Water Resource Collections and Archives

Tennessee Hollow Riparian Corridor Restoration Project

Organization: Urban Watershed Project
2001 Grant Recipient - San Francisco County

Purpose

• In an urban setting, restore riparian habitat in a National Park.
• Remove non-native vegetation.
• Restore hydrologic function.
• Reestablish flood plain.
• Daylight the creek in culverted areas.

The Tennessee Hollow riparian corridor restoration project will have the opportunity to restore a 250 acre watershed and associated riparian corridor in the Presidio of San Francisco. The waters of Tennessee Hollow flow into the newly restored Crissy Field Marsh on San Francisco Bay, just east of the Golden Gate Bridge. Despite the degradation from 200 years of habitation, the site still retains remnant areas of riparian vegetation. Project goals include daylighting the creek, removing concrete-lined channels, removing non-native vegetation and creating a fully-functioning ecosystem on the site.

2012 Update

The lead agency, the Presidio Trust, has taken full responsibility for the Tennessee Hollow Watershed Revitalization Project. In 2005, the Presidio Trust removed thousands of cubic yards of contamination from a section of buried creek. The creek was daylighted and restored to Arroyo Willow habitat. In 2008, the Presidio Trust completed an Environmental Assessment of the Tennessee Hollow Revitalization Project. To find out more about the Report, contact the Presidio.

The projects referenced below have now expended funding approaching $20 million. Water quality monitoring of the newly daylighted creek reached continues under the guidance of the Presidio Trust. Students from Project WISE, a project of the Crissy Field Center and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy have been planting native species and removing non-native species since 2001.

There is more work to do. Many other reaches of the Tennessee Hollow Watershed await daylighting and restoration activities and these projects will likely continue for the next 20 years. The San Francisco Bay Fund investment of $20,000 has multiplied to $20 million and the dream of a restored watershed from springs to bay is well underway.

NRPI Database Entry
http://www.ice.ucdavis.edu/nrpi/NRPIDescription.asp?ProjectPK=393

Documents

• The Tennessee Hollow Watershed - Revitalizing Tennessee Hollow
  
  
• Tennessee Hollow Watershed Self-Guided Walking Tour (February 2012)

Primary Contact for the Project
Doug Kern
Urban Watershed Project
Phone: (415) 828-2622
Email: DougKern@sbcglobal.net