Sign Hill Stewards
Spring Newsletter
Dear Sign Hill Stewards,

We've had an exciting spring on Sign Hill! Volunteers returned just in time to see the Sign Hill ecosystem at its spring peak. As you'll learn, they've made significant strides towards transforming Sign Hill into a healthier park for both wildlife and our community. In April, the Sign Hill Stewards project was even recognized by the Bay Nature Local Hero Awards. Thank you to all the community members that helped us receive this award, including San Bruno Mountain Watch and Loretta Brooks and Chuck Heimstadt's Weed Warriors Program!

In addition to volunteer work, the City has been busy reducing fire fuel loads on Sign Hill. Not only is this work important for resident safety, but it also aligns with our habitat restoration goals. This spring, for example, the South San Francisco Fire Department conducted their chainsaw training on Sign Hill, removing dense stands of invasive blue gum eucalyptus that were beginning to spread into native grassland. Thank you to our firefighters! Parks staff also worked this spring to mow one of Sign Hill's largest stands of invasive, annual Italian thistle. These efforts both restore grassland habitat as well as reduce fire risk.
Left: Eucalyptus forest thinned after SSF Fire Department chainsaw training | Right: Parks staff mowing Italian thistle in Liberty Valley with the Green Climber.
Read on to learn about our dedicated volunteers, their successes this spring, and how you can get involved.

Hope you are safe and healthy,

Emma Lewis
Natural Resource Specialist
Leading the Sign Hill Habitat Restoration Project
San Bruno Mountain Watch Board Member
Volunteer with Sign Hill Stewards!
Events: June 2nd, 5th, 16th, and 19th from 9:00 - 11:30 am
Restore habitat with the SSF Parks & Recreation Department on Sign Hill, following COVID-19 safety guidelines.
Many rare plant and animal species live on Sign Hill’s native grasslands, including the endangered mission blue butterfly. Help us conserve and restore their habitat by installing native plants and removing invasive plants! Sign Hill Stewards will do important work while also learning more about the wildlife in their backyard.

When: Workdays will happen between 9:00 am – 11:30 am on June 2nd, 5th, 16th, and 19th.

Where: Volunteers will park at the Sign Hill Parking Lot nearby 964 Ridgeview Ct, South San Francisco, CA (Google Maps Link) and hike with staff to the restoration site.

Registration: Registration is required. To socially distance, registration is limited to 10 volunteers per time slot. Volunteers under the age of 18 must have a youth waiver signed by a parent/guardian. Youth under the age of 15 are welcome and must be accompanied by an adult.

What to bring: To prepare for working outdoors, please bring work gloves, a water bottle, sturdy shoes, long pants and sleeves, a hat/sunscreen, and a completed waiver for each volunteer. Volunteers should expect some hiking on steep terrain.
Spring Volunteer Highlights
Thank you volunteers!
45 volunteers contributed 234 hours of volunteer work over 33 appointments and modified volunteer workdays.

They planted 500 native plants in habitat islands across Sign Hill and removed thousands of invasive plants like Italian thistle, shortpod mustard, wild radish, and prickly goldenfleece. Community members Loretta Brooks and Chuck Heimstadt also contributed many hours with their Weed Warriors program!
Their hard work is paying off too! Endangered mission blue butterflies loved their habitat islands, laying eggs on planted lupines and nectaring on planted wildflowers. Thank you, volunteers!
Dtech Interns
Charting a healthier future
In April, four interns from Design Tech High School joined Sign Hill Stewards for two weeks to restore Sign Hill by removing invasive plants and monitoring with iNaturalist! Read on to learn about their experience. Thank you, Annie, Josie, Lauren, and Noah!
During the past two weeks as an intern at Sign Hill I was able to explore the native wildlife. While removing invasive plants such as Italian Thistle, I learned about its effect on the ecosystems of the park. I now have a keen eye for the different native and invasive plant species near my house and in my community. It is important to learn about why habitat restoration is important and how it works, I am lucky to have done so in such a hands on way.

This internship was especially important to me because I plan on studying agriculture, botany, conservation, etc. in college, so this was an amazing introduction to the field. With a partner, I am also in the process of creating a mural design that focuses on protecting the earth's habitats and picking up litter. Discovering the different kinds of species I may want to highlight in the design has already become super beneficial to creating an elaborate piece of art. I hope that I can come back to Sign Hill in the near future to continue to help restore its ecosystems and grasslands. 

-Anneliese Phillips
I had a great time volunteering at Sign hill! It helped me figure out what I’m going to be specializing on in my major during college. Can't wait to work with the team again!

-Josie Baird
Before the past two weeks of working on Sign Hill, I was apprehensive about pursuing an internship, but getting to work with Emma was definitely the best case scenario. As someone that is passionate about protecting the environment, it surprised me how little I knew about the importance of preserving native species. Getting the opportunity to do hands-on work with invasive plant removal and to observe the endangered Mission Blue butterfly (among other species) first hand completely shifted how I see the Bay Area ecosystem, and inspired me to convince my parents we should re-do our landscaping to make room for more native plants. I fervently recommend volunteering at Sign Hill or San Bruno Mountain to everyone, and I would love to stay involved with them in the future!

-Lauren Wu
I’m so glad I had the chance to work on Sign Hill as an intern with Emma. The hill is a pristine enclave of nature in the middle of a massive city, and I feel really fortunate that I was able to help keep its ecosystem healthy by removing the invasive plants that threaten it. I love the Earth, and it pains me to witness the damage we're inflicting on our only home. But places like Sign Hill give me hope for our ill-fated planet, as it shows nature’s tenacity, flourishing wherever it’s able to, even amidst a concrete jungle.

-Noah Khavari
Mission Blue Butterfly Monitoring
Student provides valuable data on endangered species
For three months, City College of San Francisco student Brittney Johansen surveyed Sign Hill weekly for mission blue butterflies.
Before Brittney's scientific efforts, City staff knew very little about the mission blue butterflies on Sign Hill. Monitoring an endangered species' population from year to year is crucial for our efforts. It helps us learn if our habitat restoration is working, and can also be used by other agencies to understand species-wide recovery.

Using mission blue butterfly eggs as a proxy for the population, Brittney spent the spring surveying Sign Hill for mission blue eggs. She counted hundreds of mission blue eggs over the season, showing off her talent for scientific observation! While Brittney is still analyzing this year's data, the results look promising. Sign Hill appears to have a robust population of mission blue butterflies that are recovering after the devastating 2020 Diamond fire. Brittney will attend San Francisco State University next year. She hopes to continue her butterfly monitoring on Sign Hill in 2022 as a research project. Thanks, Brittney!
Top: Adult mission blue butterfly | Bottom: Mission blue eggs
Above: Brittney counting eggs with daughter Sophia as time keeper
Nature Sightings on Sign Hill!
Brownie Thistle (Cirsium quercetorum)
This prickly plant has a soft side, providing lots of nectar and pollen for pollinators! Brownie thistle is one of our few common native thistles in the Bay Area.
Pacific Gopher Snake (Pituophis catenifer catenifer)
Gopher snakes are often found on Sign Hill, if you can see them despite their camouflage. These nonvenomous snakes have important roles as carnivores in the ecosystem!
Paintbrush (Castilleja sp.)
This spring, Parks staff documented their first observation of the charismatic paintbrush genus on Sign Hill! The beautiful purple owl's-clover (Castilleja exserta) and its close relatives, are common on San Bruno Mountain. They, however, have been largely lost on Sign Hill due to the spread of invasive plants.

This tiny plant germinated following the removal of invasive thistle by volunteers. It suggests that there is a biodiverse native seed bank on Sign Hill ready to reveal itself!
This project is supported by Measure K funding