Distance: 4.5 miles, pedal
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| Presidio Tree Roots |
Years ago Ciwt wanted a place where she could get out of the city and live in nature. And she was able to rent a lovely, light-filled, airy apartment in Inverness, West Marin. It was on the ground floor nestled in a stand of gorgeous, tall pine trees, and she loved looking out the window directly onto the birds feeding and preening in the garden and feeling the protection of the trees. Then one weekend after a ferocious storm she drove up to her natural paradise and was stopped by trucks and yellow tape strung across and blocking the driveway to her apartment. So, she got out of her car, waited a while and then was given clearance to walk up the hill.
No more trees. Rather, no more standing trees. Twelve tall pines were now laying all over the grass. The area was condemned and the property turned into a logging camp for the better part of a month.
By then, the owners who lived above her were freaked and didn't trust that the trees still standing wouldn't fall through their roof. So Ciwt offered to move out of her little getaway in order for them to move in and feel safe. So ended Ciwt's idyllic second home in the country.
The loggers and trees experts explained that the trees that fell had 'shallow root systems." Ciwt didn't quite get what they meant. She had a midwestern child's image of trees: huge sturdy oaks whose roots went down, down into the earth which she applied to all tall trees when she moved West. Finally today, looking at pines in the Presidio, she got a new image and understood what "shallow root system" means.
Luckily the National Parks Service, Presidio and Golden Gate National Parks Conservatory collablorate to manage the trees within the Presidio.
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