Golden Gate National Recreation Area ⓘ

At Golden Gate, one of our most imporant jobs is to protect, preserve and rehabilitate our cultural resources, including historic buildings, landscapes, archeology, artifacts and structures. Before we start any project, we conduct research to fully understand the historic significance of the resource, evaluate different alternatives to determine how a project will impact a resource, and make decisions to ensure the future of the resource.

"Historic preservation" is the act or process of applying measures necessary to sustain the exiting form, integrity and materials of a historic property. For example, a preservation project can be converting a historic army barracks into an office building or re-using a historic airplane hangar as a small aviation museum. All National Park Service preservation projects must comply with national standards and guidelines. The preservation guidelines exist to ensure that careful analysis is conducted before the professionals make any physical changes to historic structures and landscapes. Because of these preservation guidelines, you should be able to walk into that new office building or aviation museum and still feel and understand how that historic building was originally used.

The Golden Gate NRA holds one of the largest collections in the National Park Service with a total of nearly 6.2 million items in four disciplines: Archives, Archaeology, History, and Natural History. Materials document the San Francisco Bay Area's extensive history on both sides of the Golden Gate Strait from the early prehistory of native tribes, through the military presence of three different nations, to the events and decisions that shaped the culture of San Francisco and its surrounding areas. Although the Golden Gate NRA does not have a formal museum to visit, some of the park's locations have historical items on display. Site-specific exhibits can be found at Alcatraz Island, the SF-88 Nike Missile Site at Fort Barry, Fort Point National Historic Site, and the Lands End Visitor Center. Online exhibits are also available, created to showcase different themes, events, and places within the park. All items in the permanent museum collection are guided by the Golden Gate National Recreation Area's Scope of Collections Statement (PDF) (RTF) . This document provides insight regarding the items that are accepted into the collection, how they are reviewed by the park, the laws governing accepting donations, and the basic management of the objects.

The archives facility and Museum Program offices are located on the Presidio of San Francisco in Building 667 (click the link for a map), near the intersection of Mc Dowell Avenue and Cowles Street, off of Lincoln Boulevard in one of the 1914 historic brick stable buildings. The building is accessible through the ramp and door on the long side of the building facing the Bay.

Information about public transportation to and around the Presidio is available on the Presidio Trust's Transportation site .

With over five million documents, photographic images, oral histories, and maps, Golden Gate National Recreation Area’s Park Archives and Records Center (PARC) is an essential and valuable resource for research. Our archival collections document all areas and facets of history associated with Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) from the Spanish Exploration and the establishment of the Presidio in 1776 through the park’s creation in 1972, as well as recent activities within the park.

The PARC assists approximately 500 researches a year with projects including publications, exhibitions, restoration, and graduate student theses. Research forms the basis of all great projects and contributes to the better understanding of park lands and its associated people. As stewards of the natural and historical collections of GGNRA, it is our mission to provide access and assistance to our diverse and exciting collection.

Through various pages on the GGNRA website you can begin your research. However, please note that only .1% of our collection is represented online! Below is a list and description of GGNRA online resources. To access these pages follow the provided links.

This resource provides access to a number of National Park Service publications organized by park location. Specific GGNRA publications include histories, preservation manuals, reports, studies, and inventories. Additional publications may be available through the NPS Electronic Technical Information Center (eTIC) .

This downloadable and searchable document groups archival collections together by topic and can be a useful tool in finding collections that are relevant to your project or interest. The Guide includes a short description of the collection and it may be necessary to come in and look through the whole finding aid for relevant materials, or you may email us to request a finding aid electronically.

Our On-line Finding Aids, organized by subject matter, contain information on the content and significance of archival collections. Each finding aid contains descriptive and historical information about the collection and its content.

Records transferred to the NPS from the U.S. Army upon the closure and transition of the Presidio of San Francisco. Please note that these records primarily apply to resource management and not individuals.

Over 1,000 images of park land, military activity, events, natural resources, and projects can be viewed in our Photo Gallery. Browse by category and discover the unique images of our park.

The National Park Service Museum Catalog contains approximately 6,000 selections from the Golden Gate National Recreation Area’s museum collection. Enter “Golden Gate National Recreation Area” in the search box, located on the right hand side of the home page, to search our collections. Other National Park collections can be searched as well.

For those interested in conducting research at the PARC, please find our public reference hours listed below. Upon your first visit, PARC staff will request you fill out a Researcher Registration Form, which by signing confirms that you agree to abide by all regulations for accessing and using the archives and special collections. Once the form is complete, PARC staff will ask several questions regarding your research topic and will aim to assist you in your research. You do not need to have a specific research topic to come explore our collections. We encourage those wishing to learn more about GGNRA’s history and invite them to browse our photo binders which contain nearly every historic image in our collection or review letters and documents on a GGNRA topic of your choice. The Research and Access Policy, the Researcher Registration Form as well as other associated material can be accessed from the following links:

The Park Archives and Records Center is available by appointment to the public and staff. The Center is closed for research on all federal holidays.

Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) recognizes Native American contributions to the park, including their long heritage, tranditional environmental knowledge, and historic events related to the American Indian fight for social justice that have occurred on park lands. Indigenous people have called the San Francisco Bay region home for over 10,000 years. For millennia tribes followed seasonal rounds of hunting, fishing, harvesting plants while sustainably managing the lands that are now in Golden GGNRA. The San Francisco Peninsula and areas along the east side of San Francisco Bay and south to Monterey lie in the homelands of the Ohlone (also called Costanoans). Coastal lands north of the Golden Gate in Marin County and Southern Sonoma County are the homelands of the Coast Miwok .

In 1769, Spanish leaders sent Captain Juan Gaspar de Portolá to lead an expedition to stake claim to southern and central California. The expedition members were hungry, lost, and sick after six months journey. They were assisted by Native peoples along the way. About 2,000 Ramaytush Ohlone people inhabited the San Francisco Peninsula in 1769, living in a network of ten independent tribes. The Aramai tribe, of modern-day Pacifica, accompanied the explorers to the top of Sweeney Ridge, now part of GGNRA, where the Portolá party became the first Europeans to see San Francisco Bay. In 1969, a group of Indigenous activists called the Indians of All Tribes arrived on Alcatraz Island. They spoke out against the U.S. Government's Termination Policy and the broader plight of Native Americans. Golden Gate National Recreation Area commemorates this moment in history, with the exhibition: Red Power on Alcatraz, Perspectives 50 Years Later .

Native Americans have called the San Francisco Bay region home for over 10,000 years. Park areas south of the Golden Gate, from the San Francisco Peninsula, to the East Bay and south to Monterey, are the homelands of the Ohlones (also called Costanoans).

Coast Miwok inhabited the general area of modern Marin County and southern Sonoma County, from the Golden Gate north to Duncans Point and eastward to Sonoma Creek are the homelands of the Coast Miwok (Coast Miwok included the Huimen Miwok, from authenticated Miwok villages around Muir Beach, the Marin Miwok and the Bodega Bay Miwok).

Historian Wendy Holliday, formerly of the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office, traces the government’s Indian policy and the effect it had on the people of Hopi in the late 19th century, culminating with the imprisonment of 19 Hopi men by the U.S. Army. In September 1895, these men finally returned home after spending nearly a year on Alcatraz Island.

LaNada War Jack is a member of the Shoshone Bannock Tribes and a central figure in the twentieth- and twenty-first century Native American activist movements. Between 1969 and 1971, she helped to organize a nineteen-month Native American occupation of Alcatraz Island.

During WWII, rejection from military service based on sexuality began to make headlines. In an effort to grow the military force, the process for evaluating a soldier's sexuality became a part of the enlistment. These screenings relied on stereotypes and prejudices, as officials had a limited time with each recruit. After enlistment, if a soldier was identified as a homosexual they received 'dishonorable' discharge. Which meant expulsion from the armed forces, no veterans benefits, and limited employment opportunities. Civil service members were also targeted by the Lavendar Scare, when about 10,000 were suspended from service because of their sexuality.

Of course, inspiring LGB veterans rallied together to overcome these obstacles and forge a community. These men and women assisted the nation during times of battle and disaster, founded organizations and preserved their legacies. Independence, activism, spirit, and resilience—helped them carry forward the causes important to the LGB community on and off military bases. Learn about the movements associated with LGB rights in San Francisco and nationwide. Discover the stories of people at Golden Gate, who fought against discrimination and changed the course of history.

“ The creation of Golden Gate National Recreation Area…would be a remarkable opportunity to establish a unique national park reserve that will save for the people of the United States and the world a magnificent open space immediately adjacent to one of the major metropolitan regions of the United States .” -- Congressman Phillip Burton, 1971

The Golden Gate National Recreation Area was established in 1972 as a new urban park. A timely merging of political, economic, social and environmental forces, occurring in both the Bay Area and the country, paved the way for the creation of the park. The park’s very existence illustrates the power of the environmental conservation movement in the 1960s and 1970s.

During the 1950s and 1960s, San Francisco experienced developmental pressures and shifts in its economy. The rapid development of the Bay Area after World War II was forcing suburban sprawl further and further into what had always been historic farm land. There was growing concern about the diminishing rural countryside...

Spanning three counties, Golden Gate National Recreation Area is an assemblage of military, private, and public lands which offer vast skylines, natural beauty, and diverse histories to locals and visitors alike, striving to be a recreation area for all people...

Long before Europeans arrived in North America, the Yelamu Ohlone tribe lived at Lands End in seasonal settlements. Here at the ocean's edge, they found everything they needed: hillside springs gushing with fresh water; trees and brush for shelters; and easy access to the shore, where they fished and hunted for otters, sea lions, and sea birds. For leisure, they played stick games and told tribal stories. Spanish settlement of San Francisco, which began in 1776, ended the Yelamu's traditional life at Lands End.

Under Mexican rule, this rugged section of coastline was part of a large land grant called Rancho Punta de Lobos. After California joined the U.S., the only visitors to this secluded and inaccessible area were naturalists who braved the long journey out to the coastline to observe marine mammals. After the Gold Rush, San Francisco's population exploded and the downtown area got very crowded with new buildings and neighborhoods. Real estate developers, looking for new ways to make money, saw Lands End and its unparalleled beauty as an excellent place for a new restaurant and overlook. Entrepreneurs designed the new Cliff House as a fashionable resort for the wealthy and encouraged San Franciscans to travel out to the city's edge. To help people get to this far-off place, a private company constructed a brand new road called Point Lobos Avenue, making travel to this picturesque and rural place much easier. By the 1860s, a horse-drawn stagecoach made the trip every Sunday from crowded downtown San Francisco out Lands End.

During the 1880s, millionaire Adolph Sutro purchased property at Lands End and dramatically transformed the area into a popular seaside destination. Sutro strongly believed that all San Franciscans, rich or poor, should take advantage of Lands End's beauty. To provide inexpensive transportation, he constructed a passenger steam train from downtown San Francisco to Land End for the affordable fare of ¢5 cents. Sutro designed and funded the elegant Sutro Heights public gardens, the famous Sutro Baths and the 1896 Cliff House, which replaced the original building after it burned.

In 1897, John Harris, an African American, challenged Sutro Bath’s “whites only” policy in court and won his case. Harris vs. Sutro placed San Francisco at the heart for the fight against separate but equal during the Jim Crow Era and predates the National Civil Rights Act by 67 years.

To get directions to Lands End and learn more about activities there, please visit the Lands End visitor information page .

To learn more in-depth information about the history of Lands End, please visit these other pages and documents:

Vestiges of Lands End This digital guidebook explores different regions of Lands End and highlights important stories, landscapes, events, artifacts and geology.

History and Significance of the Adolph Sutro Historic District (excerpts from the National Register of Historic Places nomination form, NPS, 2000) (PDF file, 120 kb)

The Cliff House Project This web site has a comprehensive collection of photographs, articles and films on the Cliff House and Sutro Baths.

In 1769, Spanish leaders sent Captain Juan Gaspar de Portolá to lead an expedition to stake claim to southern and central California. Portolá and his party of sixty men (with a caravan of 200 horses and mules for riding and the pack train) came from San Diego in search of Monterey Bay, but from their overland approach, they failed to recognize it. The expedition members were hungry, lost, and sick after six months journey. They were assisted by Native peoples along the way, and the local Ramaytush Ohlone people warmly greeted and fed them.

For millennia the Ohlone people followed seasonal rounds of hunting, fishing, and managing the land for their needs. In 1769, about 2,000 Ramaytush Ohlone people inhabited the San Francisco Peninsula, living in a network of ten independent tribes. The Aramai tribe, of modern-day Pacifica, accompanied the explorers to the top of Sweeney Ridge, where the Portolá party became the first Europeans to see San Francisco Bay. The Spanish “discovery" of San Francisco Bay would soon mean the loss of Ohlone lives, homelands and traditional ways when Spanish colonization started seven years later .

Captain Gaspar de Portolá’s first sighting of San Francisco Bay has long been memorialized in the Bay Area. In 1987, Sweeney Ridge became part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Today there are two permanent monuments at the “discovery" site -- the first was installed in 1975, and the second eight years later.

The National Park Service strives to accurately and equitably portray this land’s diversity of people. Read the articles below to learn more about the impact of this “discovery”.

Fort Baker is a historic army post located in the Marin Headlands. The post, built between 1902 and 1910, is one of the park’s best examples of the army’s “Endicott Period” military construction, named after the late 19 th century Secretary of War, William C. Endicott. The “Endicott Period” refers to the peace time years, between 1865 (the end of the Civil War) and 1898 (prior to the Spanish-American War), when the army had the time to look inward and make improvements to many of its existing military systems.

By the 1860s, many of the Army’s “modern” defense systems had become outdated and the War Department expressed growing concerns about the dilapidated condition of the country’s seacoast fortifications. As a response, in the 1890s, the War Department made sweeping recommendations for all existing U.S. seaports and proposals to modernize and re-arm all the seacoast forts. In addition to improving its seacoast defenses, the Army now turned its energy toward improving the living conditions of enlisted soldiers, in order to stem desertion, boost moral and attract a better class of recruits.

Between 1897 and 1905, the army constructed new, state-of-the-art seacoast fortifications, including Batteries Yates, Spencer, Kirby, Duncan and Orlando Wagner. The army created the Coast Artillery Corps to man the newly constructed batteries. In order to provide permanent housing for the soldiers, the army began a major construction campaign, constructing Fort Baker between 1901 and 1910. Most of the original Fort Baker buildings, designed in the Colonial Revival architectural style , were clustered around the post's main parade ground . The style is often characterized by large, stocky symmetrical buildings with classical elements, such as columns, wrap-around porches and decorative windows.

The design of these buildings at Fort Baker, built around the turn-of-the-19th century, represented the army’s new interest in providing its soldiers with a healthier living environment. Unlike the dark, cramped and often infested 19 th century frontier barracks, the large and well ventilated barracks at Fort Baker provided clean running water, ample interior space and modern, indoor toilet facilities. As on all army posts, Fort Baker contained a commanding officer's residence and a post headquarters. The army was also concerned with the health and education of its soldiers. As a result, Fort Baker also contained a 12-bed hospital and a fully-equipped gymnasium, that housed a reading room, a post exchange (which functioned as both a small-scale store and lunch room), and even a bowling alley.

The men stationed at Fort Baker were members of the Coast Artillery Corps, which was officially created in 1907 by the U.S. Army to protect and defend the nation’s harbors. The Coast Artillery Corp went on to fight in both World War I and World War II and remained in service until the army officially deactivated the Corps in 1950. During the Endicott Period, the army was constantly modifying and improving their gun batteries to stay current with the advances in military technology. In order to adequately protect the valuable San Francisco Bay, the army continued to build more batteries further out along the coast line. While the Fort Baker batteries were constructed just inside the Golden Gate strait, the later batteries, like Battery Mendell and Battery Alexander (under the jurisdiction of Fort Barry ), were constructed farther out on the Marin Headlands, overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

As the country began to mobilize for war, the army created the Harbor Defenses of San Francisco which had operational command over many San Francisco army posts, including Fort Baker, Fort Barry and Fort Cronkhite , in the time of war. The Harbor Defenses of San Francisco was responsible for defending the area’s coastline from enemy naval attack, ensuring the safety of friendly shipping traffic and guarding the harbor with underwater minefields . Fort Baker’s Horseshoe Cove was the home of the Harbor Defense’s mine depot, where Coast Artillery soldiers would carefully load 800 pounds of TNT into metal mines and then plant them underwater, outside the mouth of the bay, with a complex series of electronic cables. If an enemy vessel or submarine was spotted entering San Francisco Bay, the electronic mines could be triggered by a shore-based detonating station. Also at Horseshoe Cove, the army also established a hardworking Marine Repair Shop that provided on-going maintenance for the small civilian boats conscripted for use in the mine operation.

After the World War II bombings of Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima, the threat of foreign attack on U.S. soil shifted from naval assault to air attack, particularly by aircraft carrying nuclear weapons. During the Cold War, from the 1950s to the 1970s, Fort Baker was home to the Headquarters of the Sixth ARADCOM Region (ARADCOM stood for U.S. Army Air Defense Command). The Sixth ARADCOM Region was responsible for 12 permanent launch sites for “NIKE” anti-aircraft missles around the Bay Area, including San Pablo Ridge, Rocky Ridge, Lake Chabot and Coyote Hills in the East Bay; Milagra Ridge, Fort Winfield Scott and Fort Funston to the south of the Golden Gate; and Fort Cronkhite, Fort Barry, Angel Island and San Rafael to the north. These missile sites would receive initial targeting information from an early-warning radar station at the Mill Valley Air Force Station on Mt. Tamalpais; with the help of information from the radars and computers, the missiles would prepare, if needed, to launch.

From the 1970s to the 1990s, the 91 st Division (Training Support) was stationed at Fort Baker under the command of the Travis Air Force Base. The 91 st Infantry Division, nick-named the “Pine Tree Division” or the “Wild West Division”, was active during both world wars until the army deactivated it in 1945. In December, 1946, the 91 St Division was reactivated at the Presidio of San Francisco as part of the U.S. Army Reserve. While at Fort Baker, the 91 st Division (Training Support) was responsible for creating training exercises for the Army National Guard, the Army Reserve Combat Support and the Combat Service Support units. In 1995, the military transferred its land to Golden Gate National Recreation Area and in 2000, the last soldiers left Fort Baker as the 91 st Division (Training Support) moved their activities to Camp Parks, California.

Today, the U.S. Coast Guard Station Golden Gate, located at Horseshoe Cove, is responsible for search and rescue missions, homeland security, maritime law enforcement, maritime environmental protection and boating safety. The Travis Air Force Base continues to operate the Sailing Marina Center at the Presidio Yacht Club. The Travis Sailing Center is a recreational activity of the 60th Services Squadron, Travis AFB dedicated to providing recreational and boating opportunities to all active duty, reserve, and retired US Armed Services, Coast Guard, federal civilian, and CG Auxiliary members.

To get directions to Fort Baker and learn about the various activities there, please visit the Plan Your Visit page.

To learn more about the historic landscapes at Fort Baker, dowload the Cultural Landscape Report for Fort Baker (PDF file, 3,102 KB).

Fort Barry, constructed in 1908 in the Marin Headlands, is one of the park’s best examples of an “Endicott Period” army post. The Endicott Period, named for Secretary of War William C. Endicott, refers to the era when the War Department expressed growing concerns about the dilapidated condition of the country’s seacoast fortifications. As a response, the army made sweeping recommendations in the 1890s to modernize and re-arm all the U.S. seacoast forts. In 1902, the army constructed new seacoast fortifications at Fort Baker, just inside the Golden Gate strait. By 1908, the army recognized the need for additional defenses, outside the Golden Gate strait, and constructed Fort Barry and its batteries for this purpose.

Like most army posts, Fort Barry functioned as a small, self-sufficient town that supported the needs of the soldiers. The post contained the commander’s residence and headquarters, elegant officers’ residences and soldiers’ barracks; it also provided its own hospital, gymnasium, post exchange (for daily supplies), a guardhouse (which jailed the occasional disorderly soldier) and even its own bakery. A soldier’s life in Fort Barry was very isolated. The only method of travelling to neighboring Sausalito, where the soldiers could visit saloons or take the ferry to San Francisco, was via a long and treacherous coastal road. In 1918, after too many near-fatal road accidents, the army constructed the Baker-Barry tunnel, thus improving military communication and travel between the two posts.

By 1905, the army constructed five powerful batteries at Fort Barry that represented the new Endicott-period upgrades: Battery Mendell, Battery Alexander, Battery Smith-Guthrie, Battery Samuel Rathbone and Battery Patrick O’Rorke. Battery Mendell, the first constructed, was outfitted with the army’s modern innovation: a pair of 12-inch guns on a “disappearing carriage”. When the guns were ready to fire, they would pop-up into position, fire a single shot, and then recoil down and out of sight for reloading; hence the “disappearing carriage” designation. In their loading position, both the firing guns and the soldiers were hidden from enemy view behind the huge concrete parapet, camouflaged with vegetation. During World War II, Fort Barry was part of the Harbor Defenses of San Francisco, which was responsible for defending the area from enemy attack. Fort Barry’s batteries were upgraded and anti-aircraft guns were installed along the coastline.

To learn more about Fort Barry history, download the Fort Barry History Tour: An Army Post Standing Guard over the Marin Headlands (PDF file, 1.4 MB)

Learn more about Fort Baker , another Endicott-period army base located in the Marin Headlands.

Learn about the San Francisco Bay Seacoast Fortification and how three different countries have defended the Bay for over a span of 200 years.

Fort Cronkhite, a former World War II military post located in the Marin Headlands, is the park's best preserved example of a World War II "mobilization post." Starting in 1939, the U.S. Army built hundreds of similar wood-frame, temporary military posts around the country for the wartime training and housing of soldiers. By some estimates, more than 100,000 of these buildings were constructed between 1940 and 1945.

The buildings at Fort Cronkhite, completed in 1941, are typical of thousands of wartime barracks, mess halls, and supply buildings once constructed from coast to coast. Fort Cronkhite originally housed hundreds of Coast Artillery soldiers assigned to the army's sprawling Harbor Defenses of San Francisco. Their mission was to protect San Francisco Bay against enemy attack and during World War II, the soldiers manned gun batteries, radar sites, and other fortifications on the high ridges overlooking the fort.

To learn more about Fort Cronkhite history, download the Fort Cronkhite History Walk: A World War II Army Post that Helped Defend San Francisco (PDF file, 3.6 MB)

As development expands throughout California and other areas of the country, urban national parks and their natural resources become increasingly important. National parks in the San Francisco Bay region, including the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, house an amazing richness of biological diversity due to the variety of habitats and unique geology of the area.

Over half of the bird species of North America and nearly one third of California's plant species are found within Golden Gate. Of those, 37 are listed as federally threatened or endangered.

The Recreation Area preserves a 91-mile swath of shoreline along the outer coast of the San Francisco Bay Area. Various other agencies and private owners manage lands within the park's legislative boundaries. Because of the multiple landowners, many Bay Area residents and park visitors think of our park in terms of isolated sites such as Muir Woods, Stinson Beach, the Marin Headlands, and the Presidio.

The bigger picture is one of interconnected pockets of nature, wildlife corridors, and refuges for rarities. Traveling through the park connects you with windswept beaches, dramatic cliffs, coastal chaparral, low mountains, swaths of prairie, live oak woodlands, salt marshes, freshwater wetlands and creeks, and redwood forests. All you have to do is get out and explore!

The Natural Resources division works to understand and care for the abundant natural treasures found within Golden Gate.

The Recreation Area is home to nearly 53 species of mammals, 250 species of birds, 20 species of reptiles, and 11 species of amphibians.

Learn about the abiotic (non-living) factors that shape the environment of Golden Gate, such as climatic shifts and geologic processes.

Golden Gate supports a wide variety of ecosystems and habitats, including beaches, forests, wetlands, and coastal prairies.

The most visible wildlife in Golden Gate are definitely the birds. You will see them rustling in the bushes near a path, soaring overhead, or floating across a marsh. An astonishing number of avian species live in or migrate through Golden Gate . A variety of habitats ranging from open water and protected bays, to rocky and sandy shorelines, to tidal marshes, coastal scrub, grasslands, and forests create many different habitats that support over 250 different birds. Golden Gate lies along the Pacific Flyway , and is also host to a variety of transient birds that stop over to rest and feed in their amazing journeys from equatorial regions as far south as the South American rainforests to polar regions as far north as the Canadian arctic. This combination of factors makes Golden Gate a birder's paradise. Many organizations monitor bird activity in the park for species of concern, including the National Park Service Inventory & Monitoring Network , The Audubon Society, California Partners in Flight, the California Department of Forestry, and the Fish and Wildlife Service .

With its variety of riparian habitat and position along a major migratory pathway, Golden Gate hosts some of the largest and most diverse assemblages of landbirds in the United States. Park creeks attract neotropical migrants : small songbirds making their way up and down the coast each fall and spring. Along Redwood, Lagunitas, and Lobos Creeks riparian songbirds such as olive-sided flycatchers, Swainson’s thrush, Wilson ’s warbler, tanagers, and grosbeaks can be heard trilling their territorial and reproductive calls. Two species, the w illow flycatcher and the bank swallow are considered threatened by the state of California.

The precipitous cliffs and offshore rocks that flank the park are a haven for colonial seabirds. Bird Island off of Rodeo Lagoon is one of the largest roosting sites in northern California for the endangered brown pelican, with several hundred making a splash in Rodeo Lagoon each Fall. Brandt’s cormorants nest at Lobos Rocks and Seal Rocks along Land’s End in San Francisco, turning the rocks bright white with their strong-smelling guano. Pelagic cormorants nest in very small colonies on steep cliffs and sea stacks from the Golden Gate north to Stinson Beach. Peregrine falcons are seen in their kamikaze dive, foraging along the coastal cliffs and have nested from the Golden Gate Bridge north to Muir Beach.

Colonial nesting waterbirds have found not a prison on Alcatraz Island , but inviting habitat in which to nest during the Spring and Summer months. In one of the most internationally visible settings within the National Park Sysytem, Alcatraz supports black-crowned night-herons, Brandt’s cormorants, pelagic cormorants, and pigeon guillemots—the only colonies found in San Francisco Bay for these species. Most colonial nesting waterbirds breed on offshore islands. The island’s large western gull colony represents a significant portion of its coastal breeding population in northern California.

Sandy beaches and mucky estuaries provide important habitat for migrating and wintering waterbirds and shorebirds. Tomales Bay, Bolinas Lagoon, Stinson Beach, Muir Beach, Big Lagoon, Rodeo Lagoon, Crissy Field and Ocean Beach, provide habitat for loons, grebes, scoters, numerous species of dabbling and diving ducks, gulls, terns, willets, sanderlings, and sandpipers. Federally threatened western snowy plovers overwinter at Ocean Beach and Crissy Field Marsh. The park's mudflats provide plenty of tasty invertebrates, and estuaries provide fish and crabs galore. The San Francisco Bay is an important stopover for migrating species both due to its size and diversity of suitable habitat. Nearshore marine waters just outside the Golden Gate also provide foraging sooty shearwaters and pigeon guillemot, with thousands of birds rafting together on open water.

An island of green in an urban matrix, the Presidio ’s location on the northwest tip of the San Francisco peninsula offers a stopover location to many birds before crossing the Golden Gate Straights, or as an entrance gate to the rich wetlands of the San Francisco Bay. Native habitats and introduced forest are regionally important to locally declining species such as the California quail, western screech owl, wrentit, and Hutton’s vireo. The landscaped areas of the Presidio also attract some interesting birds. The hooded oriole reaches the northern limit of its breeding range in the Presidio due to the royal palms planted throughout this former Army Post. Explore birds of the Presidio of San Francisco.

The old growth forest of Muir Woods represents a fragmented island of the redwood stands that existed 150 years ago. Muir woods is now the last remaining contiguous stand of old growth coast redwoods in Marin County. Underneath the dappled sunlight, high in the branches of these giants, federally threatened species such as the northern spotted owl nests. Marin County is home for a fairly large population of these small owls that have found themselves spotlighted in the media. At least 69 bird species occur within Muir Woods, the majority of which are small neotropical migrants such as the Pacific-slope flycatcher, winter wren, golden-crowned kinglet, and chestnut-backed chickadee.

Evolving in a harsh coastal area, the plants of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area are a hardy bunch. The park's Mediterranean climate-with mild, wet winters and extended, dry summers-encourage plants to adapt to long seasons without rain. Golden Gate is located in the center of the California Floristic Province, one of only five regions in the world with this kind of Mediterranean climate, which are home to high floral diversity and unique assemblages rivaled only by the equatorial rainforests.

Golden Gate's habitats are dominated by evergreen shrubs and patchy grasslands (commonly referred to as coastal scrub and coastal prairie). Coastal scrub plants are usually low-growing, thick-leaved shrubs with a variety of adaptations for temperature regulation and water retention. Coastal species are also able to tolerate wind pruning, salt spray, and thin soils. In addition to coastal scrub and prairie, Golden Gate National Recreation Area supports wetland habitat and several forest types including redwood and mixed evergreen forest, oak woodlands and riparian forests.

Urban development and the stresses of habitat destruction and introduced species have pushed a number of the region's plants to the brink of extinction. Golden Gate National Recreation Area serves as a refuge for over forty-five rare or special status plant species, with at least ten of those listed as federally threatened or endangered. These protected lands are often the last chance to prevent the extinction of these species. Park scientists have been monitoring these plants for over a decade, providing valuable baseline information for species on the brink. Listed species are counted and mapped every one to three years. The resulting data gives insight into the shifts in distribution and population size of these special plants.

The intact coastal prairies in Golden Gate National Recreation Area are a rare ecological treasure to be enjoyed and protected.

Plants do not exist in isolation, but rather as part of communities. Learn more on the Pacific Coast Science & Learning Center website.

The spread of non-native plants represents the most significant threat to the biodiversity of the park.

Check out this comprehensive guide to plants in the Muir Woods area, complete with color illustrations and tips for identification.

The Natural Resources Division works with numerous agency, academic, and organizational partners, as well as community volunteers, to understand and care for the abundant natural treasures found within the lands managed by the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. We restore natural processes and habitats so that our plants and wildlife can thrive. We use the best available science to balance recreation and resource protection, band to promote resilience in the face of future change. We help create connections between the public and their parklands, and we strive to ensure that Golden Gate’s natural wonders are here for future generations to know and enjoy.

From the hilltops to the sea, Golden Gate’s many park sites are nestled among a unique mix of urban, suburban, and protected open spaces stretched across three Bay Area counties. They include everything from ancient redwood forests to sunny grasslands, as well as streams, wetlands, lagoons, and coastal areas. Golden Gate’s geographic and ecological diversity has created a breathtaking array of plant and animal life, intertwined with a rich human history stretching back to the first peoples who called this place home. Within Golden Gate’s boundaries are more than half of North America's bird species, nearly one third of California's plants, and 37 threatened or endangered plants and animals—the highest number of any national park in the continental U.S. This incredible biological richness led Golden Gate to be designated as one of 25 global biodiversity “hot spots” by The Nature Conservancy and also as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve .

Research and monitoring help us understand what’s happening with our most sensitive plants and animals.

We strive to connect people to their park lands through internships, volunteer programs, community science opportunities, and partnerships.

Projects to restore imperiled wildlife species, important habitats, and the natural processes that sustain them.

Golden Gate's urban features may seem to suggest a lack of wildlife, but there is much more than meets the eye. Golden Gate's coastal ecosystems supports a rich assemblage of wildlife including 387 vertebrate species. The park's grasslands, scrublands, wetlands, and forests also support a rich diversity of invertebrates, although these species have not been well inventoried. The Recreation Area is home to nearly 53 species of mammals, 250 species of birds, 20 species of reptiles, and 11 species of amphibians. Some animals are picky about the place they call home, while for other animals anywhere with food, shelter, and water will do. Habitat generalists like coyotes occur across a broad range of plant communities found in the park. Habitat specialists are adapted to the conditions of one particular habitat. Chaparral or prairies may provide a glimpse of rabbit, quail, or bobcat. Forests and woodlands may lead you to a black-tailed deer, banana slug, or spotted owl. Marshes and creeks host an array of amphibians, fish, and reptiles including the red-legged frog, San Francisco garter snake, and Coho salmon. All habitats support a variety of insects, and bees and butterflies abound.

Moist areas near creeks and marshes make good homes for the frogs, toads, and salamanders of Golden Gate.

The ocean and bay bordering Golden Gate house a rich diversity of sponges, bryozoans, tunicates, limpets, mussels, anemones, and sea stars.

Located where the North American and Pacific tectonic plates meet, Golden Gate National Recreation Area is truly a park on the edge. The park is situated along the San Andreas fault, where the two tectonic plates slide past each other to produce earthquakes and actively moving landforms. It also lies above an ancient subduction zone where planetary crust was both added to the continental margin and consumed by the mantle to be recycled into new geologic materials.

Golden Gate contains a wide array of geologic features , from the Franciscan Complex, which represents subduction-related tectonic events that took place over a hundred million years ago, to the Merced Formation, which records glacier-driven sea level changes over the last 3 million years, to modern dune sands formed from bits of the Sierra Nevada Mountains transported to the coast by the Sacramento River. Whether formed from deep within the ocean crust or mantle under extreme heat and pressure, like serpentinite, or built by millions of microscopic sea creatures over eons, like radiolarian chert, the Recreation Area is a rock lover's paradise. These rocks also provide the substrate for the plants and animals that make the park their home.

Climatic shifts and geologic processes continue to shape this environment as they have for millennia. Most recently, human-caused factors such as air, noise, light, and water pollution, climate change , and the introduction of invasive species are having a large impact on natural resources here. The Recreation Area strives to keep a healthy and resilient natural environment where wildlife and world-weary humans alike can find refuge.

Golden Gate’s location along the San Andreas fault is responsible for its rugged terrain, dramatic cliffs, and steep hills.

Learn about the eight significant watersheds and variety of different water resources located within the park.

Because Golden Gate is such an urban park, darkness is a valuable resource for visitors and wildlife alike.

These furry members of Golden Gate's wildlife seem to attract the most interest from park visitors. Despite the urban development and habitat fragmentation that continues to occur in central coastal California, the park supports a diversity of mammals . The fauna of today are very different than the variety of species found here before the arrival of the Europeans in the 1700s. After the Gold Rush, local grasslands and scrublands were quickly replaced with dairies and farms to support this emerging metropolitan mecca. Long gone are the large mammals such as the grizzly bear and tule elk of early California. But high densities of mesocarnivores, including the gray fox, bobcat, and the recently reestablished coyote inhabit coastal scrub and grasslands across Marin and San Mateo Counties. Mountain lions sightings regularly occur throughout undeveloped areas of these two counties. These carnivores feed on a variety of small and large mammals such as the black-tailed deer , broad-footed mole, pocket gopher, deer mouse, western harvest mouse, California vole, badger, and brush rabbit.

The shady forest world of Muir Woods supports 30 species of mammals, ranging from the vagrant shrew and Trowbridge’s shrew to the Sonoma chipmunk, western gray squirrel, opossum, and black-tailed deer. Spotted owls feed primarily on dusky-footed wood rats, known for their large wood pile nests. Carnivores include the raccoon, striped and spotted skunks, long-tailed weasel, gray fox, and the recently returned river otter. Bats are always an intriguing group, instilling awe into those who admire and fear them. Nine different species have been identified roosting in the fire scars of old growth redwood trees. Three of the species, the Pacific western big-eared bat, fringed myotis, and Yuma myotis, are federal or state species of concern.

Isolated coastal rocks and beaches serve as haul-outs for harbor seals and California sea lions. Although Bay shores were once filled with pinnipeds, concentrations such as the hundreds of harbor seals that haul out in Point Bonita Cove at Marin Headlands can still be found. Significant harbor seal pupping areas are found in Bolinas Lagoon and Tomales Bay. The northern elephant seal population has been rapidly increasing, leading to more encounters on sandy beaches throughout the region, including a fairly large colony at Point Reyes National Seashore. California gray whales, humpback whales, and harbor porpoises use nearshore waters. Young whales occasionally wander into San Francisco Bay. Southern sea otters are infrequently seen offshore with numbers increasing as the population spreads north from Monterey Bay.

Where do mammals live in Golden Gate? Explore the natural features and ecosystems that mammals and other organisms call home.

Golden Gate National Recreation Area doesn’t look like most national parks. It is comprised of tracts of land across many counties.

Stretched across 80,000 acres north and south of the Golden Gate Bridge, these parks also constitute one of the world’s largest national parks in an urban setting. They feature 37 distinct park sites, from Muir Woods National Monument to Fort Point National Historic Site to Alcatraz Island, more than 130 miles of trails, and 1,200 historic structures.

Marin County (North of Golden Gate Bridge) Includes features such as Point Bonita Lighthouse, Nike Missile Site, Cavallo Point-The Lodge at Golden Gate, Institute at the Golden Gate, the Marine Mammal Center, Bay Area Discovery Museum, Fort Baker, Tennessee Valley, and Fort Cronkhite. With land in Point Reyes, and partnership with One Tam, Mt. Tamalpais.

San Francisco County (South of Golden Gate Bridge) Visit beaches and coastline trails across the city of San Francisco! Includes famous destinations like Alcatraz Island, Fort Point National Historic Site and Sutro Baths and sites to expand your knowledge at Crissy Field Center, and the new Presidio Visitor Center.

San Mateo County (South of SF) From Mori Point to Phlegar Estate, GGNRA's newest additions have trails, wildlife and coastal views availble to explore!

Walk among old growth coast redwoods, cooling their roots in the fresh water of Redwood Creek.

415-561-4700 United States Park Police Dispatch: Non-Emergency: 415-561-5505 Emergency: 415-561-5656