Press Room

Media Inquiries

For media questions or photo and video requests, please contact us at media@parksconservancy.org .

Browse the latest press coverage, press releases and announcements, videos and photo galleries from the Parks Conservancy below.

For more about the Parks Conservancy, visit our About Us page, see our mission and values, meet our executive team, and find out more about our long history of connecting people to parks. Contact the Parks Conservancy media team at media@parksconservancy.org .

Press Releases

A visitor walks along a path amid gardens at Alcatraz.

More than a landmark: Alcatraz is a living reminder of our past and our potential

“Protecting Alcatraz means protecting a global site of reflection, where people come to learn and grow,” said Christine Lehnertz, President & CEO of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. “If we lose that, we lose more than a landmark—we lose an opportunity to do better.”

A group of hikers on a trail at Roy's Redwoods

Parks Conservancy, One Tam Secure $10.9 Million to Boost Wildfire and Forest Resilience

As California faces increasingly severe wildfires, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and its One Tam partners are leading the charge in wildfire resilience and forest health.

Rendering shows people enjoying the Alcatraz Embarkation Plaza

Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy unveils prime restaurant opportunity at Pier 31

Rendering courtesy Heller Manus Architects and Alcatraz City Cruises

San Francisco (September 16, 2024) – The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, in collaboration with Maven Commercial, is seeking a café or restaurant partner for Pier 31 along San Francisco’s waterfront.

Two women carrying bug nets in a grassy field inspect specimen vials

One Tam Community Science Program Finds Rare Bee Lost for Decades

SAN RAFAEL, CA—(August 6, 2024)—The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy working with the National Park Service, California State Parks, Marin Water, and Marin County Parks as the One Tam partnership, announces the finding of the rare San Francisco leaf-cutter bee (Trachusa gummifera) in Marin County.

The Mill Valley-Sausalito multi-use path runs through Bothin Marsh

Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy awarded $1.7 million for sea level rise work

The project presents a nature-based approach to responding to sea level rise and climate change at Bothin Marsh Open Space Preserve and the Mill Valley-Sausalito Pathway, part of the Bay Trail, one of Marin County Parks’ most visited park units and the most vulnerable to sea level rise.

Sunlight shines through canopy at Muir Woods

Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy awarded $4.26 million for forest conservation in Marin with One Tam partnership

SAN FRANCISCO—(February 23, 2024)—The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, working with the National Park Service, California State Parks and Marin Water as the One Tam partnership, was recently awarded $4.26 million in grant funding from the Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) to support forest conservation programs in Marin County.

Press Coverage

Topic List - Press Coverage

San Francisco’s Fort Point Will Partially Reopen Amid National Parks Shutdown

KQED

KQED reports on the final weekend for Black Gold: Stories Untold at Fort Point Oct. 10-13, 2025. The Parks Conservancy teamed up with FOR-SITE and the National Park Service to keep this vital exhibition open for one last weekend amid the federal government shutdown.

Alcatraz to remain open despite government shutdown, thanks to nonprofit and private support

KTVU

Parks Conservancy President & CEO Christine Lehnertz talks with KTVU on the importance of Alcatraz Island remaining open to visitors to reflect on the island's layered history.

Marin Headlands' scenic Hawk Hill to reopen

NBC Bay Area

NBC Bay Area reports from Hawk Hill, where we're wrapping up a yearslong project to increase accessibility and improve...

Op-Ed: Urban Gateways, Woven Into Daily Life

National Parks Traveler

Gateway communities are the front doors of our National Park System, and the Bay Area is fortunate to have many. Read the Op-Ed by Parks Conservancy President & CEO Christine Lehnertz to see how we're delivering on the promise of these unique national park sites to build welcoming and belonging in local communities.

California history at stake amid signage orders

KQED

"The United States does not put its history into secret boxes." "History aims to improve the nation by learning the lessons of the past."— Christine Lehnertz, President & CEO of the Parks Conservancy, talks to KQED for a piece on the importance of preserving history in the national parks. The Parks Conservancy works to tell the full story of the GGNRA through signage, programs, and youth education, so we can learn from our shared past and build welcoming national parks for the future.

This Bay Area snake is one of the nation’s most beautiful — and rare. Can scientists save it?

San Francisco Chronicle

A coalition of conservation partners is joining forces to protect one of the Bay Area’s most colorful and endangered residents, the San Francisco garter snake. At the heart of this effort is an ambitious habitat restoration project in San Mateo County’s national parklands, led by the Parks Conservancy and the National Park Service, as we work to build national parks where people and nature can thrive.

Alcatraz’s Cultural Legacy Extends Beyond Its Prison Past

KQED Forum

Parks Conservancy Deputy CEO Michele Gee appears on KQED Forum to talk about the importance of Alcatraz Island as a national park site and a global site of reflection and conversation.

Students walk amid the San Francisco skyline on their way to Alcatraz Historic Gardens to volunteer.

Trump wants to reopen Alcatraz as a prison - could it happen?

BBC

"Alcatraz challenges us to listen, to learn, and to carry forward the stories that still shape our world today," Christine Lehnertz, president and CEO of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, said in a statement sent to the BBC.

A park visitor looks toward Alcatraz Island from the ferry. An American flag waves in the breeze as they cruise over bay waters.

Trump’s call to reopen Alcatraz falls flat with tourists, who ask: Why and how?

Los Angeles Times

"This is where history speaks — and where we learn from the past to shape a better future."

Flowers in bloom at Alcatraz Historic Gardens

Celebrate Earth Day at Alcatraz

Axios

Axios covers Earth Day on Alcatraz, with events from the Alcatraz Historic Gardens to crabbing off the island.

Plants in the sunshine on Alcatraz Island.

Op-Ed: National Parks Need More Than Love Right Now—They Need Lasting Investment

National Parks Traveler

In this opinion piece, Chris Lehnertz and Cassius Cash, leaders of the Parks Conservancy and Yosemite Conservancy, come together to urge bipartisan reauthorization of the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA).

Experts have candid advice for national park visitors

The Hill

"Go with an expectation that when you visit this year, you are like an honorary park ranger. You are a steward of that park." Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy President & CEO Christine Lehnertz offers advice on visiting parks responsibly this summer.