Battery Cranston Fennel

Battery Cranston Fennel, 2011.

17 batteries along the coast at the Presidio once held enormous guns that were capable of firing shells to the sea and air to defend our West coastline. Today, only one battery still has its gun (open today and each first Sunday of the month to the public for demonstrations), and what remains are the concrete formations that once held them. This, I think, is Battery Cranston. To take this photo, I was standing about where the gentleman with his arms crossed behind his back is standing in the photo here. 

Although these batteries were never used in unfriendly fire, they sadly did not prevent the Enemy from infiltrating. Exotic plants, such as the fennel growing here, as if right at home in a display, now exist in many places in the Presidio. We are working to keep them confined to areas where they won't impact the biodiversity of our restored and remnant natural areas.