00:00:00.500 --> 00:00:02.495
[SOUNDS OF WIND BLOWING]

00:00:25.449 --> 00:00:27.445
[BIRDS CHIRPING]

00:00:30.439 --> 00:00:31.936
[MUFFLED CHATTER]

00:00:31.936 --> 00:00:34.930
[CAR HORN BEEPING]

00:00:34.930 --> 00:00:37.425
[SOUND OF JET ENGINE]

00:00:41.916 --> 00:00:44.411
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:00:47.980 --> 00:00:50.130
- San Bruno Mountain
is a significant story,

00:00:50.130 --> 00:00:53.150
and I do think it's very
much a national story.

00:00:53.150 --> 00:00:55.520
- It's the largest
undeveloped landmass

00:00:55.520 --> 00:00:58.670
in an urban area in
the United States.

00:00:58.670 --> 00:01:01.370
Looking back on it, it seems
amazing that the mountain still

00:01:01.370 --> 00:01:04.310
exists today.

00:01:04.310 --> 00:01:06.200
- There's something
a little strange,

00:01:06.200 --> 00:01:08.700
more than a little strange,
about San Bruno, that it

00:01:08.700 --> 00:01:10.610
somehow managed to survive.

00:01:10.610 --> 00:01:13.974
And of course, there's a
great story behind that.

00:01:13.974 --> 00:01:16.464
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:01:57.798 --> 00:01:59.790
[MUFFLED CHATTER]

00:02:02.840 --> 00:02:04.150
- It's a really special place.

00:02:04.150 --> 00:02:07.180
And this mountain kind
of gets under your skin.

00:02:07.180 --> 00:02:10.840
- I got interested in San Bruno
Mountain about 30 years ago.

00:02:10.840 --> 00:02:13.433
And I soon found out about
the development proposals

00:02:13.433 --> 00:02:15.850
for the mountain, and what the
Committee to save San Bruno

00:02:15.850 --> 00:02:19.173
Mountain was doing,
and marched in

00:02:19.173 --> 00:02:20.590
and asked what I
could do to help.

00:02:20.590 --> 00:02:25.415
And it kind of became something
that to a large extent,

00:02:25.415 --> 00:02:28.483
has dominated the
rest of my life.

00:02:28.483 --> 00:02:30.938
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:02:41.250 --> 00:02:43.710
- It was about 40
years ago that I first

00:02:43.710 --> 00:02:45.450
came to San Bruno mountain.

00:02:45.450 --> 00:02:47.220
It was sort of like an accident.

00:02:47.220 --> 00:02:50.130
I got on a Greyhound bus
coming down the Old Bay Shore.

00:02:50.130 --> 00:02:51.930
And I saw this little
town surrounded

00:02:51.930 --> 00:02:55.545
by this incredible
forest of native habitat.

00:02:55.545 --> 00:02:56.670
I just couldn't believe it.

00:02:56.670 --> 00:02:57.990
What's it doing here?

00:02:57.990 --> 00:03:00.000
It took me maybe
a couple of months

00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:04.572
before I started to learn what
had happened right around here.

00:03:04.572 --> 00:03:06.468
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:03:10.260 --> 00:03:12.240
- San Bruno Mountain
is the last remnant

00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:13.830
of the Franciscan ecosystem.

00:03:16.980 --> 00:03:18.780
Most of that ecosystem,
unfortunately,

00:03:18.780 --> 00:03:21.240
has been paved over by
San Francisco and some

00:03:21.240 --> 00:03:22.830
of the Northern
Peninsula cities.

00:03:22.830 --> 00:03:25.260
So San Bruno Mountain
gives one a chance

00:03:25.260 --> 00:03:27.780
to see what most of
San Francisco peninsula

00:03:27.780 --> 00:03:31.230
did look like at one time.

00:03:31.230 --> 00:03:34.680
- San Bruno mountain is the
last significant fragment

00:03:34.680 --> 00:03:38.160
of the Franciscan
floristic province.

00:03:38.160 --> 00:03:39.840
- There are species
that exist here

00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:42.480
that don't exist anywhere
else on the planet.

00:03:42.480 --> 00:03:43.560
- It's so isolated.

00:03:43.560 --> 00:03:44.550
It's a bottleneck.

00:03:44.550 --> 00:03:46.920
So things got in there
and bred with themselves,

00:03:46.920 --> 00:03:49.260
and we're exposed to a different
climate, a much foggier

00:03:49.260 --> 00:03:49.860
climate.

00:03:49.860 --> 00:03:51.600
And they slowly
changed over time,

00:03:51.600 --> 00:03:54.803
to fit that special environment.

00:03:54.803 --> 00:03:56.767
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:04:13.461 --> 00:04:16.029
- A step from San
Francisco, you can

00:04:16.029 --> 00:04:17.875
reach this incredible presence.

00:04:17.875 --> 00:04:19.000
I just couldn't believe it.

00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:20.740
What's it doing here?

00:04:20.740 --> 00:04:22.098
Why is it still here?

00:04:22.098 --> 00:04:23.890
If you look down by
the Bay right out here,

00:04:23.890 --> 00:04:26.630
you'll see a big
flat area by 101.

00:04:26.630 --> 00:04:28.600
This is the garbage
of San Francisco

00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:33.310
that began in 1906 until 1960.

00:04:33.310 --> 00:04:37.240
And this horror, this
negative thing to the Bay,

00:04:37.240 --> 00:04:39.754
is a miracle for this mountain.

00:04:39.754 --> 00:04:41.990
[SHIP HORN SOUNDING]

00:04:41.990 --> 00:04:45.260
- San Francisco's garbage dump,
right outside of Brisbane,

00:04:45.260 --> 00:04:46.220
destroyed the Bay.

00:04:46.220 --> 00:04:49.945
A horror, a destruction,
but that stench and horror

00:04:49.945 --> 00:04:51.070
is what saved the mountain.

00:04:54.010 --> 00:04:55.780
- I remember driving
to San Francisco,

00:04:55.780 --> 00:04:58.870
and the dump there at Brisbane,
at the foot of San Bruno

00:04:58.870 --> 00:05:00.380
Mountain, would catch fire.

00:05:00.380 --> 00:05:04.240
So you would be passing
through this burning garbage

00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:06.460
on your approach to
what billed itself

00:05:06.460 --> 00:05:08.920
as one of the world's most
beautiful and lovable cities.

00:05:08.920 --> 00:05:11.260
- People got a bad
impression of that whole area

00:05:11.260 --> 00:05:14.890
around the eastern foot
of San Bruno Mountain.

00:05:14.890 --> 00:05:18.040
And it possibly
deterred some developers

00:05:18.040 --> 00:05:20.170
from proceeding to
develop that area.

00:05:23.100 --> 00:05:25.980
The post-war period,
particularly in the '50s,

00:05:25.980 --> 00:05:29.380
was an era of
growth, development.

00:05:29.380 --> 00:05:31.680
And the bulldozer
was a juggernaut,

00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:34.770
mowing everything down
and presumably putting new

00:05:34.770 --> 00:05:36.150
and better things it its place.

00:05:36.150 --> 00:05:40.900
- And this is what was dominant,
right throughout the 1960s.

00:05:40.900 --> 00:05:43.800
And it seemed unstoppable,
and it seemed inevitable.

00:05:43.800 --> 00:05:45.660
It seemed right.

00:05:45.660 --> 00:05:48.630
- It's very hard for us to
understand, at this point,

00:05:48.630 --> 00:05:52.200
that kind of cheerleading
for just development, full

00:05:52.200 --> 00:05:54.982
bore development at that time.

00:05:54.982 --> 00:05:57.623
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:05:57.623 --> 00:05:58.290
[VIDEO PLAYBACK]

00:05:58.290 --> 00:06:01.840
- San Francisco, a city so
beautiful her worshipers hoped

00:06:01.840 --> 00:06:05.620
she would never change,
faces a drastic face-lifting.

00:06:05.620 --> 00:06:08.380
A daring master plan
has been inaugurated

00:06:08.380 --> 00:06:11.620
to take care of the
thousands who keep coming on

00:06:11.620 --> 00:06:14.126
to live beside the Golden Gate.

00:06:14.126 --> 00:06:15.870
[END VIDEO PLAYBACK]

00:06:15.870 --> 00:06:19.560
- The Bay Area was filling
up awfully fast at that time.

00:06:19.560 --> 00:06:23.070
- Streets full of houses, and
ticky tacky, and strip malls,

00:06:23.070 --> 00:06:24.100
and all of the rest.

00:06:24.100 --> 00:06:27.830
- You could see the
houses, just all

00:06:27.830 --> 00:06:31.118
marching like little
boxes on the hillside

00:06:31.118 --> 00:06:32.910
[MUSIC - MALVINA REYNOLDS,
"LITTLE BOXES"]

00:06:32.910 --> 00:06:36.720
(SINGING) Little boxes on
the hillside, little boxes

00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:38.310
made of ticky tacky.

00:06:38.310 --> 00:06:43.360
Little boxes on the hillside,
little boxes all the same.

00:06:43.360 --> 00:06:47.230
There's a green one, and a
pink one, and a blue one,

00:06:47.230 --> 00:06:48.590
and and a yellow one.

00:06:48.590 --> 00:06:51.180
And they're all made
out of ticky tacky,

00:06:51.180 --> 00:06:53.185
and they all look just the same.

00:06:55.760 --> 00:06:57.710
- I grew up in San Pablo.

00:06:57.710 --> 00:07:02.180
Beautiful hills, grassy
hills with creeks and oaks.

00:07:02.180 --> 00:07:06.860
But we saw them being
chopped and cut apart.

00:07:06.860 --> 00:07:10.690
We also saw the first
freeways were made.

00:07:10.690 --> 00:07:13.040
And to me, it was a horror.

00:07:13.040 --> 00:07:15.320
And I've decided,
this is not right.

00:07:15.320 --> 00:07:18.387
And I've decided never to drive.

00:07:18.387 --> 00:07:20.720
- I think I viewed it, and I
think most people viewed it

00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:22.070
as a positive thing.

00:07:22.070 --> 00:07:23.930
The freeways were a
great convenience,

00:07:23.930 --> 00:07:26.767
and the new shopping centers
were a great convenience.

00:07:26.767 --> 00:07:28.850
The freeways especially,
because there were hardly

00:07:28.850 --> 00:07:30.320
any cars on them.

00:07:30.320 --> 00:07:34.930
And so, it seemed
like great progress.

00:07:34.930 --> 00:07:37.902
- I was seeing a change
that maybe a lot of people

00:07:37.902 --> 00:07:38.610
thought was good.

00:07:38.610 --> 00:07:40.200
It was growth and
that kind of thing.

00:07:40.200 --> 00:07:41.990
But I saw a loss.

00:07:41.990 --> 00:07:45.350
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:07:45.350 --> 00:07:50.150
- I think it was in 1959,
the Army Corps of Engineers

00:07:50.150 --> 00:07:54.350
produced a report that predicted
what growth would be like

00:07:54.350 --> 00:07:58.820
in the Bay Area up until, I
think it was, the year 2020.

00:07:58.820 --> 00:08:00.530
And part of that
was, they showed

00:08:00.530 --> 00:08:05.470
how the Bay would and should be
filled to accommodate growth.

00:08:05.470 --> 00:08:11.570
- The black represents more
or less the original Bay.

00:08:11.570 --> 00:08:14.030
A third of that has
already been filled in.

00:08:14.030 --> 00:08:20.540
And then the white represents
what the Bay could be,

00:08:20.540 --> 00:08:24.710
if all the susceptible
parts were filled in.

00:08:24.710 --> 00:08:26.900
- This really began
to shake people up,

00:08:26.900 --> 00:08:30.080
when they discovered where
the filling would have gone,

00:08:30.080 --> 00:08:32.090
if it had continued,
leaving pretty

00:08:32.090 --> 00:08:34.500
much as a shipping channel
down the center of the Bay,

00:08:34.500 --> 00:08:35.929
and that's about it.

00:08:35.929 --> 00:08:38.380
- I don't really remember
when that connection--

00:08:38.380 --> 00:08:40.640
would say the Bay and
San Bruno Mountain began.

00:08:40.640 --> 00:08:45.920
Probably it began when we were
aware of this, in the mid '60s,

00:08:45.920 --> 00:08:48.900
of this plan to decapitate it.

00:08:48.900 --> 00:08:51.870
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:08:51.870 --> 00:08:53.840
- The proposal was
to quarry 200 feet

00:08:53.840 --> 00:08:56.720
off the top of the main
ridge of San Bruno Mountain,

00:08:56.720 --> 00:08:59.390
and dump that material
and create a huge landfill

00:08:59.390 --> 00:09:01.298
development in
San Francisco Bay.

00:09:01.298 --> 00:09:02.840
And then using the
flattened mountain

00:09:02.840 --> 00:09:04.550
as a platform for
a whole new city

00:09:04.550 --> 00:09:07.420
on top of San Bruno Mountain.

00:09:07.420 --> 00:09:08.350
- This was it.

00:09:08.350 --> 00:09:10.480
San Bruno Mountain,
going, going, gone.

00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:13.210
And we did the actual
rendering, which

00:09:13.210 --> 00:09:16.280
showed just how serious it was.

00:09:16.280 --> 00:09:18.820
This was one of the world's
biggest earth-moving projects,

00:09:18.820 --> 00:09:20.990
huge cuts in the mountain.

00:09:20.990 --> 00:09:23.680
A conveyor belt that would move
the dirt from the mountain,

00:09:23.680 --> 00:09:25.390
bang, right over--

00:09:25.390 --> 00:09:28.140
almost right over
parts of Brisbane.

00:09:28.140 --> 00:09:32.560
So as ruination
on a grand scale.

00:09:32.560 --> 00:09:36.040
- Fortunately, this
plan was so outrageous

00:09:36.040 --> 00:09:40.150
that there were some local
activists and visionaries who

00:09:40.150 --> 00:09:42.010
understood that this
was a real problem

00:09:42.010 --> 00:09:44.110
and that it shouldn't be
done, not only because

00:09:44.110 --> 00:09:46.676
of the damage to the mountain,
but because of the Bay.

00:09:46.676 --> 00:09:48.164
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:09:48.164 --> 00:09:52.390
- It just so happened that
I knew some of the players.

00:09:52.390 --> 00:09:56.070
Well, Don, my husband,
knew David Rockefeller.

00:09:56.070 --> 00:09:57.900
And my family were
very good friends

00:09:57.900 --> 00:10:00.000
with the Ideal Cement Company.

00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:03.900
- These were people who were
married to ruling class males.

00:10:03.900 --> 00:10:06.660
And they could walk
into board rooms,

00:10:06.660 --> 00:10:09.560
and they could address
the president as Harry.

00:10:09.560 --> 00:10:13.590
And they could say, Harry,
what you're doing isn't right.

00:10:13.590 --> 00:10:17.460
- Now, at that time, this was
really David and Goliath stuff.

00:10:17.460 --> 00:10:19.780
Nobody thought that
just a few people,

00:10:19.780 --> 00:10:23.700
let alone women, housewives,
could accomplish anything

00:10:23.700 --> 00:10:26.610
like that.

00:10:26.610 --> 00:10:28.260
- And when these
people started it,

00:10:28.260 --> 00:10:30.100
it was the subject of mockery.

00:10:30.100 --> 00:10:32.775
Bird watchers are standing
in the way of progress.

00:10:32.775 --> 00:10:36.870
These were like little old
ladies in tennis shoes.

00:10:36.870 --> 00:10:38.940
- The pejorative term
was, little old ladies

00:10:38.940 --> 00:10:40.122
in tennis shoes.

00:10:40.122 --> 00:10:41.580
- When I went to
hearings, I always

00:10:41.580 --> 00:10:45.070
made a point of
wearing high heels.

00:10:45.070 --> 00:10:49.435
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:10:49.435 --> 00:10:54.710
- I think Save the Bay was just
a tremendously revolutionary

00:10:54.710 --> 00:10:56.238
force.

00:10:56.238 --> 00:10:58.710
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:10:58.710 --> 00:11:02.910
- It's hard to remember that
during the '50s and early

00:11:02.910 --> 00:11:07.620
'60s, there was no such
thing as environmentalism.

00:11:07.620 --> 00:11:11.430
The word hadn't even
been coined yet.

00:11:11.430 --> 00:11:14.050
Maybe because we have such
a wonderful landscape here,

00:11:14.050 --> 00:11:16.530
the awareness of what
was happening to it

00:11:16.530 --> 00:11:19.260
was sharper than it might
have been elsewhere.

00:11:19.260 --> 00:11:21.660
But in any case,
I'm convinced that

00:11:21.660 --> 00:11:24.060
the environmental
movement, which eventually

00:11:24.060 --> 00:11:26.760
became a global movement,
originated right here

00:11:26.760 --> 00:11:28.414
in the Bay Area.

00:11:28.414 --> 00:11:32.270
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:11:32.270 --> 00:11:35.720
In the '60s, things
were intense.

00:11:35.720 --> 00:11:41.195
In my youth, the activism
flowed in all directions.

00:11:41.195 --> 00:11:42.570
And to me, it was
very important.

00:11:42.570 --> 00:11:44.120
I was involved.

00:11:44.120 --> 00:11:45.770
But I also needed
something else,

00:11:45.770 --> 00:11:49.410
and that was
wilderness and nature.

00:11:49.410 --> 00:11:52.280
- And so, I was trying to find
a quieter, more centered place

00:11:52.280 --> 00:11:55.480
for myself to be.

00:11:55.480 --> 00:11:59.440
And I just took the Greyhound
bus one day, going south.

00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:01.511
And the first stop was Brisbane.

00:12:01.511 --> 00:12:04.880
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:12:04.880 --> 00:12:07.920
- Well, Brisbane was a
country town in those days,

00:12:07.920 --> 00:12:10.020
and the streets
were mostly unpaved.

00:12:10.020 --> 00:12:12.520
And there was a lot more vacant
lots than there are today.

00:12:12.520 --> 00:12:14.910
So it was like a little
town up in the foothills

00:12:14.910 --> 00:12:16.620
of the Sierras or something.

00:12:16.620 --> 00:12:18.720
And to find a small
town like Brisbane

00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:20.980
within five minutes
of San Francisco,

00:12:20.980 --> 00:12:23.648
it just seemed like the
most amazing discovery.

00:12:23.648 --> 00:12:26.460
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:12:26.460 --> 00:12:28.290
- I went into this little town.

00:12:28.290 --> 00:12:30.840
I knew nothing about it.

00:12:30.840 --> 00:12:33.450
A small town, that
old feeling in town,

00:12:33.450 --> 00:12:35.220
just caught it right away.

00:12:35.220 --> 00:12:40.030
And the mountain, I
was drawn immediately.

00:12:40.030 --> 00:12:42.190
- When I looked up
and saw the mountain,

00:12:42.190 --> 00:12:44.770
I thought, wow, this is
an amazing place here.

00:12:44.770 --> 00:12:46.570
I had no idea this existed.

00:12:46.570 --> 00:12:49.690
- And the discovery of San
Bruno Mountain was just perfect.

00:12:49.690 --> 00:12:51.950
It just happened.

00:12:51.950 --> 00:12:56.662
- So definitely, there was
a movement in my growth

00:12:56.662 --> 00:12:59.760
that directed me toward
eventually San Bruno Mountain.

00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:06.850
- Unfortunately, the plans
to develop on this mountain

00:13:06.850 --> 00:13:08.578
never seemed to end.

00:13:08.578 --> 00:13:10.330
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:13:10.330 --> 00:13:13.270
- After the West Bay
proposal was shelved,

00:13:13.270 --> 00:13:15.190
a new concept was
developed for developing

00:13:15.190 --> 00:13:17.140
the mountain that didn't
involved quarrying

00:13:17.140 --> 00:13:18.310
and Bay fill.

00:13:18.310 --> 00:13:21.030
And that was called the
Visitation Rancho Project.

00:13:21.030 --> 00:13:24.460
And that called for a
population of about 30,000

00:13:24.460 --> 00:13:26.914
on San Bruno Mountain.

00:13:26.914 --> 00:13:31.840
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:33.790
- It was the Visitation
Rancho Proposal

00:13:33.790 --> 00:13:37.208
that sparked the formation
of the committee.

00:13:37.208 --> 00:13:40.920
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:13:40.920 --> 00:13:44.810
- Bette Higgens had put a sign
up on the South San Francisco

00:13:44.810 --> 00:13:48.320
side, in their front yard,
that said Save San Bruno

00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:50.150
Mountain, and a phone number.

00:13:50.150 --> 00:13:52.010
And I thought, wow.

00:13:52.010 --> 00:13:55.430
We're not the only ones
thinking about this.

00:13:55.430 --> 00:13:58.900
- I went right up to that
door, and she answered.

00:13:58.900 --> 00:14:01.370
That began the first
connection with other people

00:14:01.370 --> 00:14:02.090
and activities.

00:14:02.090 --> 00:14:03.590
- It didn't take
much time at all

00:14:03.590 --> 00:14:06.710
to rally quite a few people.

00:14:06.710 --> 00:14:10.050
- Very, very informal,
very grassroots.

00:14:10.050 --> 00:14:12.185
And again, that was
the beauty of it.

00:14:12.185 --> 00:14:14.810
- Well, the original members of
the Committee to Save San Bruno

00:14:14.810 --> 00:14:17.720
Mountain were just ordinary
people, housewives,

00:14:17.720 --> 00:14:20.480
blue collar workers that lived
in the lower middle class

00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:23.770
communities that
surround the mountain.

00:14:23.770 --> 00:14:27.430
Unlike Save the Bay or some of
the conservation organizations,

00:14:27.430 --> 00:14:29.500
where they were affluent
professionals connected

00:14:29.500 --> 00:14:31.630
to political institutions,
this was truly

00:14:31.630 --> 00:14:34.580
a grassroots group of people.

00:14:34.580 --> 00:14:36.700
- These are all working
class communities

00:14:36.700 --> 00:14:39.700
without much political
clout, and very susceptible

00:14:39.700 --> 00:14:44.020
to development.

00:14:44.020 --> 00:14:48.250
- David was poor enough so
that he could take advantage

00:14:48.250 --> 00:14:49.750
of the Legal Aid Society.

00:14:49.750 --> 00:14:52.210
And that's where
we met Tom Adams.

00:14:52.210 --> 00:14:55.450
- You know, it was totally
different from anything

00:14:55.450 --> 00:14:57.280
that we had ever done before.

00:14:57.280 --> 00:15:00.130
I mean, we'd never done
an environmental case.

00:15:00.130 --> 00:15:03.190
And it was a fairly
novel idea to think

00:15:03.190 --> 00:15:05.940
that we would represent them.

00:15:05.940 --> 00:15:09.340
- We were fairly
naive, in many regards.

00:15:09.340 --> 00:15:10.900
Fools rush in, you know.

00:15:10.900 --> 00:15:13.570
- We were up against a
lot of money, we figured.

00:15:13.570 --> 00:15:17.458
But we figured people
could overcome it.

00:15:17.458 --> 00:15:20.000
- Saving the mountain was just
something that had to be done.

00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:23.230
I think if you thought about
what the odds against success

00:15:23.230 --> 00:15:25.390
would be, you probably
would have said, forget it.

00:15:25.390 --> 00:15:29.380
- We just got together
and fought like tigers.

00:15:29.380 --> 00:15:32.190
- These were people without
a lot of political power,

00:15:32.190 --> 00:15:35.910
not even a lot of political
sense, at the beginning.

00:15:35.910 --> 00:15:39.460
But they learned real quick.

00:15:39.460 --> 00:15:44.300
- The hike on the mountain
was purely a planned publicity

00:15:44.300 --> 00:15:47.370
demonstration.

00:15:47.370 --> 00:15:51.750
- It just grew into a march from
[INAUDIBLE] City up Guadalupe

00:15:51.750 --> 00:15:55.110
Parkway, to a
gathering at the top.

00:15:55.110 --> 00:15:58.890
- I think they had almost
a mile's worth of people,

00:15:58.890 --> 00:16:02.580
solid, walking up the mountain
and over the mountain.

00:16:02.580 --> 00:16:05.780
That's a lot of people.

00:16:05.780 --> 00:16:07.080
- It was hundreds of people.

00:16:07.080 --> 00:16:09.650
It gave us an energy
that really kept going,

00:16:09.650 --> 00:16:12.191
but it spread the word.

00:16:12.191 --> 00:16:14.626
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:16:24.366 --> 00:16:27.560
- I don't think the
developers were prepared

00:16:27.560 --> 00:16:31.940
for the onslaught of the
ragtag, fairly naive,

00:16:31.940 --> 00:16:34.220
Save San Bruno
Mountain Committee.

00:16:34.220 --> 00:16:36.080
- Well, the Committee
was good at utilizing

00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:38.330
I think what was called
guerrilla theater at the time,

00:16:38.330 --> 00:16:41.630
to help increase public
awareness of the issues

00:16:41.630 --> 00:16:42.620
on the mountain.

00:16:42.620 --> 00:16:45.050
- And we decided, just--

00:16:45.050 --> 00:16:47.190
what else to
housewives think up?

00:16:47.190 --> 00:16:51.310
Let's bake a cake in the
shape of San Bruno Mountain.

00:16:51.310 --> 00:16:54.940
And we managed to carefully
take it over to City Hall.

00:16:54.940 --> 00:16:57.590
And then we announced that
the Save San Bruno Mountain

00:16:57.590 --> 00:17:00.440
Committee was providing
coffee and cake.

00:17:00.440 --> 00:17:02.180
And then, we would
ask the officials

00:17:02.180 --> 00:17:04.550
in South San Francisco
which part they wanted.

00:17:04.550 --> 00:17:06.890
And then we looked at the
developers, and we said,

00:17:06.890 --> 00:17:09.829
we assume you
would like the top.

00:17:09.829 --> 00:17:12.604
I mean, we'd just get
coverage out of this.

00:17:12.604 --> 00:17:16.020
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:17:16.020 --> 00:17:18.780
- One instance was, they brought
a billy goat into a Parks

00:17:18.780 --> 00:17:20.460
Commission meeting
with the county,

00:17:20.460 --> 00:17:23.310
to illustrate the fact that
the developer was proposing

00:17:23.310 --> 00:17:25.440
to provide only the steep
land that could only

00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:28.050
be used by a billy goat
for the public as a park,

00:17:28.050 --> 00:17:31.195
and develop all the
more level land.

00:17:31.195 --> 00:17:33.620
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:17:39.450 --> 00:17:41.760
- We decided, one
full moon night,

00:17:41.760 --> 00:17:44.970
to climb up to the top of the
mountain in South City, where

00:17:44.970 --> 00:17:47.320
it said, South San Francisco,
The Industrial City,

00:17:47.320 --> 00:17:51.336
and with plastic
marks, changed it.

00:17:51.336 --> 00:17:53.252
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:17:57.570 --> 00:17:59.527
- Everyone just
had so much energy,

00:17:59.527 --> 00:18:01.110
and there was so
much esprit de corps.

00:18:01.110 --> 00:18:04.020
It was just a great,
fun group to work with.

00:18:04.020 --> 00:18:05.940
- We were devoted to the cause.

00:18:05.940 --> 00:18:08.040
We were inspired.

00:18:08.040 --> 00:18:12.660
All of us inspired each other,
but David, to me, personally,

00:18:12.660 --> 00:18:15.322
was a very big inspiration.

00:18:15.322 --> 00:18:16.705
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:18:19.480 --> 00:18:21.718
- I think I first saw
David as a speaker,

00:18:21.718 --> 00:18:23.260
and he was talking
about the mountain

00:18:23.260 --> 00:18:25.360
and what the threats
to the mountain were.

00:18:25.360 --> 00:18:28.060
I remember his comment that most
people consider the San Bruno

00:18:28.060 --> 00:18:29.440
Mountain barren.

00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:30.400
But it's not barren.

00:18:30.400 --> 00:18:31.690
It's kind of a wonderland.

00:18:34.650 --> 00:18:36.330
Throughout those
activities, I got

00:18:36.330 --> 00:18:38.160
to know David a
little bit better,

00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:39.450
and became friends with him.

00:18:39.450 --> 00:18:43.200
And one night, after licking
envelopes or some task that

00:18:43.200 --> 00:18:46.060
was associated with the effort,
we finished up late at night.

00:18:46.060 --> 00:18:48.810
And it was a full
moon, and David and I

00:18:48.810 --> 00:18:50.970
decided to take a jug of
wine and go for a walk

00:18:50.970 --> 00:18:52.530
up on the mountain.

00:18:52.530 --> 00:18:55.290
- We decided one
evening to go up

00:18:55.290 --> 00:18:57.770
one of the canyons in Brisbane.

00:18:57.770 --> 00:19:03.850
And we bought a jug of wine, and
went climbing up those canyons.

00:19:03.850 --> 00:19:06.490
- We walked up into the
hills above the southern part

00:19:06.490 --> 00:19:08.830
of the mountain, and talked
until probably the moon

00:19:08.830 --> 00:19:11.190
went down.

00:19:11.190 --> 00:19:12.020
- Had a great time.

00:19:12.020 --> 00:19:15.190
That was a very
special kind of thing.

00:19:15.190 --> 00:19:17.950
- And just the passion that
he had for it was just--

00:19:17.950 --> 00:19:20.860
it couldn't help
but be contagious.

00:19:20.860 --> 00:19:24.072
And inspired me to
become involved.

00:19:24.072 --> 00:19:26.750
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:19:26.750 --> 00:19:28.750
- I was an apprentice
house painter at the time.

00:19:28.750 --> 00:19:31.450
I was in the painters union,
and was working for a painting

00:19:31.450 --> 00:19:33.800
shop in San Francisco.

00:19:33.800 --> 00:19:36.410
- Fred is a very bright guy.

00:19:36.410 --> 00:19:40.430
And I think, at the
time, I don't think he'd

00:19:40.430 --> 00:19:42.560
graduated from college yet.

00:19:42.560 --> 00:19:44.490
But he was very smart.

00:19:44.490 --> 00:19:49.130
And Fred, in a low key
way, really became a leader

00:19:49.130 --> 00:19:51.500
within the Committee to
Save San Bruno Mountain,

00:19:51.500 --> 00:19:54.500
and brought strategic
thinking to the Committee.

00:19:54.500 --> 00:19:58.640
And Fred has excellent
political instincts.

00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:00.440
- The critical point
in the whole effort

00:20:00.440 --> 00:20:03.380
was the vote at the County
Board of Supervisors

00:20:03.380 --> 00:20:04.790
on the General Plan Amendment.

00:20:04.790 --> 00:20:07.730
And the Board of Supervisors
was split, 2 to 2,

00:20:07.730 --> 00:20:09.620
with one swing vote.

00:20:09.620 --> 00:20:12.890
Well, Ed Bacciocco was a member
of the Board of Supervisors

00:20:12.890 --> 00:20:14.840
that had been supported
by environmentalists

00:20:14.840 --> 00:20:16.130
and construction unions.

00:20:16.130 --> 00:20:18.080
And so, found himself
kind of caught

00:20:18.080 --> 00:20:21.350
in the middle of two
major constituencies.

00:20:21.350 --> 00:20:23.540
One of the alternatives
that was explored

00:20:23.540 --> 00:20:26.330
was an option called
Saddle-in-Open Space.

00:20:26.330 --> 00:20:29.150
And that would have allowed the
development of the south slope,

00:20:29.150 --> 00:20:31.040
the northeast ridge to proceed.

00:20:31.040 --> 00:20:33.290
But the major portion of the
development in the saddle

00:20:33.290 --> 00:20:34.970
would be eliminated,
and that area

00:20:34.970 --> 00:20:37.070
would be set aside for
parks and open space.

00:20:39.840 --> 00:20:42.890
- It was felt, at that
time, that it was inevitable

00:20:42.890 --> 00:20:45.740
that the lower slopes
could logically

00:20:45.740 --> 00:20:49.250
be developed, that they were
not as pristine or as important.

00:20:49.250 --> 00:20:54.253
So that compromise, I think,
was a logical compromise.

00:20:54.253 --> 00:20:56.670
- And the committee decided
to support that option, rather

00:20:56.670 --> 00:20:58.560
than a no development
option, because we

00:20:58.560 --> 00:21:00.760
felt that would be something
that Ed Bacciocco could

00:21:00.760 --> 00:21:01.260
embrace.

00:21:03.930 --> 00:21:07.000
- I definitely felt not happy
at the plans for building,

00:21:07.000 --> 00:21:08.410
whatever they were going to be.

00:21:08.410 --> 00:21:11.250
- Well, the actual day
of the vote, the suspense

00:21:11.250 --> 00:21:14.123
was just incredible,
everything on the line.

00:21:14.123 --> 00:21:15.790
I think you could
have heard a pin drop.

00:21:15.790 --> 00:21:18.248
There were hundreds of people
in the room, and not a sound.

00:21:21.040 --> 00:21:23.620
And no one knew how
Ed was going to vote.

00:21:23.620 --> 00:21:27.220
And when Ed Bacciocco
cast that third vote

00:21:27.220 --> 00:21:29.290
for the Saddle-in-Open
Space plan,

00:21:29.290 --> 00:21:32.920
essentially giving a
victory to the Committee,

00:21:32.920 --> 00:21:34.100
it was just incredible.

00:21:34.100 --> 00:21:36.166
I mean, we were just jubilant.

00:21:36.166 --> 00:21:38.038
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:21:41.597 --> 00:21:43.430
- I think the decision
on San Bruno Mountain

00:21:43.430 --> 00:21:46.112
was really the end of
an era in the county.

00:21:46.112 --> 00:21:48.935
It was an end of an era where
developers really had their way

00:21:48.935 --> 00:21:50.810
and were able to pretty
much do whatever they

00:21:50.810 --> 00:21:54.370
wanted in San Mateo County.

00:21:54.370 --> 00:21:56.950
- The San Bruno
Mountain 3 to 2 vote

00:21:56.950 --> 00:22:01.060
was a watershed in the
history of San Mateo County.

00:22:01.060 --> 00:22:04.680
Before that, San Mateo
County was dominated

00:22:04.680 --> 00:22:06.630
by real estate interests.

00:22:06.630 --> 00:22:09.540
Afterwards, they were not.

00:22:09.540 --> 00:22:13.410
The moment when that changed
was at the time of the vote

00:22:13.410 --> 00:22:16.170
on San Bruno Mountain.

00:22:16.170 --> 00:22:19.260
- The County purchased
the main ridge line

00:22:19.260 --> 00:22:22.410
of the mountain, which was
called the West Bay Parcel.

00:22:22.410 --> 00:22:26.760
And then Senator Arlen
Gregorio brokered a deal

00:22:26.760 --> 00:22:29.610
to get some state parks
money to buy the Saddle.

00:22:29.610 --> 00:22:32.130
So once the Saddle
was purchased,

00:22:32.130 --> 00:22:34.680
then that's the core of
what's now San Bruno Mountain

00:22:34.680 --> 00:22:36.718
State and County Park.

00:22:36.718 --> 00:22:39.113
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:22:43.430 --> 00:22:45.778
Because they found the
town so interesting,

00:22:45.778 --> 00:22:48.320
someone I met I think said, you
should go to the city council

00:22:48.320 --> 00:22:49.330
meetings.

00:22:49.330 --> 00:22:51.213
And I started going,
just to attend.

00:22:51.213 --> 00:22:53.630
And I thought that was really
fascinating, that small town

00:22:53.630 --> 00:22:56.360
democracy, that
people from the public

00:22:56.360 --> 00:22:58.370
would go, and kind of
participate and observe

00:22:58.370 --> 00:23:00.144
what was going on.

00:23:00.144 --> 00:23:03.420
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:23:03.420 --> 00:23:05.040
And at the time,
the city council

00:23:05.040 --> 00:23:08.580
was considering whether
to support or oppose

00:23:08.580 --> 00:23:10.440
the development proposal
for the mountain.

00:23:10.440 --> 00:23:13.020
So I think that's really
kind of what spurred

00:23:13.020 --> 00:23:16.200
me to get involved in politics.

00:23:16.200 --> 00:23:18.300
The Committee to Save
San Bruno Mountain

00:23:18.300 --> 00:23:20.730
certainly endorsed
me as a candidate.

00:23:20.730 --> 00:23:23.285
And I presented
myself as someone

00:23:23.285 --> 00:23:24.660
who is a member
of the Committee,

00:23:24.660 --> 00:23:27.090
and that would bring
that set of values

00:23:27.090 --> 00:23:28.620
to the Brisbane City Council.

00:23:28.620 --> 00:23:30.690
So I think that's
what helped me get

00:23:30.690 --> 00:23:34.110
elected certainly, the issue
of preservation of the mountain

00:23:34.110 --> 00:23:37.919
and maintaining Brisbane
as a small town.

00:23:37.919 --> 00:23:39.811
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:23:43.595 --> 00:23:47.050
- The 3 to 2 vote,
it was enormous.

00:23:47.050 --> 00:23:51.030
The San Mateo County
Supervisors voted just enough.

00:23:51.030 --> 00:23:53.880
And we went up to a point,
there's going to be a park.

00:23:53.880 --> 00:23:56.970
But then the builders
would also move ahead.

00:23:56.970 --> 00:24:00.452
And I had that feeling that hey,
there's a lot more to fight.

00:24:00.452 --> 00:24:04.060
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:24:04.060 --> 00:24:06.620
- Well, the Saddle-in-Open
Space compromise, in my opinion,

00:24:06.620 --> 00:24:09.570
was reasonable, probably the
best outcome that we could hope

00:24:09.570 --> 00:24:10.070
to get.

00:24:10.070 --> 00:24:12.090
Although, if it had
been a perfect world,

00:24:12.090 --> 00:24:14.215
I would have liked to have
seen all of the mountain

00:24:14.215 --> 00:24:15.290
saved as open space.

00:24:15.290 --> 00:24:17.420
But to me, that just
didn't seem something

00:24:17.420 --> 00:24:20.720
that was doable or reasonable.

00:24:20.720 --> 00:24:22.880
I think different
members of the committee

00:24:22.880 --> 00:24:27.410
had different feelings
about accepting a compromise

00:24:27.410 --> 00:24:28.700
solution.

00:24:28.700 --> 00:24:31.910
Ultimately, I think it sowed
the seeds for really a split

00:24:31.910 --> 00:24:34.340
in the committee.

00:24:34.340 --> 00:24:38.330
- I think the effort to save San
Bruno Mountain, over the years,

00:24:38.330 --> 00:24:42.260
demonstrates a characteristic
of the environmental movement

00:24:42.260 --> 00:24:47.020
in general, which
has been internally

00:24:47.020 --> 00:24:49.270
divisive, in some respects.

00:24:49.270 --> 00:24:51.370
This happened in
San Bruno Mountain,

00:24:51.370 --> 00:24:54.520
between the people who felt
that no development should ever

00:24:54.520 --> 00:24:56.145
take place anywhere
on the mountain,

00:24:56.145 --> 00:24:57.770
and those who felt
that, well, if we're

00:24:57.770 --> 00:24:59.312
going to save part
of it, we're going

00:24:59.312 --> 00:25:02.562
to have to give in and allow a
certain amount of development.

00:25:05.800 --> 00:25:09.340
- We thought, at the time,
that that was the end,

00:25:09.340 --> 00:25:13.120
that we'd done our job and that
we'd saved San Bruno Mountain.

00:25:13.120 --> 00:25:15.370
But we didn't know there
was another big chapter yet

00:25:15.370 --> 00:25:17.386
to come.

00:25:17.386 --> 00:25:19.846
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:53.490
- The next chapter of the
story is very interesting.

00:25:53.490 --> 00:25:55.320
We saved the top
2/3 of the mountain,

00:25:55.320 --> 00:25:57.450
with its unique ecosystem.

00:25:57.450 --> 00:26:00.420
And the bulldozers were
poised to develop the lower

00:26:00.420 --> 00:26:02.130
third of the mountain.

00:26:02.130 --> 00:26:05.250
But then, something
was discovered.

00:26:05.250 --> 00:26:07.710
- Just within months
after saving the saddle,

00:26:07.710 --> 00:26:09.750
the word came out
that there were

00:26:09.750 --> 00:26:12.762
rare species on the mountain.

00:26:12.762 --> 00:26:14.698
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:26:23.878 --> 00:26:25.670
- There are three
butterflies, two of which

00:26:25.670 --> 00:26:28.280
were already on the
endangered species list, which

00:26:28.280 --> 00:26:30.602
were the San Bruno Elfin,
a small, brown butterfly,

00:26:30.602 --> 00:26:32.810
and the Mission Blue, that
beautiful, iridescent blue

00:26:32.810 --> 00:26:33.740
butterfly.

00:26:33.740 --> 00:26:36.530
And then there was the Callippe
San Francisco Silverspot,

00:26:36.530 --> 00:26:38.660
which was the largest of them.

00:26:38.660 --> 00:26:40.460
- We were lucky,
in a way, that we

00:26:40.460 --> 00:26:43.250
were dealing with butterflies
instead of grasshoppers,

00:26:43.250 --> 00:26:47.830
or mosquitoes, or
flies, god forbid.

00:26:47.830 --> 00:26:51.190
Butterflies, to
people on the left,

00:26:51.190 --> 00:26:54.550
we're kind of a cultural
symbol of peace,

00:26:54.550 --> 00:26:58.490
and kind of that ethic.

00:26:58.490 --> 00:27:02.194
But to other people,
they're an insect.

00:27:02.194 --> 00:27:04.082
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:27:07.095 --> 00:27:09.220
- What happened is, I
started studying butterflies.

00:27:09.220 --> 00:27:11.290
They just attracted me
because they were flashy.

00:27:11.290 --> 00:27:14.650
And then, I began looking
at what they were doing,

00:27:14.650 --> 00:27:15.972
and watching that.

00:27:15.972 --> 00:27:17.680
And the more I learned
about their lives,

00:27:17.680 --> 00:27:21.370
the more I came to
appreciate their whole role

00:27:21.370 --> 00:27:23.500
in the ecosystem.

00:27:23.500 --> 00:27:26.800
Can you imagine
how they survive?

00:27:26.800 --> 00:27:28.870
The Mission Blue specifically,
because they only

00:27:28.870 --> 00:27:30.460
have one generation a year.

00:27:30.460 --> 00:27:33.700
So the caterpillars hatch,
usually around May or June.

00:27:33.700 --> 00:27:38.140
And then, they don't grow up to
become a less vulnerable stage.

00:27:38.140 --> 00:27:41.490
What they do is, as a tiny,
tiny microscopic caterpillar,

00:27:41.490 --> 00:27:43.690
they just crawl underneath
the lupin plant,

00:27:43.690 --> 00:27:46.990
and they stay there June, July,
August, September, October,

00:27:46.990 --> 00:27:48.700
November, December,
January, February,

00:27:48.700 --> 00:27:50.960
March, until the next year.

00:27:50.960 --> 00:27:54.470
Now, how many of them do
you think survive that?

00:27:54.470 --> 00:27:56.890
- They are vulnerable
because they really

00:27:56.890 --> 00:28:01.345
rely on very specific, specific
interactions in nature.

00:28:01.345 --> 00:28:03.220
If you look at San Bruno
Mountain as a whole,

00:28:03.220 --> 00:28:04.870
first you got to
get these grasslands

00:28:04.870 --> 00:28:06.620
where the lupins are growing.

00:28:06.620 --> 00:28:09.100
So they're dependent on these
lupins for their host plants,

00:28:09.100 --> 00:28:11.860
for the caterpillars to feed.

00:28:11.860 --> 00:28:15.340
Then after that, when they're
growing up as caterpillars,

00:28:15.340 --> 00:28:16.810
they have a symbiotic
relationship

00:28:16.810 --> 00:28:19.480
with a couple of native
ant species, very specific

00:28:19.480 --> 00:28:20.980
native ant species.

00:28:20.980 --> 00:28:25.240
- Both the Elfin and the Blue
have a symbiotic relationship

00:28:25.240 --> 00:28:26.800
with ants.

00:28:26.800 --> 00:28:28.510
The larvae are attended by ants.

00:28:28.510 --> 00:28:33.070
They get attracted to the
larvae by a sugary secretion

00:28:33.070 --> 00:28:36.670
that the ants feed on,
that the larvae secrete.

00:28:36.670 --> 00:28:38.650
- So what do the ants
do for the butterfly?

00:28:38.650 --> 00:28:40.540
The ants are the
security guards service.

00:28:40.540 --> 00:28:42.400
What happens is that
these butterflies

00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:44.770
are very vulnerable to
tiny little wasp parasites.

00:28:44.770 --> 00:28:47.020
They will lay their eggs in
the butterfly caterpillar,

00:28:47.020 --> 00:28:49.210
and then the wasp larvae
will develop and kill

00:28:49.210 --> 00:28:50.590
the butterfly caterpillar.

00:28:50.590 --> 00:28:51.940
The ants ward off the wasps.

00:28:51.940 --> 00:28:53.107
They keep them from landing.

00:28:53.107 --> 00:28:54.980
They keep them from
laying their eggs.

00:28:54.980 --> 00:28:58.160
And so, it's a wonderful,
mutualistic relationship

00:28:58.160 --> 00:28:59.920
between the ants
and the butterflies.

00:28:59.920 --> 00:29:01.890
Ants wouldn't do very
well in their diet

00:29:01.890 --> 00:29:02.890
without the butterflies.

00:29:02.890 --> 00:29:05.870
And the butterflies certainly
wouldn't do very well

00:29:05.870 --> 00:29:07.220
without the ants.

00:29:07.220 --> 00:29:09.690
- So they're dependent,
in their whole lifecycle,

00:29:09.690 --> 00:29:12.050
in part on the ants,
in part on the lupins

00:29:12.050 --> 00:29:14.510
and all these intact grasslands
that flow through San Bruno

00:29:14.510 --> 00:29:15.010
Mountain.

00:29:17.920 --> 00:29:19.420
Well, as they're
making preparations

00:29:19.420 --> 00:29:21.970
to develop these
properties, a letter

00:29:21.970 --> 00:29:24.460
comes in the mail from the
US Fish and Wildlife Service,

00:29:24.460 --> 00:29:26.600
saying that they're
proposing to designate

00:29:26.600 --> 00:29:28.750
most of the eastern
portion of the mountain

00:29:28.750 --> 00:29:30.220
as critical habitat.

00:29:30.220 --> 00:29:32.800
The developers, they
were really upset.

00:29:32.800 --> 00:29:35.403
They had disposed of most
of their property, which

00:29:35.403 --> 00:29:36.820
was in the areas
that were outside

00:29:36.820 --> 00:29:39.100
of the critical habitat,
thinking they could develop

00:29:39.100 --> 00:29:40.083
these other areas.

00:29:40.083 --> 00:29:42.250
And now, they find out that
they're being considered

00:29:42.250 --> 00:29:43.930
to be a wildlife preserve.

00:29:43.930 --> 00:29:46.506
I think they really felt
like they had been tricked.

00:29:46.506 --> 00:29:49.630
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:29:49.630 --> 00:29:52.460
- The Endangered Species
Act, when it was adopted,

00:29:52.460 --> 00:29:55.390
there were these very
visible, important species

00:29:55.390 --> 00:29:58.390
that were sort of used to
sell the Endangered Species

00:29:58.390 --> 00:30:00.700
Act to the public, the bald
eagle, the grizzly bear,

00:30:00.700 --> 00:30:01.690
wolves.

00:30:01.690 --> 00:30:03.370
People didn't think
about whether it

00:30:03.370 --> 00:30:05.680
was going to apply to some
little, tiny fish that

00:30:05.680 --> 00:30:08.890
was blind, or whether it would
apply to an insect on San Bruno

00:30:08.890 --> 00:30:10.150
Mountain.

00:30:10.150 --> 00:30:13.780
- Since 1978, when the snail
darter controversy occurred,

00:30:13.780 --> 00:30:16.000
it has been a very
controversial law.

00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:18.730
Of course, we now have some
1,400 species, more or less,

00:30:18.730 --> 00:30:20.710
most of which are plants.

00:30:20.710 --> 00:30:23.350
Most of them are
unfamiliar to most people.

00:30:23.350 --> 00:30:25.270
So it's a different
suite of species

00:30:25.270 --> 00:30:26.728
than Congress
probably had in mind.

00:30:26.728 --> 00:30:28.562
- Well, I think it's
important to understand

00:30:28.562 --> 00:30:30.310
that the Endangered
Species Act is not

00:30:30.310 --> 00:30:32.500
written into the Constitution.

00:30:32.500 --> 00:30:35.650
It's a statute that's enacted
by Congress, and can be revealed

00:30:35.650 --> 00:30:37.810
or amended by
Congress at any time.

00:30:37.810 --> 00:30:41.500
- We were about to
create this conflict

00:30:41.500 --> 00:30:46.750
between the rights of an
insect and the need for housing

00:30:46.750 --> 00:30:48.370
in a major metropolitan area.

00:30:48.370 --> 00:30:51.700
There was no way that
this struggle wasn't

00:30:51.700 --> 00:30:57.010
going to be a highly
visible struggle in very

00:30:57.010 --> 00:31:00.090
dangerous political times.

00:31:00.090 --> 00:31:02.610
- Don't forget, this was
after Reagan had been elected.

00:31:02.610 --> 00:31:04.830
And the liberal,
post-Watergate environment

00:31:04.830 --> 00:31:07.812
was a thing of the past.

00:31:07.812 --> 00:31:09.270
- There were many
people, including

00:31:09.270 --> 00:31:11.700
many environmentalists,
who believed

00:31:11.700 --> 00:31:16.200
that if there wasn't some
compromise, some softening

00:31:16.200 --> 00:31:19.020
of the effectiveness of
the Endangered Species Act

00:31:19.020 --> 00:31:23.010
and its restrictions on loggers,
miners, development interests,

00:31:23.010 --> 00:31:26.160
and other powerful, primarily
corporate interests,

00:31:26.160 --> 00:31:30.780
that the Endangered Species Act,
as a whole, would be gutted,

00:31:30.780 --> 00:31:32.400
politically destroyed.

00:31:32.400 --> 00:31:35.520
- At the time, the
Endangered Species Act

00:31:35.520 --> 00:31:39.570
was under attack in a way that
it has not been since then.

00:31:42.930 --> 00:31:48.360
And we felt as though the future
of that act, to some extent,

00:31:48.360 --> 00:31:52.530
depended on how well we managed
the controversy that was

00:31:52.530 --> 00:31:56.240
on the plate in front of us.

00:31:56.240 --> 00:31:57.740
- It was clear the
developer was not

00:31:57.740 --> 00:32:00.500
going to just walk away from
the south slope in the northeast

00:32:00.500 --> 00:32:03.320
ridge, and just let it be
taken as an endangered species

00:32:03.320 --> 00:32:04.190
habitat.

00:32:04.190 --> 00:32:06.012
And a fight to take
private property,

00:32:06.012 --> 00:32:07.970
worth probably hundreds
of millions of dollars,

00:32:07.970 --> 00:32:10.370
to save a subspecies
of an insect

00:32:10.370 --> 00:32:12.860
was not a battle that the
committee thought we could win.

00:32:15.730 --> 00:32:19.320
- And so, we decided to sort
of see if there wasn't a way

00:32:19.320 --> 00:32:20.910
to create a compromise.

00:32:20.910 --> 00:32:24.030
- That ultimately resulted
in the development

00:32:24.030 --> 00:32:28.200
of the Habitat Conservation
Plan for San Bruno Mountain.

00:32:28.200 --> 00:32:31.620
- This is the place they changed
the Endangered Species Act.

00:32:31.620 --> 00:32:33.120
This is the first
place where they

00:32:33.120 --> 00:32:35.880
made a habitat
conservation plan allowing

00:32:35.880 --> 00:32:40.140
to kill rare species
in private property.

00:32:40.140 --> 00:32:43.200
- The Habitat Conservation
Plan sounds nice,

00:32:43.200 --> 00:32:45.180
but it's frightening to me.

00:32:45.180 --> 00:32:48.810
And it started right here on San
Bruno Mountain, the very first

00:32:48.810 --> 00:32:49.950
one.

00:32:49.950 --> 00:32:52.650
- There was a battle within
the environmental movement,

00:32:52.650 --> 00:32:55.922
over whether or not we
should make this compromise.

00:32:55.922 --> 00:32:58.327
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:33:01.700 --> 00:33:05.780
- The idea of the HCP
was being sold to us

00:33:05.780 --> 00:33:07.580
as an opportunity
for money to be

00:33:07.580 --> 00:33:11.540
raised to help maintain
the endangered species

00:33:11.540 --> 00:33:13.100
habitat on the mountain.

00:33:13.100 --> 00:33:14.750
- The habitat of
the species were

00:33:14.750 --> 00:33:17.270
under more than one threat.

00:33:17.270 --> 00:33:20.180
They weren't just under
threat from the developer.

00:33:20.180 --> 00:33:24.950
The habitat was being destroyed
by invasive biological species,

00:33:24.950 --> 00:33:26.360
in this case, gorse.

00:33:26.360 --> 00:33:29.840
And over time, we would have
lost all of that habitat,

00:33:29.840 --> 00:33:32.630
not from bulldozers,
necessarily, but from gorse.

00:33:32.630 --> 00:33:34.880
- And so, in return
for permission

00:33:34.880 --> 00:33:37.610
to develop part of the
property, the developer

00:33:37.610 --> 00:33:40.310
would make resources
available to control

00:33:40.310 --> 00:33:42.320
those invasive plants
and thus, sustain

00:33:42.320 --> 00:33:44.540
the butterflies on the
undeveloped portion

00:33:44.540 --> 00:33:46.580
of the property.

00:33:46.580 --> 00:33:49.010
- The county hired
Thomas Reed Associates,

00:33:49.010 --> 00:33:51.200
a biological
consulting firm, to do

00:33:51.200 --> 00:33:54.890
a detailed study of the
butterfly and the habitat areas

00:33:54.890 --> 00:33:58.310
that were proposed
for development.

00:33:58.310 --> 00:34:00.800
- I was hired by the
county of San Mateo

00:34:00.800 --> 00:34:02.960
to actually do the work.

00:34:02.960 --> 00:34:07.760
There were a lot of
questions and criticisms

00:34:07.760 --> 00:34:13.586
of the HCP, that started while
we were doing the planning.

00:34:13.586 --> 00:34:18.020
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:34:18.020 --> 00:34:20.540
- As a scientist, I think the
greatest disappointment to me

00:34:20.540 --> 00:34:22.520
was, you'd like to
have the best quality

00:34:22.520 --> 00:34:25.340
data being used to benefit
the endangered butterflies.

00:34:25.340 --> 00:34:27.650
And in this case, I
don't think the data was

00:34:27.650 --> 00:34:30.260
as good as it should have been.

00:34:30.260 --> 00:34:33.469
And secondly, I think that
the politics ultimately

00:34:33.469 --> 00:34:35.270
resulted in the
decisions that were made,

00:34:35.270 --> 00:34:37.380
rather than the science.

00:34:37.380 --> 00:34:39.630
- At the time, this
decision was made

00:34:39.630 --> 00:34:42.179
on the very best information
that could be available.

00:34:42.179 --> 00:34:46.679
And in the legal
world that we live in,

00:34:46.679 --> 00:34:49.290
there are times when
decisions have to be made.

00:34:49.290 --> 00:34:51.600
- Tom Adams, he's a
very thoughtful person.

00:34:51.600 --> 00:34:55.199
He's a legal good guy,
in all sorts of ways.

00:34:55.199 --> 00:34:57.300
But he was looking
at what's on paper,

00:34:57.300 --> 00:35:00.522
and not going up there
on that mountain.

00:35:00.522 --> 00:35:02.992
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:35:25.270 --> 00:35:27.010
- I'm sort of inherently
a compromiser,

00:35:27.010 --> 00:35:30.760
and I like the idea of
coming to an agreement.

00:35:30.760 --> 00:35:33.100
And at the same time,
I always admired

00:35:33.100 --> 00:35:35.290
David's moral authority.

00:35:35.290 --> 00:35:37.240
- It became very
clear to me that you

00:35:37.240 --> 00:35:40.090
can't compromise and
play games with something

00:35:40.090 --> 00:35:44.980
so living, and alive, and real.

00:35:44.980 --> 00:35:46.620
You can compromise
politics, but you

00:35:46.620 --> 00:35:48.510
can't compromise
life, especially

00:35:48.510 --> 00:35:51.390
rare and endangered species.

00:35:51.390 --> 00:35:54.690
It really was serious for me.

00:35:54.690 --> 00:35:58.460
And I began to say that
out front at our groups.

00:35:58.460 --> 00:36:02.430
And one evening, at
Fred Smith's house,

00:36:02.430 --> 00:36:05.010
was a large group of people.

00:36:05.010 --> 00:36:10.270
And suddenly, I got
this feeling the HCP

00:36:10.270 --> 00:36:11.970
was going to be accepted.

00:36:11.970 --> 00:36:13.710
- When David decided
to tell me that he

00:36:13.710 --> 00:36:18.450
was going to oppose the
HCP, I told him David,

00:36:18.450 --> 00:36:21.165
if that's what you feel
you have to do, then

00:36:21.165 --> 00:36:22.290
that's what you have to do.

00:36:22.290 --> 00:36:25.380
I mean, you have to
follow your conscience.

00:36:25.380 --> 00:36:27.900
I said, I don't agree
with you, but that doesn't

00:36:27.900 --> 00:36:29.790
mean we can't be friends.

00:36:29.790 --> 00:36:32.130
- And I could've given up and
forgotten the whole thing,

00:36:32.130 --> 00:36:36.510
but it felt so important that
I just went ahead and pushed.

00:36:36.510 --> 00:36:43.420
And it got worse and worse,
and more pain for everybody.

00:36:43.420 --> 00:36:45.320
- Where David and
I kind of split

00:36:45.320 --> 00:36:47.690
was when David would
go to public meetings

00:36:47.690 --> 00:36:50.600
and accuse the Committee of
selling out the mountain,

00:36:50.600 --> 00:36:51.350
and being corrupt.

00:36:54.740 --> 00:36:57.570
- Our strong feeling was,
this is political game.

00:36:57.570 --> 00:37:01.830
It's corporate power,
greedy connections,

00:37:01.830 --> 00:37:03.810
rather than scientific
understanding

00:37:03.810 --> 00:37:06.300
of what we're facing with
the land, and the life,

00:37:06.300 --> 00:37:09.515
and the species habitat.

00:37:09.515 --> 00:37:14.780
And the final thing
was that we split.

00:37:14.780 --> 00:37:18.470
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:37:18.470 --> 00:37:20.228
It was sad, because
they were good people,

00:37:20.228 --> 00:37:22.520
and we'd been friendly, and
worked hard on a good thing

00:37:22.520 --> 00:37:23.060
together.

00:37:23.060 --> 00:37:28.220
And here, I just couldn't submit
to what they had agreed for.

00:37:28.220 --> 00:37:30.690
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:37:35.640 --> 00:37:38.070
- This legislation
passed pretty easily

00:37:38.070 --> 00:37:40.080
because I think it
was seen as a way

00:37:40.080 --> 00:37:43.650
to resolve what was a
serious inherent conflict

00:37:43.650 --> 00:37:45.510
in the Endangered Species Act.

00:37:45.510 --> 00:37:47.940
- I think Congress felt like
this was a reasonable way

00:37:47.940 --> 00:37:49.890
to resolve that
conflict, in a way that

00:37:49.890 --> 00:37:52.440
provided for the
preservation of the species

00:37:52.440 --> 00:37:55.440
and protected the rights
of private property owners.

00:37:55.440 --> 00:38:00.030
- Dave Schooley, who didn't
want to compromise at all,

00:38:00.030 --> 00:38:02.280
split and formed San
Bruno Mountain Watch.

00:38:02.280 --> 00:38:05.490
And went off on his own way.

00:38:05.490 --> 00:38:09.330
- The group broke, and they
incorporated themselves,

00:38:09.330 --> 00:38:11.610
which left me out.

00:38:11.610 --> 00:38:18.267
And I had to like redo
the whole thing, in a way.

00:38:18.267 --> 00:38:20.762
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:38:27.750 --> 00:38:29.250
- I first heard
about David Schooley

00:38:29.250 --> 00:38:31.380
when he called me up
one day at the Chronicle

00:38:31.380 --> 00:38:34.920
to suggest that San
Bruno Mountain would

00:38:34.920 --> 00:38:36.840
make a good subject
for one of my columns.

00:38:39.780 --> 00:38:42.560
And he convinced me that
this needed some attention

00:38:42.560 --> 00:38:45.940
and needed some press coverage,
so I proceeded to give it some.

00:38:48.500 --> 00:38:49.910
- You couldn't go to a meeting.

00:38:49.910 --> 00:38:51.530
You couldn't go to an event.

00:38:51.530 --> 00:38:56.120
You couldn't go to anything
without finding David Schooley.

00:38:56.120 --> 00:38:57.980
He was omnipresent.

00:38:57.980 --> 00:39:01.100
And all he would talk about
was San Bruno Mountain.

00:39:01.100 --> 00:39:04.580
And sometimes, for all of the
admiration that I felt for him,

00:39:04.580 --> 00:39:06.077
you kind of wanted to flee.

00:39:06.077 --> 00:39:08.660
It's like somebody showing you
pictures of their grandchildren

00:39:08.660 --> 00:39:09.202
or something.

00:39:09.202 --> 00:39:13.310
I mean, his grandchild
is San Bruno Mountain.

00:39:13.310 --> 00:39:18.270
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:39:18.270 --> 00:39:20.100
- Critical from
the beginning was

00:39:20.100 --> 00:39:22.710
taking walks on the mountain.

00:39:22.710 --> 00:39:24.900
- Dave and his
friends took people

00:39:24.900 --> 00:39:27.420
like me, who didn't know
anything about the mountain,

00:39:27.420 --> 00:39:28.710
on these walks.

00:39:28.710 --> 00:39:31.740
And we began to appreciate
how really special it is.

00:39:31.740 --> 00:39:34.860
- And nobody hikes the mountain
David Schooley, believe me.

00:39:34.860 --> 00:39:38.520
- All during this time, David
particularly, and others,

00:39:38.520 --> 00:39:41.070
were leading informal
groups up onto the mountain,

00:39:41.070 --> 00:39:43.890
and giving tours,
and doing education.

00:39:43.890 --> 00:39:46.290
And the government now had
these big parks and all.

00:39:46.290 --> 00:39:47.910
And I had read all
these plans, and I

00:39:47.910 --> 00:39:49.740
saw the beautiful
visitor's center that

00:39:49.740 --> 00:39:51.900
was going to be built.
All of this stuff

00:39:51.900 --> 00:39:54.420
that the government
was supposed to do,

00:39:54.420 --> 00:39:57.600
I don't see any visible
difference from 1980.

00:39:57.600 --> 00:39:59.670
And yet, I still
see David Schooley

00:39:59.670 --> 00:40:03.928
leading groups up the
mountain in the informal way.

00:40:03.928 --> 00:40:05.872
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:40:11.220 --> 00:40:15.860
- One winter evening, I went
for a walk up on the mountain.

00:40:15.860 --> 00:40:19.565
And it was fog coming around
corners, and kind of spooky.

00:40:19.565 --> 00:40:23.760
And I went around this corner,
and somebody leaped out

00:40:23.760 --> 00:40:26.970
of a little rocky ridge
beside me, in his bare feet,

00:40:26.970 --> 00:40:30.570
and leaped from rock to
rock, and rock away from me.

00:40:30.570 --> 00:40:34.020
And one other evening,
I'd gone up in the canyon,

00:40:34.020 --> 00:40:35.780
in the very same place.

00:40:35.780 --> 00:40:38.220
And I slipped and fell
right onto a creek below.

00:40:38.220 --> 00:40:41.550
And somebody laughed
at me from the bushes.

00:40:41.550 --> 00:40:42.990
And that was him.

00:40:42.990 --> 00:40:46.080
I found out that he'd been
a teacher in South San

00:40:46.080 --> 00:40:49.020
Francisco, a music teacher.

00:40:49.020 --> 00:40:52.050
And it was a personal problem
that caused his interest

00:40:52.050 --> 00:40:53.940
to live up in this wild area.

00:40:56.490 --> 00:41:01.590
And this is the great oak
where Dwight built his home.

00:41:01.590 --> 00:41:04.890
I asked him, at one point,
could I bring a class?

00:41:04.890 --> 00:41:06.560
So I started bringing kids.

00:41:06.560 --> 00:41:10.410
And for 15 years, class,
after class, after class

00:41:10.410 --> 00:41:12.570
got to know a
person who lived so

00:41:12.570 --> 00:41:14.160
close to the Earth all around.

00:41:14.160 --> 00:41:17.010
Somebody who can go in
bare feet on the ground.

00:41:17.010 --> 00:41:20.100
So it was like a
shock and a pain

00:41:20.100 --> 00:41:23.530
when Fred Smith, the
mayor of Brisbane,

00:41:23.530 --> 00:41:28.670
or a council member at the
time, had him kicked out.

00:41:28.670 --> 00:41:32.000
- I was hiking in
Buckeye Canyon one day,

00:41:32.000 --> 00:41:34.790
and came across a shack.

00:41:34.790 --> 00:41:38.150
Someone had dug holes in
the canyon to collect water,

00:41:38.150 --> 00:41:40.460
and had scratched out
a little garden there.

00:41:40.460 --> 00:41:42.350
And I was horrified.

00:41:42.350 --> 00:41:46.700
I thought this is a
pristine, natural area.

00:41:46.700 --> 00:41:49.790
How could someone come in and
establish basically a homestead

00:41:49.790 --> 00:41:50.290
there?

00:41:52.890 --> 00:41:54.660
This was part of
the new County Park

00:41:54.660 --> 00:41:57.280
that we had fought
so hard to create.

00:41:57.280 --> 00:42:00.000
It's kind of like, well,
what's the harm if one guy is

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:01.380
living on the mountain?

00:42:01.380 --> 00:42:04.045
But if one guy decides to
go live on the mountain,

00:42:04.045 --> 00:42:05.893
well, what if 100
people decide to set up

00:42:05.893 --> 00:42:06.810
camps on the mountain?

00:42:06.810 --> 00:42:08.160
What if 1,000?

00:42:08.160 --> 00:42:10.110
What's the impact going to be?

00:42:10.110 --> 00:42:14.600
Because if you let one,
you have to let anyone.

00:42:14.600 --> 00:42:16.440
- It should be free and open.

00:42:16.440 --> 00:42:20.400
Around the world, there are
hermits who live in the wild.

00:42:20.400 --> 00:42:22.860
And here in America,
we're not allowed.

00:42:22.860 --> 00:42:23.980
It's a power game.

00:42:23.980 --> 00:42:26.280
It's the power of
the government.

00:42:26.280 --> 00:42:29.102
And I think we've got
to change that around.

00:42:29.102 --> 00:42:33.070
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:42:33.070 --> 00:42:35.830
- It became clearer
and clearer, as time

00:42:35.830 --> 00:42:39.820
went by, that for the mountain,
for the wildlife, growth

00:42:39.820 --> 00:42:42.696
and power was not the answer.

00:42:42.696 --> 00:42:45.480
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:42:45.480 --> 00:42:49.110
- I spent 12 years on the
Brisbane City Council.

00:42:49.110 --> 00:42:52.772
I'm not saying they're not
corrupt people in politics,

00:42:52.772 --> 00:42:54.480
and I'm not saying
they're not corrupting

00:42:54.480 --> 00:42:56.220
influences in politics.

00:42:56.220 --> 00:42:59.880
But not everyone in politics
is corrupt, and the system

00:42:59.880 --> 00:43:01.950
itself is not inherently evil.

00:43:01.950 --> 00:43:03.810
Politics is about compromise.

00:43:03.810 --> 00:43:06.810
And politics is also
about resolving issues.

00:43:06.810 --> 00:43:08.670
And one can do that as
an elected official,

00:43:08.670 --> 00:43:12.250
or one can do that as
a citizen advocate.

00:43:12.250 --> 00:43:13.380
But I think you need both.

00:43:13.380 --> 00:43:15.630
I mean, I think you need
sympathetic elected officials

00:43:15.630 --> 00:43:18.390
on the inside, and you need
effective citizen advocates

00:43:18.390 --> 00:43:20.218
on the outside.

00:43:20.218 --> 00:43:22.688
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:43:33.580 --> 00:43:36.970
- In various partnerships,
the developers

00:43:36.970 --> 00:43:41.950
of the northeast ridge had been
through 12 years of litigation

00:43:41.950 --> 00:43:43.480
with Brisbane.

00:43:43.480 --> 00:43:47.410
And I came in at a point
in time when the developers

00:43:47.410 --> 00:43:50.890
had actually sued individually,
each member of the Brisbane

00:43:50.890 --> 00:43:53.140
City Council.

00:43:53.140 --> 00:43:55.540
- The developer claimed
they had a vested right

00:43:55.540 --> 00:43:58.670
to develop 250 units
with no constraints.

00:43:58.670 --> 00:44:01.180
So the first action that
the city council took

00:44:01.180 --> 00:44:04.360
was to limit the number of
units developed within Brisbane

00:44:04.360 --> 00:44:06.140
on an annual basis.

00:44:06.140 --> 00:44:08.392
- And the developers
were furious over that.

00:44:08.392 --> 00:44:09.850
The developers were
trying to claim

00:44:09.850 --> 00:44:12.490
that they should be able to
go after the personal assets

00:44:12.490 --> 00:44:14.800
of the city council members
because of a decision

00:44:14.800 --> 00:44:16.840
they had made in
their public capacity.

00:44:16.840 --> 00:44:20.320
But the federal courts
refused to really even allow

00:44:20.320 --> 00:44:21.460
the case to go to trial.

00:44:21.460 --> 00:44:23.502
- The developer and the
city reached an agreement

00:44:23.502 --> 00:44:27.986
for a scaled back project
of about 589 units.

00:44:27.986 --> 00:44:29.970
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:44:32.450 --> 00:44:34.130
- I always felt
that the position

00:44:34.130 --> 00:44:35.960
that I've tried to
keep is one that's

00:44:35.960 --> 00:44:38.970
consistent with the commitments
that we made initially,

00:44:38.970 --> 00:44:42.890
which was to support
the original compromise.

00:44:42.890 --> 00:44:46.670
In order to preserve the saddle
and the county park land,

00:44:46.670 --> 00:44:49.340
development could go
forward on the south slope

00:44:49.340 --> 00:44:50.948
or the northeast ridge.

00:44:50.948 --> 00:44:52.740
[MUSIC - MALVINA REYNOLDS,
"LITTLE BOXES"]

00:44:52.740 --> 00:44:54.932
(SINGING) Little
boxes, on the hillside,

00:44:54.932 --> 00:44:58.418
little boxes made
of ticky-tacky.

00:44:58.418 --> 00:45:04.892
Little boxes on the hillside,
little boxes, all the same.

00:45:04.892 --> 00:45:08.876
There's a green
one, and a pink one,

00:45:08.876 --> 00:45:12.860
and a blue one,
and a yellow one.

00:45:12.860 --> 00:45:15.655
And they're all made
out of ticky-tacky,

00:45:15.655 --> 00:45:18.395
and they're all just the same.

00:45:24.359 --> 00:45:26.844
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:46:29.540 --> 00:46:33.620
- What has placed San Bruno
Mountain in a global context

00:46:33.620 --> 00:46:36.200
is the fact that it
has a very high number

00:46:36.200 --> 00:46:40.310
of rare endemic species,
given the amount of land

00:46:40.310 --> 00:46:41.690
that they occupy.

00:46:41.690 --> 00:46:44.540
It's an integral part of
the relatively small planet

00:46:44.540 --> 00:46:47.210
that we've got,
where the planet is

00:46:47.210 --> 00:46:49.790
in the midst of
what we know to be

00:46:49.790 --> 00:46:52.400
a major crisis of extinctions.

00:46:54.920 --> 00:46:58.520
- Certainly, San Bruno Mountain
is not a pristine area.

00:46:58.520 --> 00:47:03.350
It has been impacted by
our urban civilization.

00:47:03.350 --> 00:47:07.640
But it still retains enough
of the natural biota, plants

00:47:07.640 --> 00:47:10.250
and animals, to
tell us something

00:47:10.250 --> 00:47:15.250
about what the area was like
before Europeans came here.

00:47:15.250 --> 00:47:18.273
- When you talk about
saving San Bruno Mountain,

00:47:18.273 --> 00:47:19.940
the question is always
going to come up,

00:47:19.940 --> 00:47:21.620
what are you saving it to?

00:47:21.620 --> 00:47:24.410
What era becomes
the benchmark era?

00:47:24.410 --> 00:47:26.990
Do you want to go back
before whites came?

00:47:26.990 --> 00:47:29.480
Do you want to go back
to early settlement?

00:47:29.480 --> 00:47:32.270
The landscape is a dynamic
landscape, and it's changing.

00:47:32.270 --> 00:47:35.060
And the question can never
be answered with clarity,

00:47:35.060 --> 00:47:38.110
and it can never be
answered with exactitude.

00:47:38.110 --> 00:47:40.610
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:47:53.400 --> 00:47:57.000
- 25 years ago, we understood
that the Habitat Conservation

00:47:57.000 --> 00:48:01.430
Plan had not had any
true scientific study.

00:48:01.430 --> 00:48:04.530
- And that continues to be an
Achilles heel, if you will,

00:48:04.530 --> 00:48:06.200
for HCPs.

00:48:06.200 --> 00:48:08.750
There is often insufficient
scientific data

00:48:08.750 --> 00:48:11.480
to support both the
development authorizations

00:48:11.480 --> 00:48:14.000
and the mitigation
plans they entail.

00:48:14.000 --> 00:48:16.730
- While these habitat
conservation plans

00:48:16.730 --> 00:48:19.670
began on San Bruno
Mountain, there

00:48:19.670 --> 00:48:24.170
are now hundreds of these
plans across the United States.

00:48:24.170 --> 00:48:25.730
- We've got hundreds,
and hundreds,

00:48:25.730 --> 00:48:28.580
and hundreds of habitat
conservation plans

00:48:28.580 --> 00:48:30.890
modeled after the San Bruno one.

00:48:30.890 --> 00:48:33.410
- And I think they
represent the same questions

00:48:33.410 --> 00:48:36.350
that they represent
here, which is, can you

00:48:36.350 --> 00:48:38.750
allow the destruction
of the habitat

00:48:38.750 --> 00:48:42.380
and still ensure the
preservation of the endangered

00:48:42.380 --> 00:48:43.868
species?

00:48:43.868 --> 00:48:46.844
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:48:54.800 --> 00:48:57.470
- I don't think there's
been any HCP yet

00:48:57.470 --> 00:49:01.130
that has been embraced with
enthusiasm, either by me

00:49:01.130 --> 00:49:05.530
or by other environmentalists,
as a perfect arrangement.

00:49:05.530 --> 00:49:07.762
They are Faustian bargains.

00:49:07.762 --> 00:49:11.140
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:49:11.140 --> 00:49:12.580
- I think the
Habitat Conservation

00:49:12.580 --> 00:49:15.990
Plan has been mixed.

00:49:15.990 --> 00:49:17.640
The butterflies are
still there, so I

00:49:17.640 --> 00:49:20.520
think that that's a success.

00:49:20.520 --> 00:49:22.050
Looking back on it,
are there things

00:49:22.050 --> 00:49:23.680
that should have been
done differently?

00:49:23.680 --> 00:49:25.920
Absolutely.

00:49:25.920 --> 00:49:27.810
The main flaw in
the plan, I think,

00:49:27.810 --> 00:49:29.730
is the fact that
the level of funding

00:49:29.730 --> 00:49:32.130
that was built into the
program was woefully

00:49:32.130 --> 00:49:34.200
inadequate to really
do the job that

00:49:34.200 --> 00:49:38.283
needed to be done to manage
and maintain the habitat.

00:49:38.283 --> 00:49:40.950
- There are a lot more weeds, as
it were, on San Bruno Mountain,

00:49:40.950 --> 00:49:43.380
than we recognized in 1982.

00:49:43.380 --> 00:49:45.357
Dealing with them
has been difficult.

00:49:45.357 --> 00:49:50.130
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:49:50.130 --> 00:49:52.620
- We have to go in there and
actively manage the land.

00:49:52.620 --> 00:49:54.990
So one of the ironies
is how much management

00:49:54.990 --> 00:49:58.056
it takes to create
a natural landscape.

00:49:58.056 --> 00:50:00.000
[PLANE ENGINE SOUNDS]

00:50:03.900 --> 00:50:07.140
- 20, 30 years ago, there
were regular wildfires

00:50:07.140 --> 00:50:10.290
on San Bruno Mountain,
which kept the brush down.

00:50:10.290 --> 00:50:12.690
And they were allowed
to burn, mostly

00:50:12.690 --> 00:50:14.970
because the mountain wasn't
as closely surrounded

00:50:14.970 --> 00:50:16.320
by development.

00:50:16.320 --> 00:50:18.300
Now that development
has encroached,

00:50:18.300 --> 00:50:20.820
those homeowners are more
concerned about fires.

00:50:20.820 --> 00:50:23.730
So what's happening is, both
native and non-native species

00:50:23.730 --> 00:50:25.560
are encroaching
onto the grasslands,

00:50:25.560 --> 00:50:30.322
and are diminishing habitat
that the butterflies rely upon.

00:50:30.322 --> 00:50:33.773
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:50:37.230 --> 00:50:41.070
- There are now 10 times as
many people in California

00:50:41.070 --> 00:50:44.760
as there were when I was
born in California in 1918.

00:50:44.760 --> 00:50:47.760
And we'll always be
threatened with development,

00:50:47.760 --> 00:50:51.558
as long as there is
population pressure.

00:50:51.558 --> 00:50:55.030
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:50:55.030 --> 00:50:58.960
- We live in a highly urbanized
area of the greater San

00:50:58.960 --> 00:51:00.940
Francisco Bay Area.

00:51:00.940 --> 00:51:03.940
And the development
pressures are enormous.

00:51:03.940 --> 00:51:06.760
And the land values
are enormous.

00:51:06.760 --> 00:51:10.434
And therefore, the
profits can be enormous.

00:51:10.434 --> 00:51:14.330
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:51:14.330 --> 00:51:17.600
- Really an important
issue with all communities

00:51:17.600 --> 00:51:22.250
is limited availability of land,
and the pressures for growth.

00:51:24.860 --> 00:51:28.160
We can continue to spread out,
and go further and further

00:51:28.160 --> 00:51:30.800
away, and build more
and more highways,

00:51:30.800 --> 00:51:33.230
or we can change the direction.

00:51:33.230 --> 00:51:36.270
- High density in urban
areas is a good thing.

00:51:36.270 --> 00:51:38.180
I really believe that.

00:51:38.180 --> 00:51:40.678
It may not be the
better quality of life.

00:51:40.678 --> 00:51:43.220
But the better quality of life
of going out into the suburbs,

00:51:43.220 --> 00:51:44.720
and everybody having
a picket fence,

00:51:44.720 --> 00:51:49.451
and having to depend on the
automobile is disastrous.

00:51:49.451 --> 00:51:51.936
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:51:58.910 --> 00:52:00.890
- One of the ironic
things is that part

00:52:00.890 --> 00:52:03.810
of my job now with the City of
Brisbane is, to some extent,

00:52:03.810 --> 00:52:04.660
I'm a developer.

00:52:04.660 --> 00:52:07.670
I'm the person that puts
together affordable housing

00:52:07.670 --> 00:52:09.920
projects in Brisbane.

00:52:09.920 --> 00:52:12.890
Affordable housing for
seniors, affordable housing

00:52:12.890 --> 00:52:14.807
for families.

00:52:14.807 --> 00:52:16.640
Given the amount of
development in Brisbane,

00:52:16.640 --> 00:52:19.640
I'm probably one of
the biggest developers,

00:52:19.640 --> 00:52:21.300
ironically, in town.

00:52:21.300 --> 00:52:25.250
But I think those are the kind
of developments that have had

00:52:25.250 --> 00:52:27.664
a positive benefit on the town.

00:52:27.664 --> 00:52:30.380
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:52:30.380 --> 00:52:32.390
After I retired from
the city council,

00:52:32.390 --> 00:52:36.650
after I finished my third term,
I decided to go back to school.

00:52:36.650 --> 00:52:37.790
Finished getting my degree.

00:52:37.790 --> 00:52:39.725
I went to Berkeley
and got a degree

00:52:39.725 --> 00:52:41.540
in environmental economics.

00:52:41.540 --> 00:52:47.060
I wanted to be able to find a
profession that met my passion.

00:52:47.060 --> 00:52:48.440
And will be continuing the--

00:52:48.440 --> 00:52:51.530
The staff has negotiated
purchase agreements

00:52:51.530 --> 00:52:53.810
with four sellers,
four willing sellers

00:52:53.810 --> 00:52:56.090
of five additional parcels.

00:52:56.090 --> 00:52:59.630
- The open lands above the
upper streets in Brisbane

00:52:59.630 --> 00:53:01.372
are not part of the County Park.

00:53:01.372 --> 00:53:03.830
They're privately owned land
in an area called the Brisbane

00:53:03.830 --> 00:53:05.210
Acres.

00:53:05.210 --> 00:53:09.170
This area contains some of
the most pristine, undisturbed

00:53:09.170 --> 00:53:11.240
habitat on San Bruno Mountain.

00:53:11.240 --> 00:53:13.400
And so, the City
Council has adopted

00:53:13.400 --> 00:53:17.070
a program of acquiring those
parcels from willing sellers.

00:53:17.070 --> 00:53:20.010
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:53:20.010 --> 00:53:22.950
- I'm really grateful and
impressed by the effort

00:53:22.950 --> 00:53:27.060
for the city, and Fred Smith's
careful, careful watching

00:53:27.060 --> 00:53:30.864
and understanding of the
Acres and their moves.

00:53:30.864 --> 00:53:33.505
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:53:33.505 --> 00:53:34.880
- When I first
moved to Brisbane,

00:53:34.880 --> 00:53:38.120
I had no idea I was embarking
on a 30-year odyssey that would

00:53:38.120 --> 00:53:41.780
involve San Bruno Mountain
as one of the primary facets

00:53:41.780 --> 00:53:42.890
of my life, certainly.

00:53:42.890 --> 00:53:44.960
I mean, I could
never have imagined

00:53:44.960 --> 00:53:47.380
that would be the outcome.

00:53:47.380 --> 00:53:50.070
- It's mostly citizens, but
you see, every now and then,

00:53:50.070 --> 00:53:51.070
you'll run into someone.

00:53:51.070 --> 00:53:57.050
- But this is what we've
brought, in '75 and '76.

00:53:57.050 --> 00:53:58.800
- I'm sure David and
I will probably never

00:53:58.800 --> 00:54:01.370
share another jug of
wine up on the mountain.

00:54:01.370 --> 00:54:04.517
And that's OK, times change.

00:54:04.517 --> 00:54:06.600
But I certainly respect
what he and Mountain Watch

00:54:06.600 --> 00:54:07.820
have been able to accomplish.

00:54:07.820 --> 00:54:10.115
- In the saddle, and
we're working on this.

00:54:12.960 --> 00:54:19.050
OK, this is the section
on people on San Bruno

00:54:19.050 --> 00:54:21.240
Mountain over the years.

00:54:21.240 --> 00:54:24.332
Tom Adams has a big
section right here.

00:54:24.332 --> 00:54:26.190
And Fred Smith--

00:54:26.190 --> 00:54:29.220
- If I could bestow,
if I could give a gift

00:54:29.220 --> 00:54:30.690
to every mountain
in the country,

00:54:30.690 --> 00:54:32.898
I would give them
a David Schooley.

00:54:32.898 --> 00:54:34.440
- Yeah, there's no
chance because I'm

00:54:34.440 --> 00:54:36.660
going to the protest
in San Francisco--

00:54:36.660 --> 00:54:38.700
- Not all of us
could spend the rest

00:54:38.700 --> 00:54:42.645
of our lives fighting against
development on the mountain.

00:54:42.645 --> 00:54:45.120
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:54:45.120 --> 00:54:48.060
- Wednesday-- oh, no.

00:54:48.060 --> 00:54:50.850
That's the Oak Tree's--

00:54:50.850 --> 00:54:54.240
- Nobody has had the love,
and commitment, and devotion

00:54:54.240 --> 00:54:56.220
to the mountain that he has.

00:54:56.220 --> 00:55:01.160
- I think of it sometimes as if
he's married to the mountain.

00:55:01.160 --> 00:55:07.010
- No, that's another protest
going on that day in the city.

00:55:07.010 --> 00:55:08.900
- David's a true anarchist.

00:55:08.900 --> 00:55:13.224
And he's earned his
credentials in that regard.

00:55:13.224 --> 00:55:17.390
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:55:17.390 --> 00:55:20.000
- I think David
Schooley despises

00:55:20.000 --> 00:55:25.490
conventional political power,
and as repugnant as it may be,

00:55:25.490 --> 00:55:28.490
politicians, landowners,
people with money

00:55:28.490 --> 00:55:33.560
have the ability to make
things happen in our society.

00:55:33.560 --> 00:55:39.530
- People like David, who
don't want to give an inch,

00:55:39.530 --> 00:55:42.848
are perceived as being
absolute extremists.

00:55:45.660 --> 00:55:50.370
And yet, what we're being
asked for is to consent

00:55:50.370 --> 00:55:52.950
to having more land destroyed.

00:55:52.950 --> 00:55:57.110
For example, for the Callippe
Silverspot butterfly.

00:55:57.110 --> 00:55:59.450
That butterfly is
down to perhaps 2%

00:55:59.450 --> 00:56:01.910
of his historic habitat.

00:56:01.910 --> 00:56:04.520
And we don't want any more
of it to be bulldozed.

00:56:04.520 --> 00:56:06.710
Not one more square inch.

00:56:06.710 --> 00:56:09.110
And so, we're considered
the extremists?

00:56:09.110 --> 00:56:11.998
Are we so unreasonable to
want to hold the line at 2%?

00:56:11.998 --> 00:56:14.810
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:56:14.810 --> 00:56:17.300
- I think that if
the people advocating

00:56:17.300 --> 00:56:20.240
the preservation of
San Bruno Mountain

00:56:20.240 --> 00:56:23.990
would have all been
just like Dave Schooley,

00:56:23.990 --> 00:56:26.390
I'm not sure as much
preservation would have

00:56:26.390 --> 00:56:29.420
happened as has happened now.

00:56:29.420 --> 00:56:34.280
And on the other hand, equally
and as paradoxically true,

00:56:34.280 --> 00:56:38.000
without David Schooley,
the preservation of as much

00:56:38.000 --> 00:56:39.590
of the mountain
that has occurred

00:56:39.590 --> 00:56:42.644
would never have had happened.

00:56:42.644 --> 00:56:45.124
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:57:06.452 --> 00:57:08.436
[MUFFLED CHATTER]

00:57:12.450 --> 00:57:14.290
- Good morning, everyone.

00:57:14.290 --> 00:57:17.130
Thank you so much for
weathering the elements,

00:57:17.130 --> 00:57:20.280
and coming out on this chilly,
foggy, bear of a morning

00:57:20.280 --> 00:57:22.855
on San Bruno Mountain.

00:57:22.855 --> 00:57:25.310
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:57:37.100 --> 00:57:41.360
- I think it's really important
to take care of the mountain.

00:57:41.360 --> 00:57:43.375
It's something that
we take for granted.

00:57:43.375 --> 00:57:45.500
And there's so much
development going on out there,

00:57:45.500 --> 00:57:48.380
I think it really takes
efforts like this to remind you

00:57:48.380 --> 00:57:49.850
how important it is.

00:57:52.550 --> 00:57:54.640
- So I think it's
a good thing to do.

00:57:54.640 --> 00:57:58.560
It's a good example to
set for other students

00:57:58.560 --> 00:57:59.820
and other children.

00:57:59.820 --> 00:58:02.085
- And hopefully, the
bug will bite him,

00:58:02.085 --> 00:58:03.210
the mountain will bite him.

00:58:03.210 --> 00:58:07.230
Because once you get bit by
the mountain, you stay bit.

00:58:07.230 --> 00:58:11.214
[SOUNDS OF WIND BLOWING]

00:58:11.214 --> 00:58:14.202
[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:59:59.280 --> 01:00:12.228
[MUSIC - MALVINA REYNOLDS,
"LITTLE BOXES"]

01:00:12.228 --> 01:00:17.716
(SINGING) Little boxes on
the hillside, little boxes

01:00:17.716 --> 01:00:23.994
made of ticky-tacky, little
boxes on the hillside,

01:00:23.994 --> 01:00:27.487
little boxes, all the same.

01:00:27.487 --> 01:00:30.481
There's a green
one, and a pink one,

01:00:30.481 --> 01:00:33.974
and a blue one,
and a yellow one.

01:00:33.974 --> 01:00:37.467
And they're all made
out of ticky-tacky,

01:00:37.467 --> 01:00:39.962
and they're all just the same.

01:00:43.954 --> 01:00:48.445
And the people in the
houses, well, they all

01:00:48.445 --> 01:00:54.770
went to the university,
where they were put in boxes,

01:00:54.770 --> 01:00:58.240
and they came out all the same.

01:00:58.240 --> 01:01:04.904
There were doctors, and lawyers,
and business executives.

01:01:04.904 --> 01:01:08.624
And they're all made
out of ticky-tacky,

01:01:08.624 --> 01:01:14.025
and they're all just the same.

01:01:14.025 --> 01:01:17.953
And they all play
on the golf course,

01:01:17.953 --> 01:01:22.120
and they drink
their martinis dry.

01:01:22.120 --> 01:01:25.018
And they all have
pretty children,

01:01:25.018 --> 01:01:28.906
and the children go to school.

01:01:28.906 --> 01:01:32.794
And the children
go to summer camp,

01:01:32.794 --> 01:01:39.620
and then to the university,
where they are put in boxes,

01:01:39.620 --> 01:01:45.070
and they're all just the same.