Our Work

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.

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?

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.

A bright flash passes by, triggering someone to yell “BLUE!” Team members nimbly make their way through a mosaic of summer lupines at Oakwood Valley. Quickly but carefully, one person follows the butterfly until it lands. “It’s a mission blue, male, resting on a lupine.” Read on to learn more.

We’ve all hosted parties. But what happens when the party spans a weekend, your guest list includes 250,000 people, and it takes an army to get ready? You enlist volunteers! Find out from one Parks volunteer what it was like to be part of San Francisco’s biggest party of the quarter-century: the Golden Gate Festival.

In the 21st century, Bald Eagles have become a more common than rare sighting in the Bay Area, mostly seen in the wintertime near a supply of ducks or fish.

New Institute at the Golden Gate Director Chris Spence tells us about his vision for the Institute—and his formative childhood experiences in the “spectacular countryside” of Bingley, England.

1. Can you give us a short highlight tour of your history?
I was born in England and spent most of my…

Summer Camp at the Crissy Field Center offers an experience full of fun and adventure—imbued with environmentalism and excitement for our national parks.

The Golden Gate Festival is coming up and Crissy Field Center’s Inspiring Young Emerging Leaders (I-YEL) will debut their YEL project—Unmasking Media—at the community celebration on Sunday, May 27, 2012. Come experience their activity booths and explore how the media influence today’s youth.

Wondering when you’ll start to see healthy and sustainable food in national parks? Momentum is building, thanks to the Institute at the Golden Gate’s Food for the Parks initiative. The Institute and Golden Gate National Parks Superintendent Frank Dean are helping develop the National Park Service’s ground-breaking Healthy and Sustainable Food Program.