SFPUC crews recently launched a series of short projects to control invasive weeds on parts of its Peninsula Watershed land near the Sawyer Camp Trail for approximately a one-mile stretch slightly north of Mile Marker 1. The first project, which started Monday, February 18, is now complete. The trail remained open throughout the work period.

The weed control is being done to preserve and enhance the native grasslands that were seeded in late 2016 as part of a continuing long-term habitat restoration program in various areas throughout the watershed. The 2016 seeding followed the removal of acacia trees and other large, invasive vegetation that had displaced the watershed’s historic native habitats near the trail and at other watershed sites.

Subsequent intermittent short periods of weeding and other vegetation control measures will occur in the Sawyer Camp Trail area in the course of the next couple of years or more. Trail users will be notified in advance.

The approximately 36-square-mile Peninsula Watershed is home to a diversity of long-time coastal habitats, ranging from conifer and oak forests to chaparral, grasslands, and marsh. In all, they harbor an abundance of native plant and animal life, including a high concentration of rare, threatened or endangered species. The watershed is also a State Fish and Game Refuge.