Threatened frogs, golf, and dollars face off at Sharp Park

If the controversy currently swirling around the San Francisco public golf courses seems irrelevant to you, the case of Sharp Park should convince you otherwise.

San Francisco's six golf courses collectively receive $1,500,000 in subsidies annually from the general fund to offset revenue shortfalls, but Sharp Park - owned by San Francisco but located in Pacifica - is poised to cost San Francisco a whole lot more, while threatening two endangered species to boot.

Sharp Park encompasses the Sanchez Creek watershed. The golf course occupies the lower, western end of the park, while the rest of the park is a "significant natural resource area" managed by the Natural Areas Program of San Francisco's Recreation and Parks Department. It's the largest, most intact, and most biodiverse natural area the city owns. Except for the golf course and some ramshackle structures maintained by the 60-year-old archery club, the park is wholly undeveloped.

Planners have been tabulating needed capital improvements and deferred maintenance for Sharp Park. Estimated costs for the golf course range from $17,000,000 to $47,000,000 depending on low versus high estimates and which costs are allocated to the golf course. The Rec and Parks Department and Public Utilities Commission have concocted an additional $10,000,000 plan to build an irrigation tank for the golf course.

A substantial part of the golf course is actually below sea level and kept dry by a levee/seawall that is in bad shape. Saltwater incursion has been documented within the course in Laguna Salada and Horse Stable Pond. Without major work on the levee, the entire western end of Sharp Park will revert to saltwater marsh - as it once was and should be again.

The Sanchez Creek watershed is also home to the red-legged frog, a federally listed threatened species, and to the San Francisco garter snake, one of the most endangered species in North America. Continued use of the park for a golf course limits habitat for both these species, and the proposed use of treated wastewater on the golf course poses as-yet-unstudied risks due to residual pharmaceuticals and other potential endocrine disrupters in the recycled water. While the Sierra Club generally supports use of recycled wastewater for landscape irrigation - on golf courses in particular - Sharp Park is not the place for this unless convincing evidence can be found that wastewater use wouldn't jeopardize the threatened amphibians. Further, loss of the frogs would extirpate the garter snake, which relies upon them for prey.

A golf course should never have been built here. It has seen a 37% decline in use, but its continuation would cost tens of millions of dollars while contributing significantly to the threats to two listed species.

WhatYouCanDo

Contact the Recreation and Parks Commissioners:
c/o Margaret McArthur
margaret.mcarthur@sfgov.org
501 Stanyan St.
San Francisco, CA 94117;

Recreation and Parks general manager Yomi Agunbiade at:
yomi.agunbiade@sfgov.org
501 Stanyan St.
San Francisco, CA 94117;

and your supervisor at:
City Hall, Room 2244
One Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102.

Jake McGoldrick (District 1)
(415)554-7410
Jake.McGoldrick@sfgov.org
fax: (415)554-7415;

Michela Alioto-Pier (District 2)
(415)554-7752
Michela.Alioto-Pier@sfgov.org
fax: (415)554-7843;

Aaron Peskin (District 3)
(415)554-7450
Aaron.Peskin@sfgov.org
fax: (415)554-7454;

Fiona Ma (District 4)
(415)554-7460
Fiona.Ma@sfgov.org
fax: (415)554-7432;

Ross Mirkarimi (District 5)
(415)554-7630
Ross.Mirkarimi@sfgov.org
fax: (415)554-7634;

Chris Daly (District 6)
(415)554-7970
Chris.Daly@sfgov.org
fax: (415)554-7974;

Sean Elsbernd (District 7)
(415)554-6516
Sean.Elsbernd@sfgov.org
fax: (415)554-6546;

Bevan Dufty (District 8)
(415)554-9698
Bevan.Dufty@sfgov.org
fax: (415)554-6909;

Tom Ammiano (District 9)
(415)554-5144
Tom.Ammiano@sfgov.org
fax: (415)554-6255;

Sophie Maxwell (District 10)
(415)554-7670
Sophie.Maxwell@sfgov.org
fax: (415)554-7674;

Gerardo Sandoval (District 11)
(415)554-6975
Gerardo.Sandoval@sfgov.org
fax: (415)554-6979.

Tell them to:

• close down the Sharp Park golf course;
• manage the Sanchez Creek watershed with appropriate ecological protections and habitat restoration for the red-legged frog and the San Francisco garter snake; in particular, not to use recycled water there unless adequate studies show no deleterious effects;
• convert the rest of the golf course to other ecologically appropriate recreational uses;
• stop subsidizing San Mateo County recreation with San Francisco taxes.

Stan Kaufman