40th Anniversary of Marin County Parks
by Katherine Jones
For 40 years, Marin County Parks has served to keep Marin extraordinary, protecting and stewarding thousands of acres of ridge-tops and rolling hills, flowing streams, dramatic coastlines, and over 200 miles of trails. However, there was a time when much of Marin was threatened by development. The opening of the Golden Gate Bridge in 1937, connecting Marin to San Francisco, ushered in a new era of development. By 1971, residents watched as residential subdivisions crept up the hillsides and across the ridges of Marin. A new city of 125,000 was planned for the shores of Tomales Bay, with four lane highways connecting west Marin to east.
In the 1960s and 1970s, in response to these pressures, local leaders started a heroic movement that reached all corners of Marin — a movement to preserve critical natural lands and family farms that resulted in creation of two National Park Service units, the Marin Agriculture Land Trust, and the Marin County Regional Park District, which voters overwhelmingly supported in 1972.
In the past four decades the district has acquired hundreds of undeveloped parcels from willing sellers, totaling more than 20,000 acres. These lands have become 34 open space preserves, which are open to the public free of charge. The district is joined by four regional parks and 27 other park facilities including skate parks, swimming pools and boat launches.
To mark 40 years of Marin County Parks, we look towards the future, but also celebrate our past. To celebrate our history, Parks has partnered with the Anne T. Kent California room to create an extensive archive collection entitled “Our Parks, Our History.” After months of work, a historical archive of documents and images are now available online. California room staff has also begun to conduct a series of oral histories with some of Marin’s open space pioneers. These interviews will be available online later this year.
In creating “Our Parks, Our History”, Marin County Parks aims to acknowledge and highlight the people who made the district possible, worked tirelessly to preserve open space, and created a legacy of conservation and stewardship in the County of Marin. We will also show, using historical documents and plans, how the County could have looked very different if it weren’t for the people of Marin, and their commitment to the creation of Marin County parks and preserves.
Finally, as part of our Summer of Celebration, we will be hosting a series of public walks at parks and preserves throughout Marin to thank the communities, individuals and groups who fought to create, expand and steward Marin County Parks. Visit our website for a list of 40th anniversary events happening this summer: www.marincountyparks.org.
Originally published at https://annetkent.kontribune.com.
