MidTerm Proposal and Thoughts

After quite a bit of initial research about the Islais Creek, I can't help but realize that I keep finding myself focusing in on two different aspects: history and wildlife.

Regardless of the topic or subject I have always been interested in history, especially that of San Francisco. The city holds a lot of meaning for me and my family wouldn't be who they are today without it. I was hoping to incorporate some element of the history of the area into the midterm but as of right now I'm not too sure how to do it. As I believe I mentioned in a previous post, my grandmother grew up in San Francisco and that I planned on asking her if she knew anything about the Creek. Well to update this statement, I did indeed ask her about it but sadly even she had very little knowledge of the Islais Creek. She spent most of her childhood growing up in Ingleside Terrace, which is located not too far from the creek but during the 1920's and pretty much through the 1940's there was a lot of construction around and destruction of the Islais Creek area; one possible reason as to why she did not spend any time there. She was however able to tell me a lot of great stories of growing up in the area and that her father, as a young boy, had grown up in a small house (probably a farm house) where Alemany Boulevard now is. This however was in the late 1800's and early 1900's and so I have little documentation to work from.

The second aspect of the creek that I find very interesting is the wildlife, both natural and urban. Both times that I went out and visited Glen Canyon Park, I couldn't help but notice all the different critters running and flying around as well as the huge number of people with dogs. Its amazing to think that even though the park itself isn't very well known, people are still able to find it and go hiking around with their dogs (San Francisco has a lot of dog-walking activity). During my first trip and hike through the park, I saw a lot more animals than I would have expected. I was also surprised to see a warning sign for coyotes, which I didn't really think we still in the city; the amount of wildlife here is incredible when you think that the location of the park is hidden and surrounded by very urban city. When it came to documenting something about the area, the first thing I took note of was all the people with their dogs; what they were carrying and wearing, what kind of dog they had, whether or not they were by themselves, etc. Being a dog owner myself, I understand the joy of being able to bring your pet with you wherever you go, and even though a lot of websites will tell you that Glen Canyon Park is not a good place for dogs, the number of dogs outnumber the naysayers by far. The second thing I documented was all the birds (and other animals) I saw, mostly because when I sat in the car taking notes, they were one of the main sounds that filled the air.

To be able to incorporate both history and animals would be great but I have a feeling at this point that choosing one might be more practical at this point. I would love to be able to work with my grandmother further and perhaps come up with some idea as to incorporating some family history into this (or maybe the final) project... I'm open to anything right now.

Just Catalog Something!

Last Thursday, Josh said that we should start thinking about things that interest us regarding a particular area of San Francisco like Islais Creek; that we should think of ways of making a project our own. I'm still really unsure of how to proceed or even what kind of project to even consider doing but I took Josh's advice and set out to catalog something.

Since I don't live in San Francisco I wasn't sure where to go. Then I remembered that when I presented an entry of from my blog where I took pictures of Glen Canyon Park, just how much detail I was able to recall. Probably because it was my first time there and I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, I was very open to everything around me. So decided to go back and see if my second experience was that much different from the first.

I didn't end up getting there until after 5 PM and didn't think it was a good idea to go too far into the park as it was already dark from the overcast weather. I soon discovered that I didn't have to go too far to observe anything; all I had to do was sit in my car and there was plenty of activity around me. Because I wasn't sure if there was anything that I should specifically focus on, I decided to just take note of EVERYTHING around me.

Time: 5:40 - 6:40 PM

# of dogs: 40
Some of the breeds identified: Border Collie (2), Australian Shepard (5), Black Lab (2), Chihuahua (4), Golden Retriever (3).
Dog owners:
-carried little to no bags
-relaxed clothes (jeans or sweatpants)
-half were older, probably 55+ while the other half were probably in their late 20s/early 30s
-more women than men
-5 carried toys (ball or frisbee)

# of birds: 39
Species identified: Robins, Crows, Pigeons
Almost all seen were Robins, while only 3 crows were seen even though they were the loudest/most noisy.

# of cats: 1
One black cat watching the birds.

# of people on bikes: 6

# of joggers: 7

# of Toyotas: 52
Most of which were Prius. 

# of European cars: 39
Some of the brands included Land Rover, BMW, VW, Porshe.

# of Hondas: 39

# of American cars: 31
Some of the brands included Jeep, Chrysler, Chevrolet, GMC.

# of Motorcycles: 1

# of company vans/trucks: 1 (Comcast)

Some of the sounds that could be heard included:
-cars driving up the hill
-car doors closing
-car horns
-wind blowing through the trees
-dripping of water off of the trees
-kids playing in the playground, laughing and screaming
-people leaving their homes, closing their front doors and locking them
-different kinds of conversations, not all of which were clear (most people with dogs were talking to their dogs)
-crows
-rustling of grass and leaves where birds were pecking around for food

Here is a very short video of my view from the car right at the steps entering into the park. Its not particularly exciting but you can hear cars, crows, and kids playing.

San Pedro Creek in Pacifica

Although I know that we're supposed to go to the San Pedro Creek watershed as a field trip, I wanted to go and take some pictures. Getting there was incredibly simple because I live in Pacifica and the watershed is a less than 10 minute walk from my house; not to mention I had been there several times before. So because the dog needed to be walked anyway, a perfect opportunity presented itself.

 

This was a break in the fence that looked like it might have a small path. I could hear water but couldn't see it so I figured that this might lead us to the creek.

 

At this point my camera died and I had to use my IPhone... However the pictures didn't come out too clear so I'll have to go through them and post them later.

Brief Trip to Glen Canyon Park

Although I've been doing research online on San Francisco watersheds, I started to feel a little bored. I felt that I needed to get some first-hand experience so my boyfriend and I decided to take a drive over the Glen Canyon Park and see what all the fuss is about. After having gotten a little lost, I realized that I had driven past the park many times before in the past.

I was surprised by all the people walking in the park, which didn't really seem like a park at first. The creek itself is pretty well hidden with not too much water but the atmosphere was really nice. Most people there were walking their dogs or were going for a run. Also, during the course of the walk we saw several different species of wildlife: robins, mice, a rat, and a red-tail hawk. It didn't feel like we were still in San Francisco until I looked up and could see the homes on the hills.

Better Understanding

So after Tuesday's lecture I must say that I have a much better understanding of what a watershed is. I've done some more research and have found that looking at old pictures really brings everything to life for me. I am actually really looking forward to any fieldtrips that we might go on as I really want to see for myself the different locations and what the present-day situation of the creeks in San Francisco is.

Also before Tuesday I really wasn't sure what Google Earth did or what it even was. I now see how it can be a very handy tool for mapping things out and seeing different locations before actually going there.