“My vision is for a swimmable and fishable Bay that is encircled by a necklace of shoreline parks, linked together by the Bay Trail.”
— Sylvia McLaughlin, Save The Bay co-founder
Save The Bay has always fought for everyone’s access to the Bay. Now we’re helping bring another part of Sylvia’s vision to life by joining the effort to complete the San Francisco Bay Trail.
First proposed in 1987, the Bay Trail will one day be a continuous, accessible path around the Bay where people can walk, bike, and explore nature close to home. More than 350 miles already exist, offering sweeping views, wildlife habitat, and access to parks and open spaces. But 150 miles are still unfinished, many of them in underserved neighborhoods where access to the Bay is most needed.
We’re joining existing trail advocates in the region and building on 35 years of progress by the original Bay Trail Project. Save The Bay will carry on this vital work by:
- Closing Gaps in the Bay Trail: Using advocacy, relationship-building, and the ability to work across agencies and jurisdictions, we will help move forward Bay Trail projects that are stuck or need more public support.
- Protecting the Trail That Exists: We will advocate to make sure the 350 miles that already exist are maintained, funded, and built into cities’ and counties’ sea level rise resilience plans.
- Securing Funding: We will work to preserve and find new local, state, and federal funding sources for the Bay Trail.
- Building a Bay Trail Constituency: Through outreach and partnerships, we will get people excited about using the Bay Trail. We hope to connect communities, especially ones that historically lack access to the shoreline, to the Bay Trail.
We have begun working with partners such as the Bay Area Trails Collaborative, convened by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, to advance their seven priority Bay Trail gap projects. We will also connect with other local partners to learn about more Bay Trail gaps that are important to residents – places where connecting existing trail segments will make for easier and safer commutes, or places where building new trail will open up access to shoreline that was previously closed to the public.
As the Policy Manager focused on our Bay Trail work, I’m incredibly excited to help carry on this vision of a trail that will bring more people to the Bay shoreline, facilitate access to nature, and encourage more recreation and active transportation. As I’ve begun taking on the role of a Bay Trail advocate and walking and biking parts of the Bay Trail I’ve never visited before, I find myself discovering a new appreciation for the Bay Area that I grew up in. Walking along the shoreline at Point San Pablo in Richmond, where advocates like the Trails for Richmond Action Committee have long advocated for a public park and trail, I saw ospreys for the first time, swooping over the Bay and building their nests on poles above the road. Walking the Bay Trail at Middle Harbor Shoreline Park, I came across the observation tower named after Chappell Hayes and learned about the environmental justice champion’s fight for clean air in West Oakland.
This is what I hope for all who get to experience the Bay via the Bay Trail – to be connected to the beautiful natural environment of the Bay and to the unique landmarks and community assets along the shoreline.
And it’s not just a matter of recreation – access to nature is also a crucial component of public health. At the Trails to Greenways conference, I learned from keynote speaker Dr. Nooshin Razani that doctors are prescribing time in nature for the health of their patients. Access to nature is linked to improved mental health, reduced stress, better diabetes outcomes, and reduced risk of heart disease. In the highly urbanized Bay Area, the Bay shoreline is often people’s closest point of access to nature, and everyone deserves to benefit from it.
For all these reasons, we are excited to be joining the effort to make this 500-mile vision a reality for generations to come. Want to be the first to know what’s next for the Bay Trail? Make sure you’re signed up for our emails and stay tuned.