By David Assmann

Crissy Field Lagoon at dawn on a sunny day is the epitome of tranquility – herons and egrets feeding in a pristine lagoon with the Golden Gate Bridge perched majestically in the background. Seeing this birding jewel today, it can be hard to visualize its many previous incarnations, which included time as a military installation, a livestock display area, and a hazardous waste dump.

Prior to the arrival of Spanish settlers in 1776, what is now Crissy Field and Lagoon in San Francisco was a 130-acre salt marsh and estuary. The Ohlone lived in seasonal camps in the area, harvesting shellfish and fish from the marsh. Bird life was abundant. The Spanish, led by Captain Juan Bautista de Anza, established a military post to defend Spain’s claim to San Francisco Bay and called it El Presidio Real de San Francisco (“the royal garrison of Saint Francis”). They removed native vegetation, planted crops, and grazed livestock.

The Presidio in 1817 by Louis Choris

When the U.S. Army arrived in 1846, it maintained the Presidio as a military installation, complete with refuse dumps. The tidal sloughs were filled in 1912 so that the area could be used as a Grand Prix racetrack in advance of the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition. During the exhibition, the site of the lagoon was used for livestock exhibits for the fair. In 1921, an airfield was built on Crissy Field.

Over time, the Presidio gradually lost its utility as a military base. The airfield was closed in 1974, and in 1989 Congress voted to close the entire base. The Presidio was formally transferred to the National Park Service in 1994, and shortly thereafter the transformation back to a more natural state began.

Planes lined up at Crissy Field in the 1920s / Wikipedia Crissy Lagoon today / Photo by David Assmann

Converting a former military installation to a pristine park involved raising millions of dollars, removing thousands of tons of debris, and planting more than 100,000 native plants. Golden Gate Bird Alliance played a role in the restoration as one of the key environmental groups consulted in developing the environmental assessment for the restoration.

Today the 18-acre Crissy Field Lagoon provides a rich habitat for shorebirds, wading birds, and ducks. It has its own seasonal rhythm, as regular as the tidal flows, but on a different time scale. The summer is the slow season on the lagoon, but there are still plenty of birds.…

By David Assmann

Crissy Field Lagoon at dawn on a sunny day is the epitome of tranquility – herons and egrets feeding in a pristine lagoon with the Golden Gate Bridge perched majestically in the background. Seeing this birding jewel today, it can be hard to visualize its many previous incarnations, which included time as a military installation, a livestock display area, and a hazardous waste dump.

Prior to the arrival of Spanish settlers in 1776, what is now Crissy Field and Lagoon in San Francisco was a 130-acre salt marsh and estuary. The Ohlone lived in seasonal camps in the area, harvesting shellfish and fish from the marsh. Bird life was abundant. The Spanish, led by Captain Juan Bautista de Anza, established a military post to defend Spain’s claim to San Francisco Bay and called it El Presidio Real de San Francisco (“the royal garrison of Saint Francis”). They removed native vegetation, planted crops, and grazed livestock.

The Presidio in 1817 by Louis Choris

When the U.S. Army arrived in 1846, it maintained the Presidio as a military installation, complete with refuse dumps. The tidal sloughs were filled in 1912 so that the area could be used as a Grand Prix racetrack in advance of the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition. During the exhibition, the site of the lagoon was used for livestock exhibits for the fair. In 1921, an airfield was built on Crissy Field.

Over time, the Presidio gradually lost its utility as a military base. The airfield was closed in 1974, and in 1989 Congress voted to close the entire base. The Presidio was formally transferred to the National Park Service in 1994, and shortly thereafter the transformation back to a more natural state began.

Planes lined up at Crissy Field in the 1920s / Wikipedia Crissy Lagoon today / Photo by David Assmann

Converting a former military installation to a pristine park involved raising millions of dollars, removing thousands of tons of debris, and planting more than 100,000 native plants. Golden Gate Bird Alliance played a role in the restoration as one of the key environmental groups consulted in developing the environmental assessment for the restoration.

Today the 18-acre Crissy Field Lagoon provides a rich habitat for shorebirds, wading birds, and ducks. It has its own seasonal rhythm, as regular as the tidal flows, but on a different time scale. The summer is the slow season on the lagoon, but there are still plenty of birds.…

By David Assmann
Crissy Field Lagoon at dawn on a sunny day is the epitome of tranquility – herons and egrets feeding in a pristine lagoon with the Golden Gate Bridge perched majestically in the background. Seeing this birding jewel today, it can be hard to visualize its many previous incarnations, which included time as a military installation, a livestock display area, and a hazardous waste dump.
Prior to the arrival of Spanish settlers in 1776, what is now Crissy Field and Lagoon in San Francisco was a 130-acre salt marsh and estuary. The Ohlone lived in seasonal camps in the area, harvesting shellfish and fish from the marsh. Bird life was abundant. The Spanish, led by Captain Juan Bautista de Anza, established a military post to defend Spain’s claim to San Francisco Bay and called it El Presidio Real de San Francisco (“the royal garrison of Saint Francis”). They removed native vegetation, planted crops, and grazed livestock.
The Presidio in 1817 by Louis Choris
When the U.S. Army arrived in 1846, it maintained the Presidio as a military installation, complete with refuse dumps. The tidal sloughs were filled in 1912 so that the area could be used as a Grand Prix racetrack in advance of the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition. During the exhibition, the site of the lagoon was used for livestock exhibits for the fair. In 1921, an airfield was built on Crissy Field.
Over time, the Presidio gradually lost its utility as a military base. The airfield was closed in 1974, and in 1989 Congress voted to close the entire base. The Presidio was formally transferred to the National Park Service in 1994, and shortly thereafter the transformation back to a more natural state began.
Planes lined up at Crissy Field in the 1920s / Wikipedia
Crissy Lagoon today / Photo by David Assmann
Converting a former military installation to a pristine park involved raising millions of dollars, removing thousands of tons of debris, and planting more than 100,000 native plants. Golden Gate Bird Alliance played a role in the restoration as one of the key environmental groups consulted in developing the environmental assessment for the restoration.
Today the 18-acre Crissy Field Lagoon provides a rich habitat for shorebirds, wading birds, and ducks. It has its own seasonal rhythm, as regular as the tidal flows, but on a different time scale. The summer is the slow season on the lagoon, but there are still plenty of birds.…

By David Assmann
Crissy Field Lagoon at dawn on a sunny day is the epitome of tranquility – herons and egrets feeding in a pristine lagoon with the Golden Gate Bridge perched majestically in the background. Seeing this birding jewel today, it can be hard to visualize its many previous incarnations, which included time as a military installation, a livestock display area, and a hazardous waste dump.
Prior to the arrival of Spanish settlers in 1776, what is now Crissy Field and Lagoon in San Francisco was a 130-acre salt marsh and estuary. The Ohlone lived in seasonal camps in the area, harvesting shellfish and fish from the marsh. Bird life was abundant. The Spanish, led by Captain Juan Bautista de Anza, established a military post to defend Spain’s claim to San Francisco Bay and called it El Presidio Real de San Francisco (“the royal garrison of Saint Francis”). They removed native vegetation, planted crops, and grazed livestock.
The Presidio in 1817 by Louis Choris
When the U.S. Army arrived in 1846, it maintained the Presidio as a military installation, complete with refuse dumps. The tidal sloughs were filled in 1912 so that the area could be used as a Grand Prix racetrack in advance of the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition. During the exhibition, the site of the lagoon was used for livestock exhibits for the fair. In 1921, an airfield was built on Crissy Field.
Over time, the Presidio gradually lost its utility as a military base. The airfield was closed in 1974, and in 1989 Congress voted to close the entire base. The Presidio was formally transferred to the National Park Service in 1994, and shortly thereafter the transformation back to a more natural state began.
Planes lined up at Crissy Field in the 1920s / Wikipedia
Crissy Lagoon today / Photo by David Assmann
Converting a former military installation to a pristine park involved raising millions of dollars, removing thousands of tons of debris, and planting more than 100,000 native plants. Golden Gate Bird Alliance played a role in the restoration as one of the key environmental groups consulted in developing the environmental assessment for the restoration.
Today the 18-acre Crissy Field Lagoon provides a rich habitat for shorebirds, wading birds, and ducks. It has its own seasonal rhythm, as regular as the tidal flows, but on a different time scale. The summer is the slow season on the lagoon, but there are still plenty of birds.…

Editor’s Note: Autumn brings the return of many beloved Bay Area birds like White-crowned Sparrows. Where have they been all summer? This article by an Audubon Alaska staffer provides a vivid glimpse not just of where they go, but of the native people who welcome them there… and why we need to protect their summer home.

By Susan Culliney 

As the Policy Associate for Audubon Alaska, I recently spent five days in remote Arctic Village at the biannual Gwich’in Gathering. The Gwich’in are a First Nation of aboriginal people from the Yukon River flats of northwestern Alaska and Canada’s Yukon and Northwest territories. They gather every other year to maintain ties with family and friends, to keep their traditional food, dance, and language alive and thriving, and to tend to the governance and resolutions of their Native nation.

In 1988, the Gwich’in Nation resolved to stand strong against drilling in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The coastal plain is the calving grounds for the Porcupine Caribou herd, which the Gwich’in rely on for their food security and cultural identity. Drilling activities in the coastal plain would interrupt caribou migration patterns, as well as impact denning polar bears and thousands of migratory birds. I attended this year’s gathering initially to represent Audubon’s support in this important campaign, but I also came away with an enriched understanding of the ties that bind these people so intimately to their birds, wildlife, and landscape.

2016 Gwich’in Gathering in Arctic Village, Alaska / Photo by Susan Culliney Boats docked at Arctic Village, on the edge of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge / Photo by Susan Culliney

Arctic Village, called Vashraii Koo by the people who live there, is nestled in the embrace of the foothills of the Brooks Range. The village is hugged on three sides by the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which spreads to the north, west, and east in huge swaths of wilderness, dramatic terrain, and lakes and streams dotted with waterbirds. A few houses and buildings congregate here on high ground, surrounded by the tundra and the East Fork of the Chandalar River. Is the land empty or is it full? It depends on how you value the resounding silence, the unapologetic open space, and the timeless wildlife dramas that play out against a backdrop of unrestrained freedom.

Though the land appears motionless, caribou move in giant patterns across the tundra.…