East Bay Regional Park District

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The East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) is a public authority operating in Alameda County and Contra Costa County, California, within the East Bay area of the San Francisco Bay Area. It maintains and operates a system of regional parks which is the largest urban park district in the United States.

The EBRPD was founded in 1934, and acquired its first land two years later, when the East Bay Municipal Utility District sold 2166 acres (876 ha) of its surplus land. By 2004 it was operating a system of 65 parks covering almost 96,000 acres (over 380 km²). Some of these are wilderness areas; others include a variety of visitor attractions, with opportunities for swimming, angling, boating and camping. There are more than 1100 miles (1750 km) of hiking trails within the parks, and in addition nearly 150 miles (250 km) of paved trails through urban areas link parks together.

The parks administered by the EBRPD vary greatly in size and character. Particularly notable are the string of parks along the ridge of the Berkeley/Oakland hills, including Wildcat Canyon Regional Park, Tilden Regional Park, Robert Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve, Huckleberry Botanic Regional Preserve, Redwood Regional Park and Anthony Chabot Regional Park, and bay shore parks such as the Point Pinole Regional Shoreline. The district also includes a former farm, a former coal mine, an extinct volcano, and one of the biggest dog-walking parks in the country. Redwood Regional Park contains the largest remaining natural stand of coast redwood in the East Bay.

The work of the EBRPD is supported by a voluntary body, the Regional Parks Foundation, which raises funds for the improvement of the parks.

The Regional Parks Association is a local, independent environmental organization whose focus overlaps the EBRPD bailiwick.

[edit] District parks

• Anthony Chabot Regional Park
• Antioch/Oakley Regional Shoreline
• Ardenwood Historic Farm
• Bishop Ranch Regional Preserve
• Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve
• Briones Regional Park
• Brooks Island
• Browns Island
• Brushy Peak Regional Preserve
• Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline
• Castle Rock Park
• Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve
• Contra Loma Regional Park
• Coyote Hills Regional Park
• Crown Memorial State Beach (operated by the EBRPD)
• Cull Canyon Regional Recreation Area
• Del Valle Regional Park
• Diablo Foothills Regional Park
• Don Castro Regional Recreation Area
• Dry Creek Pioneer Regional Park
• Eastshore State Park (operated by the EBRPD)
• Garin Regional Park
• Hayward Regional Shoreline
• Huckleberry Botanic Regional Preserve
• Kennedy Grove Regional Recreation Area
• Lake Chabot Regional Park
• Las Trampas Regional Wilderness
• Leona Canyon Regional Open Space Preserve
• Martinez Regional Shoreline
• Martin Luther King Jr. Shoreline
• Middle Harbor Shoreline Park
• Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline
• Mission Peak Regional Preserve
• Morgan Territory Regional Preserve
• Ohlone Wilderness
• Point Isabel Regional Shoreline
• Point Pinole Regional Shoreline
• Quarry Lakes Regional Recreation Area
• Redwood Regional Park
• Ridgelands Regional Park (in development)
• Robert Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve
• Roberts Regional Recreation Area
• Round Valley Regional Preserve
• Shadow Cliffs
• Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve
• Sobrante Ridge Botanic Regional Preserve
• Sunol Regional Wilderness
• Sycamore Valley Regional Open Space Preserve
• Temescal Regional Park
• Tilden Regional Park
• Waterbird Regional Preserve
• Wildcat Canyon Regional Park

[edit] External links

• East Bay Regional Park District website
• Regional Parks Foundation website
• Regional Parks Association website
• East Bay Parks At 70, from the San Francisco Chronicle