Arguello Stand, Presidio - San Francisco, CA - Flora and Fauna Information Signs on Waymarking.com

This Arguello area of the Presidio was an old Monterey Cypress stand of trees. There were planted too close together in the 1890s and never thinned out. The old trees are being removed and replanted. The sign tells the story:

The Presidio's forest is the result of the largest landscaping effort ever attempted and completed by the US Army. Planting was done from 1886 until approximately 1900 in an effort to make the landscape seem larger and more continuous than it really was, and to modify the force of the the wind sweeping through the post. The Monterey cypress trees in this stand were planted in the late 1890's, too close together and were never thinned. Today, these relatively short-lived trees are in decline. Reforestation of this stand started in 2002, and it is being done in small incremental blocks over many years. The new trees will replace the declining stand, eventually providing a vigorous and properly spaced forest.

In 2008, artist Andy Goldsworthy paid homage to the historic forest and reforestation effort with his sculpture entitled Spire. The 97-foot tall Spire replicates the verticality of the old forest whose trunks are very close together using 37 logs selected from the reforestation tree removals.

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