Formerly known as Pier 98, Heron’s Head Park now comprises about twenty-three acres of wetlands, including an eight-acre salt marsh, at the northern end of the Hunters Point Peninsula. Pier 98 was initially a bay fill project that was to become a shipping terminal. However, the project never materialized past the filling stage and the area was an abandoned landfill for several decades.
Ironically, while Pier 98—the brownfield—became another example of urban blight in the industrialized and impoverished Bayview Hunter’s Point, Pier 98—the wetland—was becoming a hidden ecological treasure buried at the foot of a power plant amongst forests of invasive pampas grass, fennel, and endangered California natives. As nature took its course, the abandoned landfill became critical habitat for migratory birds. By the early 1990′s the resulting salt marsh became one of only two remaining wetland habitats in San Francisco.
In 1996, the Port of San Francisco began a collaborative process to redevelop Pier 98 as a park that would provide open space for the surrounding communities and environmental education for school children similar to those in existence in the Presidio neighborhood. A partnership of community-based and City entities decided that Pier 98 would become Heron’s Head Park. After an intensive community-based design and restoration process, the Park’s grand opening celebration took place in October 1999.
Enthusiasm for Heron’s Head Park was great from the beginning. In 1998, the Port began offering free educational programs and volunteer participation opportunities to schools, community groups and the general public. During design of the park and wetlands, teachers began bringing their science classes to the site to study the transformation. With dozens of schools, colleges, and youth programs eager to utilize the area as an outdoor classroom, the Port of San Francisco expanded the public programs and contracted with Literacy for Environmental Justice in 2000 to steward Heron’s Head Park and conduct environmental education and outreach programs there.
Today, Heron’s Head Park stands out as a model for waterfront redevelopment, wetlands restoration, and habitat protection through community involvement. It is the second largest wetlands restoration site in the City following Crissy Field. For more than a decade, thousands of students and community volunteers have contributed to the park’s restoration representing thousands of hours of volunteer labor each year. These community, workplace, and student volunteers have removed invasive plants and trash from the park, while planting thousands of native plant species. The park is now home to more than one hundred species of birds and is a key link on the Pacific flyway. It is also home to the endangered plant, California sea blite, as well as an endangered bird, the California clapper rail. Heron’s Head Park was named among the 10 best hikes with kids in the Bay Area and one of 10 great hikes in Southeastern San Francisco.
References:
Calvert, P. (2010). EcoCenter Strategic Plan. Literacy for Environmental Justice.
Bach, C. (2000-2014). Heron’s Head Park. Port of San Francisco, SFGOV, Retrieved March 31, 2014 from http://www.sf-port.org/index.aspx?page=210
Photos by the Port of San Francisco