Along the northwestern shore of the Presidio of San Francisco lies a sensitive ecological area, the serpentinite coastal bluffs. Surrounded by nonnative vegetation, the coastal bluffs support a rich diversity of native plant species. These plants now struggle to survive in their reduced habitat. Some of the native plants are federally designated as threatened; a few have the once native inhabitants have already lost the battle.

The coastal bluffs contain the only serpentine bluff plant communities within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area's 74,000-plus acres of land. A fragmented band of serpentinite, the California State rock, traverses San Francisco, emerging on the Presidio from Inspiration Point to the coastal bluffs. The coastal bluffs contain the only intact remnant serpentinite bluff habitat in the San Francisco Peninsula. Serpentine soils are very unusual. While containing high levels of heavy metals such as magnesium and nickel that can be toxic to plants, they are low in other elements needed for plant growth such as calcium. Over hundreds and thousands of years, many plant species have evolved to survive well in serpentine soils, and some are found only in these unique habitats. As their habitat diminishes, more and more of these specially adapted plants become rare or endangered. The coastal bluffs are home to eight rare plants, including the remaining population of the Raven's manzanita.

During the summer of 2000 the National Park Service in conjunction with the Presidio Trust began a pilot project program to restore natural plant communities that once existed along the coastal bluffs, thereby protecting these plants and encouraging their growth. The nonnative Monterey pine and Monterey cypress trees which now flourish along the coastal bluffs have created a microhabitat that is not natural to this sensitive area, and which conflicts with the needs of the native species. Therefore, this project has required the removal of some nonnative trees.