Milagra Ridge

The United States Army acquired the land in the late 1930s as part of a larger defense network that protected San Francisco Bay, Two 6-inch (152 mm) T2/M1 guns mounted on shielded long-range barbette M4 carriages were moved from Fort Columbia to Battery 244 in 1948. The battery was decommissioned in 1950. while SF-51C is in the neighboring Sweeney Ridge open space preserve. In 1961, Pacifica considered utilizing the empty Battery 244 casemate as their police station combined with an emergency civil defense headquarters for the County of San Mateo, the San Francisco garter snake and the California red-legged frog, all of which are endangered or threatened species. Today, it is a protected area and is open for hiking. A new trail, the Milagra Battery Trail, was completed in November 2016. It provides access to Milagra Ridge from a small parking lot at the end of Connemara Drive in Pacifica along a trail approximately long and wide. and is part of the Bay Area Ridge Trail, along with the existing trail through Milagra Ridge to Sweeney Ridge. The conservation easement was added to the park's land, bringing it up to . In the late Spring, the area provides thousands of tiny wild coast strawberries interspersed with poison oak. Milagra Ridge is home to a USGS seismometer that is very close to the city of San Francisco and provides nearly-real-time data to the public. from the western side of Milagra Ridge ==Special-status species==

, and inland to California State Highway 35, Skyline Blvd. The Pacifica Pier is visible as a straight lighted feature sticking into the black ocean region at upper right. The dark inland areas are open space, Milagra Ridge (center) and Sweeney Ridge (left). Several threatened and endangered species have been observed at Milagra Ridge, including: • Mission blue butterfly (Aricia icarioides missionensis) as early as 1992, due to the presence of several lupine species foodplants, including Lupinus albifrons, L. formosus, and L. variicolor) • San Bruno elfin butterfly (Callophrys mossii bayensis) discovered in the mid-1980s • San Francisco garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia), not observed and not likely to be present, but it is a suitable habitat • California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii), presumed existent from small burrows ==References==