Water Resource Collections and Archives

Restoration and Youth Stewardship at Heron’s Head Park

Organization: Literacy for Environmental Justice
2002 & 2007 Grant Recipient – San Francisco County

Purpose

This grant was designed to support restoration and youth stewardship programs at Heron’s Head Park, a 24-acre community open space and thriving wildlife habitat owned by the Port of San Francisco. Heron’s Head is a unique environment in that it is built on landfill, but is now a thriving marsh maintained primarily by youth.

More than 1,200 student volunteers and community members serve as primary caretakers of the park each year. They help plant native plant species, remove non-natives, and clean and maintain the natural areas of the park. The park supports over 100 species of birds annually, and is an important rest area for migratory birds along the Pacific Flyway. In August of 2011, a breeding pair and two chicks of the endangered bird species, the Clapper Rail were observed at Heron’s Head Park.

Heron’s Head Park is also home to San Francisco’s first 100% “off-the-grid” building. The EcoCenter at Heron’s Head Park is the first of its kind in the city, modeling solar power and alternative wastewater technologies. On Earth Day, 2010, Literacy for Environmental Justice (LEJ) opened “The EcoCenter at Heron’s Head Park.” Nearly every feature of this facility is designed to educate the public about renewable energy, pollution and greenhouse gas reduction, wastewater treatment, “green” building materials, and the green economy. Read more ...

2012 Update

• On Earth Day 2010, LEJ opened the EcoCenter at Heron’s Head Park to the public. This is San Francisco’s SF’s first 100% designed off-the-grid building.
• In August of 2011, a breeding pair of the endangered bird species, the Clapper Rail was found with two of its offspring.

Documents

• Heron’s Head Park. Transition Zone Monitoring and Maintenance Final Report 2009-2011.
  Myla A. Ablog and Raynelle Rino-Southon. Literacy for Environmental Justice. December 2010. (14 pp.)
   
• A Field Guide to 100 Birds of Heron’s Head Park.
  This link is to a field guide to 100 Birds of Heron’s Head, an introduction to birding along San Francisco’s southern bay waterfront, stretching from Islais Creek and India Basin down to Candlestick Point at the southeast tip of the city—and it is focused on a remarkable tract of wetlands known as Heron’s Head Park.

Contact Information

Raynelle Rino,
Heron’s Head Park Ecologist
Literacy for Environmental Justice
1329 Evans Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94124
Phone: (415) 282-6840
Fax: (415) 282-6839
Email: Raynelle.Rino@lejyouth.org

Ben Stone-Francisco,
Education & Outreach Manager
Planet Drum Foundation
PO Box 31251
San Francisco, CA 94131
Phone: (415) 285-6556
Email: PlanetDrum@yahoo.com