 Hello and welcome everybody. Thank you for being here today. Today we have a special presentation, Secret Reading Spots in the Presidio. My name is Maricela and I'm a librarian at the San Francisco Public Library, and your library hosts today as we learn about some really great spots to visit. All these places are wonderful places to visit, perhaps after stopping at your local library to get some books. But before we begin, I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge that the San Francisco Peninsula is the ancestral home of the Ray Matush Ohlone peoples. The Ray Matush Ohlone continue to live, work, play here today. They have not ceded, lost, or forgotten their responsibilities as caretakers of this place. We recognize that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland, and it is with the deepest respect that we recognize their ongoing stewardship of this land. Today's program is part of our many virtual offerings during Summer Stride. Summer Stride is the library's annual summer learning program for all ages and abilities. Check out the chat to learn how to find out about the other events that go along with Summer Stride, and how to register for our summer learning program. Library program wouldn't be possible without the generous support of the Friends of the San Francisco Library. They make today's program and all other programs year round possible. Today we welcome you to Nature Boost series, part of Summer Stride. Nature Boost is a collaboration between the parks and the library, and something that we started at the beginning of the pandemic and continue to offer mindful experiences in nature and also educational programming from our incredible partners at the National Park Service, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, and the Presidio Trust. Huge thanks to these partners who make Nature Boost happen in the summer and all year round. We encourage you to get out and play and explore a park near you. Today's presenter is community engagement specialist Rebecca Berkhoff with the Presidio Trust. She and Mike Sun, who is also a community engagement specialist with the Presidio Trust, who we met during an earlier Nature Boost, have created a special program for us to enjoy. While the program is happening, and if you happen to have any questions for Rebecca, please add them to the chat and we will make sure to share them with her during the question and answer period of our program. Now, let me introduce Rebecca to you all. Rebecca, as a community engagement specialist in the Presidio, she cultivates partnerships and reciprocal programs with communities who are less represented in the national parks. As a fierce advocate for diversity and equity and inclusion and access and for nature and arts education for all, she combines her educational expertise in designing informal field-based experiences for youth and families, and her love and passion for the protection of native plants, habitat, and fauna that they support. She believes that the national parks realize their potential when all communities are welcomed, and they can tell their stories and use parks to support their identities and interests. We might also remember Rebecca from our earlier DIA video in April, where she has played a key part in our partnerships to make programs for communities happen. So you might recall Rebecca inviting everyone to come enjoy the Presidio with her. At her spare time, Rebecca can be found counting butterflies or hiking in the trails of the Bay Area or reading novels in Spanish. Now, without much further ado, I introduce to you secret reading spots in the Presidio. Take it away, Rebecca. It's been so much fun to put this program together today. So thank you for joining me, you two viewers, for secret reading spots on the Presidio of San Francisco, and also special thanks to Kay Lonnie Juanita for giving us permission and chronicle books to use her beautiful illustrations to launch our program today. When I was younger, I used to get so excited for summertime so that I could participate in my local library summer reading program. I look forward to discovering new stories and authors, and to winning prizes for reading books. It's so cool to be a part of San Francisco Public Library summer stride this year. And if you haven't joined yet, you still have time to participate until September 12. And you can win a tote bag by reading or listening to a book or watching the library program online or visiting your local library. And now we are going to explore secret reading locations in the Presidio. The National Park is a national park. It's a park that belongs to all of us that are joining for this video today. Everyone who lives in the Bay Area and all visitors who come for the first time. Here is a map of the Presidio, and you can see one of my favorite animals, a red-tailed hawk. This is what a red-tailed hawk might see if it was flying high above the Presidio. It's located, the park is located at the northern part of San Francisco, and it's sandwiched by the Golden Gate Bridge with Marin County. You can also see that the Presidio has a lot of trees and a lot of grassy areas and beaches, and the city expands out from there. This is what the Presidio looks like today, but it hasn't always looked like this. The first people as Maricela shared with us of the Presidio who had lived there for thousands of years were the Ramatish Ohlone people. This is what the Presidio might have looked like thousands of years ago. No city of San Francisco, no Golden Gate Bridge, and we are lucky enough to still have Ramatish Ohlone people living in San Francisco and working with us to help us learn more about Indigenous people. A few fun facts about the Presidio. There are many miles of trails, 25 in fact, and there are 40,000 trees in the Presidio, probably actually more than that. The Presidio has many different departments and there's a department called Forestry that just cares for the trees in the park. We also have multiple beaches. On the western part of the Presidio, we have the Pacific Ocean and Baker Beach, and in the northern part of the Presidio, we have Chrissy Field. The Presidio has a lot of diversity and that means a lot of plants and animals free to learn about and experience. Another really cool new thing coming to the Presidio is the new Presidio Tunnel Tops campus, and that's opening in the spring of 2022. So come discover. There are many different types of trails in the Presidio for strolling, hiking, and biking. YouTube viewers, raise your hand if you have a bike or if you know how to bike, or if you want to learn how to bike. There's a visitor who is biking on a trail in the park. If you prefer to walk, it's a great place to explore some of the quiet trails. There are lots of wildlife around to take a look out for. One of my most favorite places in the park is Mountain Lake. Mountain Lake is a freshwater lake that had had some problems over the years, and our wildlife ecologist, Jonathan Young and his science team has done a lot of work with volunteers to help restore the lake. And here are a few of the new animals that have been introduced to the lake. We have California floater mussels that help keep the lake clean, and western pond turtles where we introduced a number of years ago, and are now thriving again in the lake. Also, we have one of two campgrounds in San Francisco, Rob Hill campground that looks out on the Pacific Ocean. And you can learn to camp there. Here are a few students that were learning to put a tent up. Rob Hill is also home to the monarch butterfly. And to red-tailed hawks. We also have several beaches, Baker Beach and the Pacific Ocean. It's a great place to see dolphins and to have a picnic. It's not so safe for swimming though. In the Presidio, we also have another partnership with the San Francisco Public Library to showcase story walks, and we have three different story walks in the park. The newest one was just installed at Chrissy Field. It's called Have You Ever Seen a Flower. Story walks are a way for you to go on an adventure while you're reading a story. There are signs, and on each sign there are pages of a book. And so as you're taking your walk, you can read the book and have an adventure. The Presidio Tunnel Tops is coming in spring of 2022, brought to you by National Parks Service, Presidio Trust, and Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. And it's going to be so much fun for kids and families. Here are a few things to look forward to. The Presidio Builder Space. There's a two acre area that's a playscape and playground where kids can build with natural items. Also, the Presidio Tunnel Tops Field Station is part museum, part classroom, part laboratory. Hands on, brains on. All right, so the Presidio is actually a big place, 1500 acres of land. And so there are lots of different ways you can get to the park. You can walk if you're a walker. You can take the SF minibus. The 30 Stockton comes into the park and there are other lines that also get close to the park, the one, the 29 and 45. And the 30 Stockton will actually drop you off right in Chrissy Field that can bring you from the Marina or Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown, Union Square, or the Caltrain Station. We also have a free shuttle in the Presidio called the Presidigo Shuttle, one that takes you around the park, around the park shuttle. And then there's also the downtown shuttle that picks up at Embarcadero Bar or at the Trans Bay Terminal. This is what the bus stops look like. And this is one of my friends, Luna, who takes the bus into the park sometimes. Sometimes she takes the car too. And she found a secret reading spot. We'll see her again a little later in the show. So what makes a cool secret reading spot? Well, I thought long and hard about this with my good friend, Mike's son, and we came up with a few ideas. Secret reading spots are hidden away, so not everybody knows about them. They're a little bit protected. They have good places to sit, not too loud. And they have to be magical. They offer a chance to see something that's unexpected. And really special part of secret reading spots is that they are a place for you to read with someone that you love. All right. Are you ready? These are the six secret reading spots that we're going to explore today. The Redwood Forest, Lobos Valley, the Community Garden, the Presidio Plant Nursery, and the Spire. We have map links that will be posted on the YouTube description so that you and your loved ones can have directions to these specific places because they're secret. So here's a secret map for you. Our first one for today is Ed Pauline Spring. So here we see Mike's son. And he had just discovered a little mini library box and he opened it up and he found a book. And this book is about amphibians by Catherine Sill. And Mike is a biologist, so he loves science and he loves amphibians. So here are a few of the amphibians that you might see in the El Pauline area, the Slender Salamander, and the Pacific Corus Frog. Pacific Corus Frogs sing when they're trying to attract their meat. And it's really fun in the wintertime or in the springtime for you to listen to the males as they're singing for their females. Our very first secret reading spot is in El Pauline. It's in the Weeping Willow Tree. So here's a visual cue. You have to wrap around the boardwalk and you can see the fence there and then look into this hidden tree. Right in where you see those stumps, that's the secret Weeping Willow. Here's Mike reading all about amphibians. Mike also likes to have fun. So he found a tree stump trail and was balancing. And he discovered the El Pauline spring. The spring is actually year-round water that flows and it brings all sorts of wildlife to drink from its waters and also to bathe. One of my favorite things to see is a hummingbird. So make sure you find the secret spring. You can also find other secret things. Little clues that animals leave behind like these holes in the Weeping Willow trunk that a sub-sucker would pecker me. And make sure that you have fun doing the things that you like to do in the park. But here I am climbing a tree. I was being safe, but it was really fun to climb the tree. All right, secret reading spot number two is in the Redwood Forest off of the ecology trail. The Redwood Forest is a magical space. One of the great things about it is that it stays cool when it's really warm outside. And here I am balancing on a log. And I really liked reading the story Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin, pictures by Harry Bliss. The story is all about a worm and it's friendship with a spider. And just learning about all the things that worms need to learn about. It's so important for our environment. One of the fun things for kids to do in the Redwood Forest is to build forts with the branches of the trees. When you find your secret reading spot in the Redwood Forest, make sure you look up down and all around for all of the different wildlife that could come your way, like banana slugs or great horned owls. The third reading spot for the Presidio is the Lobos Valley Boardwalk Bench. So this is the sand dune habitat pretty close to Baker Beach. If you walk on the boardwalk, you can discover this secret reading spot, which is a bench that's hidden away. When I was at the Lobos Boardwalk, I really liked reading When Butterflies Cross the Sky by Sharon Cooper, illustrated by Joshua Brunette. The sand dune is a great habitat for wildlife too, and you will see butterflies. You can also see lizards. Here are a few of the friends that I saw. Northern alligator lizard and orange sulfur butterfly. In this picture, you can see me discovering a field note. Field notes are posts throughout the park that have secret messages about wildlife and about animals, and it tells you about what's happening in the park at that moment in that season. So make sure you look for the field notes around the park. Our fourth reading spot in the Presidio is the Fort Scott Community Garden. The Fort Scott Community Garden is a beautiful place. It's a place for grown-ups. It's a place for kids. In this first picture, you can see a very small picnic table and some painted artwork. You can also see the sign that lets you know that you've made it to the community garden. And these are dahlias. The community garden is such a beautiful place to visit. Of course, there are many different types of flowers there. Some of them are just beautiful ornamental food for pollinators, and other ones are growing food. The book that I like to read in the Fort Scott Community Garden was the reason for a flower by Ruth Heller. She's both the author and the illustrator. This book tells you all about why flowers are important and what their role is in ecology. When I was there, I found some sweet peas that smelled so good. I also discovered an echo blue butterfly. Community gardens grow food for people. One of the books that I read there as well is called El Ratoncito, La Fresa Roja y Madura y El Gran Oso Ambriento. I also found ripe strawberries. All right, we're getting to our next secret reading spot, the Presidio Native Plant Nursery. So this secret reading spot is in the garden behind the nursery, and it's called the stump circle. Just near the stump circle is a giant tree that no longer had branches or leaves on it. So these trees are called snags, and snags are really good places for wildlife. When I was sitting there, a big raptor flew in and perched right there for me. I'll show you a picture in just a minute. This is also other wildlife that are attracted to this area around the Presidio nursery, like coyotes. Here's a picture of the raptor that flew by when I was sitting there. All right, we're almost at the end of our program for today, and this is the sixth secret reading spot in the Presidio. This is my good friend Luna's son, and she had discovered something called the spire, which is a sculpture that was built by an artist in the park. And it was built with many different tree trunks from trees that had been felled in the park. Luna likes to have fun. She also found a cut out of a tree that she can walk right through. Yeah, she's a big reader. So she found a really fun book called I Really Like Slap by Mo Willems. And that's a story about Gerald and Piggy. And she read and read until she got so sleepy that then she took a little nap. And then she read some more. One of the most important things about reading is to read books that are interesting to you. And there's so many different types of books to read. Books about science and amphibians, books about worms, and also stories that are fantastical and imaginative, and that take you to places that you've never been before. And this book is one of my friend Mike's favorite books. And it's all about, it's in Chinese. And it's all about calligraphy and nature. So it's so important. Some of us speak different languages. Find the books that are in the language that you want to read that day. I liked this book, which was a funny one in Spanish. This is the one about the mouse and the ripe strawberry. And the mouse was protecting the strawberry because it did not want the big bear to come and eat it. All right. So some important safety tips to remember and what to bring when you make your adventure into the Presidio. The park is very large and there are many different types of plants and animals. One of the plants to look out for is poison oak. Poison oak has leaves of three and it's shiny. And sometimes it can poke through the fence. So make sure you're keeping an eye out for it. It can, if you touch it, it can give you really itchy rash that lasts for a long time. They don't want to touch it. In the fall, it's a really important habitat plant for birds who eat its berries. So it's still an important part of nature. Other important safety things to think about. The Presidio is a place for people, for visitors, grownups and children, but it's also a place for people to come to walk their dogs. It's really important not to approach other people's dogs because you don't always know if they're friendly. It's also really important to stay with your adult. Because San Francisco has a lot of microclimates, it's really important to make sure you wear different layers just in case it gets cold. Bring your own water bottle filled with water and a snack that you like to eat and make sure that you're wearing comfortable shoes and clothing too. All right, are you all ready? I really hope that you'll come and explore these secret reading spots with us in the Presidio. Bring a couple favorite books, either from your own home or from the San Francisco Public Library. Really important to have fun and discover your park. All right. Thank you so much. I think we are going to transition now to a few questions and answers. Thanks to the San Francisco Public Library. Thank you, Rebecca. What a wonderful presentation and so many wonderful spots. I'm already taking notes as to where I want to go and be able to see. I'm fascinated by the weeping willow and how you can actually go inside because the leaves make, it's almost like the canopy of the tree, right? It makes like a little cave. So that is really neat. I want to check out that place. I want to check out the new story walk on Chrissy Field. And I think that would be a lot of fun to go with my family. I want to find those field notes that you mentioned as well. I didn't know that there's not only if you don't bring your own book, but there are opportunities to read things in the park. There are things that are already there, like the story walks and the field notes to learn about all the really neat animals and, you know, all the little creatures that we share our environment with. So I think that would be really neat. And for those who might be curious about the Presidio native plant nursery, we have a, our nature boost next week is about the Presidio native plant nursery. So you already gave us like a little sneak peek as to where that is. I invite everyone to put in their questions in the chat. So if you have any chat, any questions you would like to ask Rebecca, the chat is actually being shared with with her so that we can ask her the questions. I'm really excited. I you, you talked about our summer learning program and the wonderful prize tote that you everyone in the audience can earn. It is free to join the summer learning program. All we ask you to do is to spend 20 hours reading listening watching or visiting a library near you and I'm going to show you the little tote right now. So here it is. Let's see. Can you see it? It's a cute. It's also the art is by K Lonnie Juanita. And on the back you see some of our fabulous partners, including the Presidio trust who is is who Rebecca is representing today Presidio trust. Thank you. I have some questions before we look at the ones that might be popping into the chat but Rebecca, can you remind us how to get to these secret reading spots. Yes, thank you for that question. So we have created a secret map that has pins for all six of the different secret reading locations in the park. That is posted it's going to be posted in the YouTube description, and you can just click on that link and get to each of those six locations. Awesome so check out the chat description, I mean I guess the description of the YouTube video down below, and people can see the, the how to get to these secret places. And also, you know I saw that you featured so many lovely books. Where can we find those books. I think I know the answer but I'll let you respond. We're just so lucky to have the San Francisco public library. One of the great things about living in the 21st century is that we can, we can click on links to audio books and videos also of many of these books. So we have them several or even in other languages so I, I leave us in and in other languages if you speak other languages as well. So I believe that our wonderful friend Christina is going to share the links to the books that were featured in the chat. So thank you Christina. I did see some of those pop into the chat for people to check out and after you check out those books at the library. You can put them in your summer learning tote and then you can tote it to the secret reading spots in the Presidio. I think that would be a really lovely afternoon. We have a question and it's a, do you have recommendations for a good spot in the Presidio to read some historical fiction. Oh, that is such a great question. So a couple of the reading spots that I didn't feature are some of our overlooks. So we have the immigrant point overlook. And I think that would be a really great place to read historical fiction. Yeah, and so I would recommend that location and then you can walk down the stairs from the immigrant overlook, all the way down to the beach. So that can be a really nice way to find a new reading location. There's a bench actually at the bottom of that hillside. So that's what I would recommend for historical fiction because then you're looking out at San Francisco, you're looking out at Angel Island, thinking about different people that have come to the San Francisco Bay area over its long history. So I think that could be a fun place. It sounds like it would be really great. And actually, the Presidio is it just shows that there are more spots that could have been highlighted but we could we could be here for a very long time highlighting all the wonderful spots that that are in case in the Presidio. During earlier Nature Boost we visited some of those spots including like Fort Point and we heard a little bit about the history of Fort Point in the building of the Golden Gate Bridge which is so iconic for all of us. And I just I'm so elated to hear about even more spots from you that you know of. We had a lot of love in the chat and like places that people recognize and you know maybe they didn't know that there was those little secret spots in those places that they may have visited. But this is a comment that came in our suggestion that I wish there was a treasure hunt connected to those secret reading spots. And I know there's a little treasure aspect to some of the story walks if I remember correctly. Yes, and thank you so much for that suggestion and idea. We will, Mike and I will see if we can cook up a treasure hunt related to the secret reading spots because this has been such a fun project that we don't want it to end with the program today. And we love getting inspiration and ideas from our audience members. I would also recommend geocaching if you are a treasure hunter that can there are, I believe they're up to a dozen different geocaches that are in the park, and you can just go online to the geocache app and upload it to your phone and then check all of those out. And for those, those of our listeners or viewers that might not be familiar with geocaching. It's kind of like the Pokemon goal where you look for this little, little clues via the app, and you find the treasure that has been hidden there. I think though, if I remember correctly the promise is that you will find it, and leave it exactly as you found it so that the next person will have the equal amount or the same fun you did finding the, the geocache. That's such a good point, Maricela thanks for reminding us and it that just reminds me also just of the leave no trace principles that I hadn't mentioned in my talk. The city was a national park and it's a treasure for all of us for people for the wildlife and plants that live there. You know for the dogs that come and stroll there with their dog owners or dog walkers so it's just a really good reminder of we want to keep this special place into the future, keep it safe and healthy and thriving. One other special thing about geocaches is that you often you can sign your name, and often they're little gifts like a sticker. So something that you can take away and some people really like to leave a small item there so a treasure for the next person to find so there are a lot of fun traditions that surround geocaching. That sounds like a lot of fun so if anyone wants to get out and explore geocaching is a great way to do it. So we're coming up against time Rebecca, are there any, any last words of exploration tips or for while you'd like to let you know, let people know about visiting the Presidio and. Yeah, I would just say that we've all been through a really tough year and a half. And a silver lining for me in the world of coven has been to go into the Presidio and really just decompress and breathe in fresh air and see friends and colleagues and enjoy the magic of nature. So I just invite you all to come and to do that, and then keep an eye out for the Presidio tunnel tops campus that's opening next year in the spring because it is going to be an incredible place for young and old, but especially for young. So for all of you who are little and love to explore and jump and climb and play the outpost in the field station is going to be a magical place. So is the campfire. Oh, that's exciting. That's one of the things that my kids love the most is campfire and and and sitting around it and just yeah it's just such a warm place to be so. Yeah, we're, I think, I think we're all looking forward to seeing the tunnel tops open. So thank you for sharing that. So there you have it folks don't forget to go out and explore. It's the weather in the Bay Area is going to be warming up soon now that we're in nearing the end of summer, as we usually do fall is our kind of like our warm, warm time of the year so this will be a great opportunity to go out and explore the Presidio and visit some of the wonderful reading secret reading spots that Rebecca shared with us today. I'd like to thank you all for coming and I would love to invite you again next week on Friday at 11am for our nature boost program. It's a tour of the Presidio native plant nursery. Enjoy a virtual tour of the nursery and learn how the restoration of the nursery keeps growing and caring for the native plants of of the area. So if you would like to know what are the plants that you might find that are native to our area. This is the program for you to tune in. Next week I also invite you all who love by pop kid lit, you may have tuned into some of our bike pop kid lit series during this summer. We are so excited to welcome Jacqueline Woodson on August 12, and Thursday, a Thursday at 1pm. Join us for a chat with the steam children's young adult and adult book writer Jacqueline Woodson, the author invites young people to hear about how she came to writing and the stories behind her beloved books. This program is for reading and an interactive Q&A will follow this program is for ages five and older so come on and join us back on the YouTube, and you, you could enjoy the, the two programs next week. And that's all we have for today. Thank you so much everyone for being here thank you Rebecca, thank you their Presidio trust and Mike. I am so grateful to you all for for providing us such a lovely program today and encouraging our audience to go out and explore. We will see you all next time. Thank you for for tuning in. So, bye everyone visit the Presidio.