Land’s End Trailhead Makeover
The Land’s End/Sutro Historic District, in San Francisco’s northwest corner, is one of the most popular places within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, drawing over 1.4 million people a year. The Land’s End segment of the Coastal Trail offers walkers a taste of wilderness within the city, as well as spectacular views across the Golden Gate. It runs for roughly 1.5 miles from the Merrie Way parking area northeast to Eagle’s Point Overlook near the Sea Cliff neighborhood.
Despite its popularity, Land’s End had been neglected for years, until 2006, when the National Park Service and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy began to improve trails, thin trees to open views, and replace invasive plants with natives. Now further improvements are under way. With the help of $850,000 approved by the Conservancy in December 2007, the parking lot at Merrie Way, just above Cliff House and the Sutro Baths, is getting a facelift, and a Coastal Trail “grand trailhead” is being built.
An overlook with seat walls and benches will be built along the entire 415-foot length of the parking lot, a wheelchair-accessible pathway will be constructed, and new interpretive signs will be erected. The existing Land’s End trailhead will be expanded and landscaped to provide a place for groups to gather and listen to presentations. The parking lot will be terraced, with native plants between the terraces, and wheelchair-accessible parking spaces will be next to the overlook. There will be a drop-off area and a separate area for tour buses.
Bay Area Environmental Education Grants
In December 2007, the Conservancy approved $1,774,681 to 20 San Francisco Bay Area nonprofit organizations and government agencies for 21 projects that combine habitat restoration and trail work with environmental education. Students and other volunteers involved in these projects will get hands-on experience in making positive changes to their local environment. The projects range from helping to restore tidal wetlands, stream corridors, and oak woodlands to building or enhancing key regional and local connector trails, and will directly serve more than 22,000 people throughout the nine Bay Area counties. All the recipients reach out to underserved communities, and all are providing some matching funds.
The awards include:
• To Save San Francisco Bay Association, $125,000 for planting projects at five tidal marshes around the Bay, for the benefit of fish, shorebirds, and other wildlife;
• To Berryessa Trails and Conservation, $80,000 to remove invasive species, plant native plants, and clear and build trails within the Lake Berryessa Recreation Area;
• To the Bay Institute, $120,000 to restore streams and estuaries in the San Pablo Baylands, Laguna de Santa Rosa, Tomales Bay, and Napa River watersheds;
• To the Solano County Resource Conservation District, $148,680 to plant native plants, install irrigation, reduce erosion, and implement stream biomonitoring to benefit the Suisun Marsh Wetland and the Bay Delta Estuary, and to improve a section of the Bay Area Ridge Trail;
• To the East Bay Municipal Utility District, $50,000 to restore oak savannah in the flats surrounding creek restoration sites throughout the utility’s watershed lands;
• To the Golden Gate Audubon Society, $90,000 to remove trash and invasive species and plant native plants within the San Leandro Bay watershed;
• To the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, $120,000 to build trails in San Francisco’s Presidio and to remove invasive species, plant native plants, and control erosion along Marin’s Redwood Creek. Another $120,000 goes to the Marin Conservation Corps for restoration in and along Redwood Creek at the former Banducci farm site (see p. 16) to help endangered coho salmon;
• To the California State Parks Foundation, $60,000 to restore wetlands along San Francisco’s Yosemite Slough and plant native plants throughout Candlestick Point State Recreation Area;
• To Literacy for Environmental Justice, $90,000 to restore wetlands at Heron’s Head Park in San Francisco;
• To the San Mateo County Department of Parks, $38,122 to rehabilitate two seriously neglected trails on San Bruno Mountain; and
• To the California Department of Parks and Recreation, $50,000 to remove invasives and plant native plants, as well as clean up the river and beach, at
Half Moon Bay State Beach and Pigeon Point Light Station. |
