The East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD), the largest regional park district of its kind in the nation, is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year.
Throughout 2024, the EBRPD will host events and programs to recognize the milestone. Among them are a community birthday celebration on May 11 and monthly naturalist-led “Explore Your Parks” adventure programs.
The EBRPD manages 73 regional parks that encompass over 125,000 acres of parklands, 55 miles of shoreline, and more than 1,300 miles of trails in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
The park district’s roots date back to the late 1920s, when thousands of acres of watershed land in the East Bay Hills became available for development. Civic leaders worked to preserve the land for environmental conservation and public enjoyment.
Renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and National Park Service’s Chief Naturalist Ansel Hall were tasked with surveying the watershed lands for potential park use. The resulting 1930 Olmsted-Hall report is largely considered the founding document of the EBRPD.
On Nov. 6, 1934, voters resoundingly passed a ballot measure to establish the park district. The first three EBRPD parks — Upper Wildcat Canyon (Tilden), Temescal and Roundtop (Sibley) — were established after land was purchased from the East Bay Municipal Utility District on June 4, 1936.
For more information about the Park District’s 90th Anniversary, including events and activities, visit www.ebparks.org/celebrating-90-years.
“We invite the public to enjoy their regional parks and shorelines and celebrate with us throughout the year at events and programs commemorating our 90 years of service to the community,” Park District General Manager Sabrina Landreth said.
