Rec & Park presents three Sharp Park recovery options; staff highlights habitat work and cost tradeoffs

The San Francisco Recreation and Park Department presented three concept plans to a standing‑room special hearing of the Board of Supervisors, telling members it had modeled options meant to recover the San Francisco garter snake and the California red‑legged frog at Sharp Park while weighing recreation, costs and long‑term sea‑level risks.

Rec & Park ecologist David Monroe said consultants framed the work as a recovery action under the Endangered Species Act rather than an ecosystem restoration, and designed three alternatives to meet species recovery criteria: maintain an 18‑hole golf course with targeted habitat fixes; a 9‑hole compromise that restores additional uplands; and a no‑golf option that returns most fairways to coastal shrub and grassland. "The project goal is very simple: we need to restore or create conditions that will promote the recovery of the San Francisco garter snake…