Sadly, the bee tree was a casualty of the tree destruction that was going on. We had understood that the bee-friends of  San Francisco had talked to the SFRPD, and they agreed that the stump would be cut off at 20 feet, preserving the bee’s nest within its hollow.

That’s not what happened.

Instead, Scott Mattoon, who had talked to SFRPD when the plans were being made, posted the following comment on our previous post:

Regarding the bee tree stump …
That tree was cut down on Jan. 19.  The agreement with Rec & Park was to cut the tree at 20 feet.   It was cut at 5 feet.  The colony’s nest was more than 5 feet tall from ground to top.  The cut not only penetrated the top of the nest, it also split the trunk and exposed the entire length of the nest.  By Jan. 21, most of the bees had left.  A concerned resident/beekeeper attempted to rescue the queen and her retinue.  We hope her effort will prove successful.   Needless to say, this was a disappointing performance by the city in making good on it’s commitment and partnering with concerned residents who made a good faith effort to find a way to protect this resource.

Edited to add photographs of the destroyed hive, courtesy Scott Mattoon.

We’re disappointed too, for many reasons:

1) SFRPD had killed another feral bee hive only last year. There’s a report on that HERE, on the SaveSutro website, that optimistically ends with “Still, it’s reassuring to know that the destruction was accidental and that SF NAP is taking steps to prevent a recurrence. This may help to preserve the other nests we know are in Glen Canyon.”   Really?

2) It makes any kind of assurances from SF RPD difficult to accept. They may be made in good faith, but implementation may be questionable. We wonder, for instance, if the 160 trees-and-shrubs will actually get planted and nurtured to independent viability.