As a division of bay.org, the EcoCenter’s mission is to protect, restore and inspire conservation of San Francisco Bay, from the Sierra to the sea. The EcoCenter at Heron’s Head Park is an incredible space for environmental education, public outreach, and for connecting people with the beauty of San Francisco’s wild landscapes. It represents San Francisco’s best example of sustainable solutions to adverse human impacts on the environment and is a model for green building, sustainable resource use, environmental justice, and experiential learning.
The EcoCenter represents the only opportunity in San Francisco for place-based education of sustainable systems. It provides unprecedented opportunities for ongoing education and green jobs training – monitoring and analysis of its wastewater treatment, constructed wetland, rainwater harvesting, and renewable energy systems – as well as hands-on experience with native plants, landscaping and habitat restoration. It is also the only site in San Francisco where visitors can make direct connections between sustainability in the built environment and the natural processes that inspire sustainable resource conservation and management. All of these opportunities are provided in one place, making the Heron’s Head Park EcoCenter a natural magnet for environmental education and public outreach.
The EcoCenter is a living classroom that demonstrates how we can better use the Earth’s resources in order to foster healthy people, ecosystems and economies in our local communities and beyond. Elementary school through college programming, tours, seminars, workshops, and other events are offered free of charge and the facility is open as a visitor center four days a week.
A division of bay.org