surprises” policy added to the HCP part of an amendment to the Endangered Species Act
• 1994 Brisbane General Plan approved.
• 1997 Callippe Silverspot added to the federal endangered species list.
• 1997 Visitacion Associates sells 1,150 acres to the park and donates 800 additional acres thru the HCP. HCP allowed 600 acres for development and fees collect would fund the HCP for 2750 acres (82% conserved as open space.)
• 1999 Myers Development Corp takes over TerraBay project from SunChase
• 2000 Myers compromises with San Bruno Mountain Watch over Ohlone Shell mound. Myers agrees to preserve the Shell Mound and surrounding valley in exchange for Mountain Watch withdrawing its opposition to development of the remaining parts of Terrabay project. Trust for Public Lands helps transfer ?? acres to the San Bruno County Park.
• 200? Fish and Wildlife Service begins process of adding Callippe to San Bruno Mountain HCP.
• 2002 County Park Rangers staple an eviction notice on Besh and Thelma’s hut. Besh is arrested for an outstanding warrant in Mendocino County
• 2005 Production begins on Butterflies & Bulldozers, a documentary about the fight for San Bruno Mountain.
• 2006 Proposal to build houses in the quarry is soundly defeated by voters in Brisbane
• 2007 Grading begins on Phase III of Terrabay by Myers Development Corp.
• 2007 Brookfield Homes proposes to build 88 new units on the Northeast Ridge.
• 2007 TRA (Thomas Reid) contract as HCP Manager ends, and is not renewed.  The continue to work as contractor for butterfly monitoring.
• 2007 Brookfield is allowed to grade area for 6 homes. U.S. Fish & Wildlife permits taking of Callippe Habitat in response to letter from Brisbane City Engineering citing public safety concerns.
• 2009 Fish and Wildlife issues biological opinion allowing final phase of northeast ridge development to proceed. Project is reduced to 71 homes and located in swale above existing development.
• 2010 Brisbane City Council gives final approval to an additional 71 homes on the Northeast Ridge.
• 2010 March, 21 Butterflies & Bulldozers premieres in Washington, DC

Can people and endangered species coexist?

This film deals with the central dilemma of human growth versus habitat preservation, of property rights versus the rights of other species.

San Bruno Mountain provides a context to explore these complex questions. The mountain represents San Francisco’s lost landscape, a mostly intact remnant of the ecosystem that once covered the hills of that great progressive city. It is the site of the nation’s first Habitat Conservation Plan, a controversial compromise that trades development rights for increased preservation and management on private lands.

The filmmakers do not seek to answer this question, but to tell a compelling story that captures the sometimes painful choices that the local conservationists have to make.