Bird life on the Nature Reserve at Alameda Point

The Alameda City Council, on March 19, 2013, unanimously approved a resolution affirming support for a nature reserve at Alameda Point.  The resolution calls for a zoning designation of “Nature Reserve” for the runway area formerly proposed for a national wildlife refuge. After an impasse was reached in negotiations between the Navy and the US […]

Cleanup plan changes at waste burning area

It was the 1950s, before the environmental movement of the 1970s and the laws that followed in its wake.  Hauling waste materials out to the western shoreline of Alameda Point to be burned and bulldozed into the Bay was not considered irresponsible.  The “Burn Area,” as it is called, lies next to the shore near […]

California Brown Pelicans roosting at Alameda Point

The successful recovery effort for the once endangered California brown pelican is evident every summer through fall on Breakwater Island, an area which forms the beginning of the Alameda Point Channel leading to the ship docks and Seaplane Lagoon.  The breakwater is a wall of boulders built up from the Bay floor to reduce wave […]

Ending threat of solvents in groundwater leaching into San Francisco Bay

Site 1 at the northwestern tip of Alameda Point was used as the principal disposal area for all waste generated at Naval Air Station-Alameda from 1943 to 1956.  This disposal area, which was once part of the Bay, was created by sinking pontoons and barges in the Bay and backfilling with dredge soil. Disposal of […]

Protecting the California Least Terns at the Alameda Point Wildlife Refuge

The California Least Terns are arriving back at Alameda Point’s wildlife refuge to lay their eggs and raise their young.  The volunteers, who help maintain the site, and the US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) biologist responsible for the tern colony, have never left.  They carry out maintenance tasks during the non-nesting season – September […]

Wetlands, Trails, Natural Habitat Concept Drawings for Alameda Point

The borderless ecosystem – On September 1, 2011, Golden Gate University’s Center on Environmental Law published their proposal for a unified planning process and expansive view for open space at Alameda Point.  The central theme of their effort is that the true potential for conservation at Alameda Point lies in thinking of the area as […]

Birds of Alameda Point

Video presentation of some of the many birds that inhabit or visit Alameda Point’s extensive ecosystem during the year.

The Nesting Ospreys of Alameda Point – with video

The spring of 2011 saw the return to Alameda Point of a nesting pair of ospreys.  This pair set up their nest on the same light stand at the entrance to the Seaplane Lagoon as another osprey pair, or perhaps the same pair, had done in 2009.  Unlike 2009, this year the area is fenced […]