The Park District is proud to have one of the most dog-friendly policies in the entire country, allowing dogs at most parks and even off-leash at many. Everyone loves using our park trails for all kinds of recreation, but when our four-legged friends "do their business" along the way, it's important for owners to not only pick up the pet waste, but to pack it out with them to the closest trash can.

Leaving poop bags behind is a form of littering and is a major challenge for East Bay Regional Park District. Leaving poop bags behind is against the rules and subject to fines, but with so many bags left behind it is hard to enforce. While Park Rangers do spend some time cleaning up poop bags, they have more important things to do like clearing trails for safety and removing hazardous vegetation like poison oak.

The Park District is asking dog owners for help keeping Regional Parks enjoyable for all. Garbage cans are available at all staging areas and trailheads, and strategically located along trails where feasible.

The Park District hopes to keep our parks dog-friendly and avoid conflicts with the District’s overall goal of balancing public access with habitat protection. Please be sure to pick up and throw away pet waste during your visit to help us keep our parks litter-free.

In an auspicious ceremony at the February 19th Board meeting, Fire Chief Aileen Theile and Assistant Fire Chief Brad Gallup were sworn in by Police Chief Anthony Ciaburro.

Fire Chief Theile, an expert in fire fuels management and fire behavior, began her career with the Park District 24 years ago as park ranger at Shadow Cliffs Regional Recreation Area . She joined the District’s Fire Department in 1995 on special assignment as an industrial firefighter and, following a succession of promotions within the Fire Department, was appointed the new Fire Chief of the East Bay Regional Park District on October 27, 2018.

Assistant Chief Gallup began his career in the Park District in 1993 as a GIS analyst, later becoming the GIS coordinator and serving as an on-call firefighter. In 2002, he was hired full-time into the District Fire Department and has worked his way through the ranks, taking leadership roles in the prescribed burn program and in implementing the District’s first two FEMA fire hazard mitigation grants. Throughout his time in the Fire Department, Asst. Chief Gallup has focused his energy on the fuels management program as a way to create a safer, healthier, and more resilient landscape in our parks.

Join us in congratulating Fire Chief Aileen Theile and Assistant Fire Chief Brad Gallup on their new roles and in thanking them for so many years of dedication to the District.

Following a heavy rain last month, staff from the East Bay Regional Park District joined the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the nonprofit Alameda Creek Alliance, Alameda County Water District, fisheries biologists, preservationists and volunteers at Quarry Lakes Regional Recreation Area for a very special rescue effort. The team waded into the Alameda Creek Flood Control Channel holding seine nets, pole nets and buckets with the goal of capturing, tagging, and ultimately transporting steelhead trout upstream to reach suitable spawning habitat. 

For decades, steelhead trout and Chinook salmon, both protected under the Endangered Species Act, have been unable to migrate up Alameda Creek to their ancestral spawning grounds due to an impassable concrete structure known as the BART weir, which supports the trains overhead. Current efforts underway to help fish to migrate unimpeded include upgrading or replacing rubber dams and building fish ladders and screens that would allow the fish to bypass the multiple barriers in the creek. The first fish ladder located near Mission Blvd. in Fremont was completed last summer, and construction on the second, larger fish ladder will begin this summer at the BART weir. The ladder should be completed by spring 2022, after which the trout and salmon should be able to make their way upstream unassisted.

The team was able to net two fish, a Chinook salmon and a female steelhead trout. Both fish were measured and weighed, and the steelhead was tagged with a radio transmitter before being transported and released at the base of the Niles Canyon fish ladder. Over the next few days staff tracked her radio signal with excitement, watching her sprint up nearly four miles of Alameda Creek before turning off at Stonybrook Creek, an important spawning habitat. She was later observed building a nest which is a sign she may have spawned with native rainbow trout, a hopeful sign that natural migration will restore the once-abundant steelhead to Alameda Creek. 

Learn more about rescuing steelhead in Alameda Creek.

The East Bay Regional Park District is recruiting 40-60 new lifeguards for the 2019 swim season. There are six swim testing events coming up in March. Participants who pass the tests will be invited to the District’s Lifeguard Academy where they will receive free, paid training and certification in open water lifeguarding. The pay ranges from $16.15-$18.64 per hour. Positions are seasonal, full-time positions from May through September. More Info

New Book Highlights Tilden Regional Park History

A new book by East Bay Regional Park District Archives volunteer Richard Langs highlights the history of Tilden Regional Park. The book is called Tilden Regional Park: A History and is a pocket-book version of his Tilden Regional Park, Queen of the East Bay Regional Parks published in 2016 . Tilden Regional Park: A History is available at the Tilden concessions stand, the Tilden Park visitor center, and online.

Regional Parks Community Outreach

March promises many sunny days for hiking, and what better way to enjoy the weather than working on the Park District's Trails Challenge?

NO REGISTRATION NEEDED! Simply pick-up or download the Guidebook to get started! Hikes range from easy to challenging, including trails open to hikers, bicyclists, dogs, and equestrians, and many are also wheelchair accessible. To complete the challenge, hike five of the trails – or 26.2 miles of trails. The Guidebook includes detailed trail descriptions. Free 2019 Trails Challenge guide books and T-shirts are available at visitor centers while supplies last. The guidebook can also be downloaded at www.ebparks.org/TC2019Guidebook.

ALLTRAILS APP! All 20 featured trails are available in the popular AllTrails hiking app. First download the free app, sign-up and log in, then go to https://www.alltrails.com/explore/list/east-bay-regional-parks-trails-challenge-2019 and click on “Copy to my lists”, followed by "Continue in App". The featured trails will show under 'Lists' in 'Plan'. The app will indicate where you are on your hike, enabling easy return to the trail if you stray from it. You can also record your hikes, and share your photos and comments with others.

Learn More

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