Park Stories

This winter the Golden Gate National Parks will be planting over a thousand lupines, the host plant of the endangered mission blue butterfly. As we prepare for this restoration work, a Park Stewardship manager reflects on the big lessons he’s learned from this little butterfly.

Rob Hill in the Presidio is the only overnight campground in San Francisco—and it takes a special leader to bring groups camping there. In this new video, learn about Camping at the Presidio (CAP) Trained Leaders—and their two-day training course.

On November 6–9, 2013, the Institute at the Golden Gate hosted over 140 educators, rangers, experts, and innovators at Fort Baker to brainstorm ideas on leveraging parks as places for climate-change education. Read on to learn what they discussed.

We sent our somewhat-slothy reporter out on a steep, clifftop trail with a 40-pound Google Trekker. Read on to discover how he felt—and what he learned—while volunteering for this pioneering effort to capture “Street View”-like images of all our park trails.

At the GGRO, we specialize in migrations. Generally we’re talking about the raptor migration through the Marin Headlands each fall, the largest in the Pacific states. But over the past few weeks, we have noticed another sizable migration—of dragonflies.

Thousands of people from all corners of the world experience the magic of Muir Woods every year. But who are the people who influenced the creation and establishment of this national monument? And how are they honored in the redwoods today?

In honor of Halloween and the Day of the Dead, we’ve got a bone to pick with you. Put on your thinking (skull)cap and see how many of these skeletal remains you can identify—of animals found in the Golden Gate National Parks.

Along with preparing plants for the busy winter planting season, nursery staff members are also keeping their eyes peeled for a signature seed of the season: acorns! Vital to our restoration efforts in the parks, they’re also important to the indigenous Ohlone tribes of the area.

As a nature lover hiking through the Marin Headlands, you might be able to quickly identify a couple of raptors flying overhead. At first glance, you also might discern their relative sizes. But what does that tell you about the sex of the raptors?

Every summer, Park Stewardship welcomes youth interns who help organize and energize volunteer and visitor programs. They also researched and wrote about the parks’ history and resources. Read on for a fresh look at the history of Sutro Heights.

Through a national convening in early October, the Institute at the Golden Gate took a big step in establishing “park prescriptions”—a cross-sector effort to give health providers the tools they need to prescribe time outdoors to improve patients’ overall health.

November is National Homeless Youth Awareness Month. Here in the Golden Gate National Parks, Crissy Field Center provides programs for young people struggling with homelessness. Through these experiences, children and youth get much more than just a walk in the park.