The Friends of the Alameda Wildlife Reserve (FAWR) Committee works to create a better environment for our local wildlife throughout the City of Alameda.

Recent projects include:

  • Working with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to preserve and enhance wildlife populations and their habitat at a critical breeding site for the California Least Tern on the former Alameda Naval Air Station and its surrounding land, which we call the Alameda Wildlife Reserve.
  • Advocacy before City elected officials and commissions, the Bay Conservation and Development Committee, the Coastal Commission, and other agencies on proposed development projects, the creation of a new ecological park, a bird-safe buildings ordinance, and other matters. In our advocacy, we frequently
    partner with the Sierra Club and with CASA (Community Action for a Sustainable
    Alameda).
  • Monitoring and providing public field trips to the Bald Eagle nest site on Bay Farm Island, with the support of Greenway Golf, which manages Corica Park, the location of the nest site.
  • Monitoring Peregrine Falcons, Osprey, Double-Crested Cormorants, Great Blue Herons, Egrets and Harbor Seals at locations in Alameda.
  • Education and outreach to both adults and children through our Alameda Sun
    and Alameda Post articles, presentations to adult groups, programs for children,
    and other opportunities.
  • Supporting East Bay Regional Parks doing habitat restoration at Crown Beach.

FAWR was founded with the primary purpose of protecting the California Least Terns and other wildlife by designating over 500 acres in the former Naval Air Station as a federal wildlife refuge. While this became impossible, and the land was transferred to the Veterans’ Administration, we continue to work to preserve the birds and habitat on this land, which has increasingly become a refuge for a wide variety of birds and other wild creatures. We conduct twice-monthly bird surveys on the Reserve, provide volunteers for projects as needed by USFWS and monitor the terns during nesting. We have also conducted habitat restoration on the colony site. The committee is dedicated
to building public support for the reserve and to ensuring the long-term survival of species that depend upon its habitat, including the endangered California Least Tern and the Brown Pelican.

See the Least Terns: RETURN OF THE TERNS 2011, VIDEO FOOTAGE BY ALAN HARPER

If you would like to become a member of the Committee, learn more about what we do, or bring a project to our attention, please email fawr@goldengatebirds.org