Celebrating 90 Years

90 Years of East Bay Regional Parks

Today, the East Bay Regional Park District features 73 parks and is the largest regional park district of its kind in the nation. The Park District manages over 126,809 acres of parklands, 55 miles of shoreline, and over 1,330 miles of trails in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, available for hiking, biking, swimming, horseback riding, boating, fishing, picnicking, camping, and nature discovery.

The East Bay Regional Park District’s story began in the late 1920s when thousands of acres of watershed land in the East Bay Hills suddenly became available for development. Civic leaders came together with a vision: preserve the land forever, and balance environmental conservation with public enjoyment.

To aid the cause, they enlisted renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and National Park Service’s Chief Naturalist Ansel Hall to survey the watershed lands for potential park use. The resulting 1930 Olmsted-Hall report titled “Report on Proposed Park Reservations for East Bay Cities” brought national credibility to the effort and is largely considered the founding document of the East Bay Regional Park District.

Four years later, in the heart of the Great Depression, civic leaders placed a measure on the ballot to establish the Park District and tax themselves 5¢ for every $100 of property owned for land preservation. The measure passed on November 4, 1934, by a resounding 71 percent – even during trying times and economic instability. On June 4, 1936, the District purchased land from East Bay Municipal Utility District to create its first three parks – Upper Wildcat Canyon (Tilden), Temescal, and Roundtop (Sibley).

Wherever you live in the two counties, there is a beautiful Regional Park close to you!

Picture Book