Golden Gate Park – San Francisco, CA

Tree Damage and Erosion led to a recommendation to close a Golden Gate Park disc golf course in San Francisco, CA

From an article in the San Fransisco Chronicle in the April 2005:

The department’s Urban Forestry Division has recommended that the nine- hole course be taken down. Section supervisor Mike Hegerhorst inspected the course and the surrounding area last year and reported that the discs used for the sport have damaged the bark of trees and that the additional foot traffic from disc golfers has led to erosion problems.

“We encourage all manners of recreational pursuits in the park,” Recreation and Park spokeswoman Rose Marie Dennis said. “But if we infringe on the health of trees, ultimately (Marx Meadow) may not be the best place for this pursuit.”

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This entry was posted on Monday, January 12th, 2009 at 11:28 pm and is filed under Stories From Other Cities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

2 Responses to “Golden Gate Park – San Francisco, CA”

Ross Hammond says:

January 27, 2009 at 12:17 pm

The follow up to this story is that we were able to work with the urban forestry division and the parks department to design the course so that very few trees were impacted and those that were we protected through the use of mesh screens. We have not had any complaints since the course re-opened two years ago (and increased from 12 to 18 holes) and have a great working relationship with the parks department. I’d highly encourage all sides to put aside their preconceptions and work together to find an amiable solution.
Peter Black says:

January 27, 2009 at 2:43 pm

Hi,

I would like the friends of Leddy Park to know that the San Francisco Disc Golf Club has taken every measure of environmental stewardship possible in the installation and function of our Golden Gate Park Disc Golf Course. We have heavy usage: roughly 250 people a day, and there’s no doubt that there is a footprint from use. However, we have been smart in mitigating the impacts: we use tree screens to block the discs, peeler cores and naturally fallen trees to manage paths and potential erosion (there isn’t much), and most importantly, we plant native species on the course as part of a long term sustainable management plan. The result? Tens of thousands of people come into golden gate park, enjoy a little disc golf, and take in the scenery.

Cheers,

Peter Black