Advocacy

The East Bay Regional Park District (EBPRD) is currently in the environmental review process on a project to add a one-way bicycle trail to Wildcat Canyon. More details about the plan and the public engagement process can be found on the EBRPD website HERE. Golden Gate Bird Alliance has been following this project closely and we submitted a comment letter for the CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) Environmental Impact Report (EIR) scoping period, which ended on March 13, 2026. The scoping phase identifies what should be studied in the environmental review including alternatives, mitigation, and cumulative impacts.

When the DEIR is published, anticipated fall 2026, we plan to review it thoroughly and submit public comments. After the DEIR public comment period, a final EIR will be published which will go to the EBRPD board for approval before the project can proceed.

Golden Gate Bird Alliance supports all types of recreation and different ways of connecting with nature and the outdoors. That said, all trails have impacts to the environment and bird habitat specifically, so they should be carefully planned and sited. The DEIR study area should be large enough to enable a comprehensive analysis of  all direct and indirect effects. The environmental impacts should be well studied, avoided, and sufficiently mitigated where avoidance isn’t possible. Our primary concern for the Wildcat Canyon bicycle trail is the impact to Grasshopper Sparrow breeding habitat, especially in the higher elevation parts of the project area. We are also concerned with the likely increased traffic on adjacent trails with environmentally sensitive riparian ecosystems such as Havey Canyon trail. It is the responsibility of the EBRPD, as the lead agency, to review these impacts and suggest alternatives or mitigation to offset them. As of now, April 2, 2026, we are waiting to see how the draft EIR will address these concerns. 

In 2024 SPRAWLDEF contracted Golden Gate Bird Alliance to perform a 2-year breeding bird survey on the trails adjacent to the project area. HERE is the 2025 report on the survey findings.