Yosemite Creek Watershed
Yosemite Creek, now in an underground culvert, empties into San Francisco Bay at a cove bounded by the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard on the north and Candlestick Point State Recreation Area (SRA) on the west and south. All lie within San Francisco’s Bayview-Hunters Point community. This ethnically diverse community bears a heavy burden: 80 percent of the city’s sewage is treated here, and the city’s two power plants and most of its polluting industries are located here. The Hunters Point Shipyard is heavily contaminated, particularly its southern shoreline. The community is rich in Superfund sites.
Bayview-Hunters Point is also rich in opportunity. A 2003-04 census (download PDF) of the waters and uplands of Candlestick Point SRA, performed by Golden Gate Audubon naturalists and local high school students, revealed an astonishing wealth of wildlife. Our efforts identified large numbers of birds (2,347 in one day) and an incredible 118 bird species and 148 species overall (including many butterflies, snakes, and small mammals).
Conservation Issues
A proposal to build a bridge across San Francisco Bay from Hunters Point through the Candlestick Point SRA would destroy the park’s value, defeat the goal of creating a destination park on the shipyard, and harm wildlife that depend upon bay waters for survival.
Our Goals
Golden Gate Audubon is committed to helping revitalize the community, provide new economic opportunities for local residents, and increase the wildlife value of this amazingly rich area. We are working with members of the local community, the California Department of Parks and Recreation, and other environmental organizations to clean up the southern Hunters Point shoreline, restore wetlands at Candlestick Point SRA, and create a storm-water treatment wetland as part of a regionally significant park on the southern Hunters Point waterfront. Golden Gate Audubon has produced a preliminary design for the storm-water treatment wetland (download PDF) that would purify water entering the bay, provide wildlife habitat, and offer educational and recreational opportunities.
In 2009 Golden Gate Audubon commented on the Hunters Point Candlestick Point development project proposed for this site.
What You Can Do
Contact our San Francisco Conservation Committee and help support restoration of the Yosemite Creek watershed.