San Francisco's Natural History

This book traces the changes in the environment, the plants and animals starting with the Ohlone through the colonial period and in the decades since the Gold Rush. It describes what the flora and fauna were like before the presidio and mission were founded, what plants and animals disappeared and which survived. There is also discussion of the many introduced species, the landscape changes by humans and the on-going effects of climate change. There is description of introduced and invasive species and how they have affected the ecology in the San Francisco's limited open space. Accounts are summarized from the first natural history observations in San Francisco. These include records that begin with Sir Francis Drake and include the DeAnza, Vancouver, Beechey, Rezanov and LaPerouse expeditions. Book includes map of what San Francisco's landscape and streams was like in 1800 before people began making wholesale changes.