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Our Work

Hawk watch
Exploding the Myth of the Raptor Peak Week

The fall raptor season is upon us, and that means Peak Week is coming quickly. What is Peak Week, you ask? Peak Week is the mini-season of absolute high-count, high-banding days each year at the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory.

hiking at Muir Woods
Go Car-Free to the Parks, Win Prizes

Ditch the automobile. Forgo the parking hunt. Sit back, relax, and arrive at your favorite park. With Transit and Trails as your guide, go for a walk, hike, run, or ride in a whole new way. Document your adventure and win prizes!

Presidio Native Plant Nursery
Help Name a Shady New Building

The Presidio Native Plant Nursery—one of six nurseries in the Golden Gate National Parks—will soon open a long-awaited structure: a new 75’ by 110’ shadehouse! Learn why this building is so important—and submit your ideas for what we should name it.

RYC Rollin': Part 2

 

11:05 am: After a brief but intense climb, Price brings the caravan to a rest stop as he points out Angel Island in the Bay, and Mount Tamalpais looming before them.

2009 Turning the Tide
Many Hands Make Big Impacts for the Institute

The Institute at the Golden Gate has had the privilege of hosting many fellows and interns throughout the past four years of driving positive environmental change. This month, we’re honoring the many people who have left their mark on the Institute’s work.

National Park Service Ranger with Summer Campers
Ten Boredom-Busting Park Adventures for Kids

The kids are antsy and the beginning of the school year is weeks and weeks and weeks away. Not to fear—the Golden Gate National Parks are here and near! Here are 10 fun and affordable ways to get the kids outside, in nature, and happily exhausted by the end of each endless summer day.

Batteries to Bluffs Trail, Golden Gate Bridge
Are We There Yet?

It’s summer time and that means trails throughout our parks will be bustling with families. Did you know that Crissy Field Center also uses trails for educational purposes? Learn how Camping at the Presidio utilizes the Batteries to Bluffs Trail in their new program “Are We There Yet?”

Hands release a hawk
From Intern to Program Manager: A Round-trip Migration

Parks Conservancy internships launch scientific careers! Chris Briggs was a banding intern with the GGRO in 2000. A dozen years of raptor research later, Dr. Briggs returns to the GGRO as the Banding Program Manager to take over when Buzz Hull retires.

Hiking near Muir Beach
Healthy Parks Healthy People Hits the Bay Area

In early June 2012, the Institute at the Golden Gate and the East Bay Regional Parks District, with the support of the National Park Service, hosted a convening of Bay Area park and health professionals to discuss the current state and potential future of the Park Prescriptions initiative and the Healthy Parks Healthy People (HPHP) movement in the region. How will this movement affect parks and people locally?

Franciscan Manzanita
Why Don't We Just Buy Plants to Restore the Parks?

Some have asked: Why don’t we just buy plants from our local nurseries to restore the park? In short, the Parks Conservancy grows native plants from seed because such a practice increases the chances of the plants’ survival.