Lobos Creek Dunes and Valley Introduction

Welcome to Lobos Creek Dunes and Valley in the San Francisco Presidio

This is an unofficial web page devoted to some of  the recreated dunes in the Presidio, in particular, the ones called Lobos Creek Dunes.

The original sand dunes were flattened and became gardens for the Army post (1870's), a balloon hanger (early 1900's), and a baseball field (date unknown)  which eventually fell into disuse. The Xerces Blue, the first butterfly in North America known to have become extinct due to the action of humans, was last seen and collected in this area in 1941.  

On October 1, 1994, The Presidio of San Francisco moved from being the property of the U.S. Army to becoming part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. In 1995, the National Park Service and the Golden Gate National Parks Association became partners in the Lobos Dunes Restoration Project . The San Francisco Lessingia, a rare plant with a small population there was the focus of much of the restoration efforts.  In late 1996, sand which had clogged the adjoining Lobos Creek after a creek bank collapsed, was removed  from the creek and piled at Lobos. Bulldozer operators sculpted the sand into dunes.

Supervisors from the Park Service and the Parks Association led multitudes of volunteers and school groups to the surrounding areas and removed loads and loads of iceplant. Iceplant is a hideous scourge to native plant enthusiasts but, thanks to its ability to "tame" the shifting sands, the Army kept this and many other Presidio sites open instead of covering them with concrete. Its job was done however and it was time for native plants that were appropriate for the area to take over.

The Restoration Project arranged for thousands of plants to be grown in the Presidio Native Plant Nursery. The young plants were then placed into the dunes by volunteers (individuals, school groups, corporations, church groups, etc.) who carefully crawled up the dunes and tried not to slide into each other. I thought it was a wonderful experience to confront a bare dune and then, 2 hours later, to see it dotted with various plants. To see the dunes now, several years later,with mature plants growing on them is just fantastic. While the major plantings on the dunes were done from late1996 into 1997, other nearby areas are still weeded and planted to this day.

Lobos Creek Dunes is located near the southwest corner of the Presidio.  El Camino del Mar leads into Lincoln Boulevard there . Park in the first parking lot on your right and look for the boardwalk (which is wheelchair accessible) near the lot's entrance. For bus travel, you can take the 29 Sunset. Get off at the Baker Beach stop. The walk is a very short stroll and easy. Someday there will be signs that will change with the seasons to help people identify the plants they see. In the meantime, you can use this web site to see some of those plants.

Clicking on parts of the Dune Image Map will take you to pages devoted to that plant.  Half of the plants on the plant lists (links are below) connect to dedicated pages  with photographs. For more information on California native plants in general, check out the books under Sources and the websites on the Plant Links page.

Thanks for stopping by.
Sharon Kato