Parking Lot Safety

Park staff patrol parking lots, but taking your own precautions against theft is always advised. Familiarize yourself with precautions you can take to protect your valuables and vehicle.

Be Aware Of Illegal Trails

The Department has observed and received reports of numerous trails in Quarry Park that have been built without permission and therefore are not according to Department trail standards. In addition, signage made to appear as formal Department signs have been nailed to trees.

Meet Our New NRM Interns - Winter 2021

We're excited to introduce our new Natural Resource Management interns. Meet Johanna, Alissa, and Aidan!

Avoid Ticks

Ticks are parasitic arachnids that wait in vegetation or on rocks or logs for an animal or human to brush up against them. Once contact is made the tick will attach to its host by anchoring into the skin using hook-like mouthparts. Ticks may carry diseases transmittable to humans such as Lyme Disease and should be avoided.

Health Warnings for County Recreational Waters

Prepare for your park visit by knowing about bacteria warnings in county recreational waters, provided San Mateo County Environmental Health.

Reseeding a Natural Preserve with Native Grass

Our task was to level and install seed beds for the Green Grass Project at Edgewood Farms —an amazing project spearheaded by the Friends of Edgewood group, which has been helping steward the park and its incredible diversity of plant life for over 25 years.

San Bruno Mountain Elfin Monitoring

Every other year the Natural Resource Management team does a survey of San Bruno Elfin, an endangered species on San Bruno Mountain. Their larva, or caterpillars, feed an attractive native succulent that grows on rocky outcrops.

"Oh No! I Think It's Dead, It Has No Tail!"

It is quite common to mistake a lizard that has just lost its tail for dead! While unfortunately the lizard is now tail-less, it isn't dying, far from it actually. It is very much still alive. Lizards utilize caudal autotomy (tail dropping) as a survival strategy for predatory response! When being chased or spotted by a predator a lizard may drop his or her tail and speed away while the piece of tail continues to wriggle and squirm, mimicking another lizard. If a lizard is bit by a venomous snake it may drop its tail as well, to ensure that the toxin does not reach the rest of the lizard’s body. In some cases, the tail will even grow back, however the regenerated tail does have less function.

Meet the Pacific Purple Sea Urchin

As a Natural Resource Management Intern I visit many of the parks to analyze different habitats and support vegetation management activities.

Stalking the California Golden Violet

A few feet farther up the slope I saw the telltale yellow flowers, looking like a garden “pansy,” peaking out of the mass of green. It was California Golden Violet, Viola pedunculata

Meet Our New NRM Interns

In January of 2020 San Mateo County Parks Natural Resource Management was excited to welcome our first intern team. Meet Alex Wilbanks, Johanna Harrison, and Olivia Kurz.

Edgewood Park Safety and Parking Tips

Make your trip to Edgewood Park safe and enjoyable by being cautious of fast-moving cars on Edgewood Road and avoiding parking difficulties.