Guest Opinion: A major opportunity at Bayfront Park Guest Opinion: A major opportunity at Bayfront Park (October 26, 2005)

By Eileen McLaughlin

There is one place in Menlo Park that has a significant expanse of open space. It is Bayfront Park.

It is not simply about size at 160 acres. It is the character of the place. The fences are few, the landscaping grows wild, and many trails are just dirt. Park furnishings like tables and benches are few and far between. The setting is perfect for quiet time, walking the dog, letting kids run free, flying a kite and for the simplest forms of exercise. Its hilltops offer lovely, isolated moments to enjoy 360-degree vistas.

Within and beyond the park's borders, wildlife is at home, year-round and during migration. This is wildlife that lives in harmony with park visitors, freely providing nature's relaxing diversions.

The City of Menlo Park proposes to dramatically alter the character of the park, restructuring the entire landscape with lighted playing fields and an 18-hole golf course. The result would be a sad and sorry loss.

Bayfront Park, by location and shape, is an accident of history. It sits atop a closed landfill. That landfill was placed on a retired salt pond. That pond replaced nature's landscape, a tidal marsh. The park is the result of one tactical decision after another during the last century. The proposed plan would continue that chain of events. It doesn't have to be that way. Taking the park's current form into consideration, strategic planning can move it toward a magnificent future.

One needs only to look toward the park's borders to see that future. To the east, healthy tidal marshes on Greco Island hint at the park's natural origins. To the south, wrapping around, almost to the park entrance, old salt ponds are destined for historic change as part of the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project. That project, the largest of its kind on the West Coast, includes 1,572 acres of Menlo Park salt ponds. Over the decades ahead, it is expected that those ponds will evolve into a mosaic of habitats, steadily increasing wildlife presence while providing for flood control and public access.

The ponds, marshes along sloughs, and Greco Island already have a protected future as part of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Here we see a grand expanse of protected wetlands lying in Bayfront Park's shadow and as the largest open space preserve within Menlo Park's borders.

With the refuge as the park's primary neighbor, highly-groomed facilities would seem so very out-of-place. More fitting ideas come to mind. Native plants along the perimeter could complement the natural conditions of the wild lands. Those native gardens could be community environmental projects and field science labs for schools. Trails could be improved to provide easier access to viewpoints with links to refuge lands. Interpretative kiosks explaining the restoration story could be placed here and there. Outside and near the park's entrance, restaurants or shops could provide for human comforts, perhaps in a tax district supporting the park.

The opportunity is in Menlo Park's hands. Bayfront Park can honor the natural history of the city's shoreline and be a most suitable gateway.

Eileen McLaughlin is project director for Wildlife Stewards, a national wildlife refuge support group, a member of the Public Access Workgroup of the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project and member of the Public Outreach Committee of the San Francisco Bay Joint Venture. She can be contacted at WildlifeStewards@aol.com.

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