 The San Francisco Bay area is very rich with regional parks and wildlife refuges, more than any place I have ever seen. These parks are publicly funded and are maintained well. What makes them internesting, and it is perhaps due to the special geography of this region, is that from a completely urban surrounding one can transition to very close to nature in a very short time. Don Edwards Fish and Wildlife Refuge is located in Fremont, California. The entrance to this park is on Thornton Avenue and is very close to the east end of the Dumbarton Bridge, which is the southernmost bridge that crosses the Bay. In the East Bay the Dumbarton Bridge (Hwy 84) is the continuation of Decoto Road. If you are coming from the East Bay on Hwy 84, you have to exit at the final exit (Thornton/Paseo Padre) before the toll plaza. At the exit ramp, turn left, go over the overpass on the highway, and within a minute the park entrance road will be seen on your right side. If coming from west, take the exit immediately after the toll plaza (Thornton/Paseo Padre), althought you don't need to pay toll coming from West. At the exit ramp, turn right and within a minute you will be at the entrance road. The park has a compact brand new (and temporary) visitor centor that replaces the old one slightly up the hill. The Don Edwards refuge is special because it is the rare park in this region that is maintained not by the omnipresent East Bay Regional Parks but by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service system. The park has a number of trails including the Tidelands Trail, Newark Slough Trail, New Chicago Marsh and Alviso Slough Trail. Some of the trails connect to the nearby trails in Coyote Hills Regional Park. One of these trails, called the Quarry Trail, passes above the toll plaza on Hwy 84 from where you can enjoy the mesmerizing view of a long line of cars passing by underneath. Immediately after the toll plaza, on the Coyote Hills side is an abandoned stone quarry - a giant hole on the hillside. From the point of view of photography what I like about this park are its several beautiful wooden bridges, the red hut and the marshlands with numerous birds. There are two long bridges connecting the Tidelands Trail and the Newark Slough Trail that can be photgraphed over and over again -- at dawn or dusk, in bright sunlight or under the overcast sky to give form to different moods. Recently I was able to capture some particularly lovely morning lights in the background of dark cloudy skies, look at this photo for instance. These later photos are included in the second half of this page, at the bottom, click here. When I visted this park for the first time around 2002, I had the pleasent surprise to see and touch large chunks of salt crystals naturally forming from the evaporation ponds. Although the ponds are still there and the water is still salty (it is part of the Bay afterall), I do not see these salt chunks anymore. One notable item is the Annual Endangered Species Poster Contest administerd by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service system every year for schools in Union City, Newark, Fremont, and East Palo Alto. It is a praiseworthy effot aimed at increasing nature-awareness among the locals, and the local children join this competition with great enthusiasm. See the award-winning entries of 2009. The Fish and Wildlife Service also conducts a number of popular programs on hiking, photography, wildlife watching etc, if interested see here.
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Recent Photos, 2009
| I add some more recent photos below. Of note are multiple photos of the La Riviere Marsland, wooden bridges, some more close-up photos of metal bolts and wood texture, and multiple views of the beautiful agave plants under different lights. I was also lucky to photograph a blimp that was lazily passing by. |
jagatjorajaal
Last Revised May 18, 2009
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