As 2012 draws to a close, we want to give an enormous and heartfelt THANK YOU to all park volunteers! We are incredibly grateful that you choose to give the gift of your time and energy to these parklands. Read on to see your amazing year of accomplishments.

As part of celebrations nationwide, the Golden Gate Trail Crew will lead five projects across our parks. Find out how you can give back to our amazing trails on June 7, 2014—and help build a brand-new trail connecting some picturesque San Francisco landmarks.

As the National Park Service celebrates its Centennial in 2016, a major goal is to bring more diverse and younger visitors to the parks. Here in the Bay Area, Kieron Slaughter is developing programs to do just that—with a little help from the Institute at the Golden Gate.

Crissy Field—San Francisco’s beloved front yard and one of the Conservancy’s signature projects—continues to evolve as a visitor destination. As we assess its uses and evaluate maintenance needs, we’d love to hear your ideas on improving this shoreline park.

Our six native plant nurseries, spanning from Marin to San Mateo, have the amazing role and privilege of growing natives for the many restoration projects in the Golden Gate National Parks. As we celebrate the Golden Gate Bridge in May, learn how native plants “bridge” the myriad habitats of these national parklands.

As we enter 2013, the Institute at the Golden Gate is lining up a series of ground-breaking pilot programs, cutting-edge reports, and innovative partnerships in their core focus areas: public health, food, and climate change. See what we’ve got cooking!

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.

As you stand in the new parking lot at Muir Beach, you may notice the expanse of tan fabric covering the restored floodplain. What is this strange, straw-looking material? The simple answer is jute fabric—but what exactly is it?

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.