San Francisco Chronicle
"When the Chronicle’s data team looked at 1.6 million AllTrails.com reviews to find the Bay Area’s best shorter, more accessible hikes — 5 miles or less, rated easy and moderate — Lands End Trail came out on top. It is not a controversial choice."
Claire Mooney, Vice President, Park Projects and Conservation at the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, gives an update on project to renovate the historic bathhouse at China Beach.
Amy Meyer was a key figure in the creation of a huge national park centered around San Francisco’s Golden Gate — a park that includes everything from Alcatraz Island, a redwood forest, a dozen beaches spread along a dramatic coastline, 140 miles of trails, 758 historic buildings covering more than 128 square miles, an area more than 2½ times the size of San Francisco. Last year it attracted 14.9 million visitors.
The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy helped equip the new camera on Alcatraz Island to broadcast, Larry, a nickname for mama peregrine falcon Lawrencium, and her four fluffy peregrine falcon chicks in a protected cave on the island.
"One of the small natural miracles in this part of the world is just an autumn rainstorm away." As part of Redwood Renewal at Muir Woods, the National Park Service (NPS) and its partners are helping undo the damage of the past and restore habitat for the federally endangered coho salmon.
John King: "It is the past, present and future combined in a way that defies simple narratives — just like the uncompromising, ultimately seductive metropolis in which it resides."
A pair of nesting peregrine falcons on Alcatraz Island successfully hatched four chicks in April. “The efforts to monitor nesting peregrines on Alcatraz are very exciting,” Teresa Ely, senior program manager at the Parks Conservancy’s Golden Gate Raptor Observatory. “Their local population has rebounded, and it’s amazing to see these birds thrive in habitats that act as sanctuaries amongst urban landscapes.”
Two dozen parks have opened in San Francisco since 2020, including what The Chronicle calls "the spectacular Presidio Tunnel Tops," a triumph of imagination and generosity of Bay Area donors. Tunnel Tops cost $118 million — $98 million of which was raised by the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.
Shelagh Fritz’s primary job is curating and preserving the Alcatraz garden as it was planted decades ago. She identifies plants in photographs and researches them through a lens of sustainability. She enjoys combining research with being on the ground and doing the work.
Nothing like Presidio Tunnel Tops exists in the Bay Area, in terms of size or natural history, or in terms of being free to everyone. That is thanks to the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, which privately raised $98 million to go with the $20 million supplied by the Presidio Trust, which oversaw the job.
