A park long beloved by dogs and humans on San Francisco Bay in Richmond is scheduled to be partially closed starting in 2027 for a project that aims to make it more environmentally sustainable and more accessible.
The East Bay Regional Parks District’s North Point Isabel Cap Resilience Project at the Point Isabel Regional Shoreline calls for adding elevation to protect against sea level rise and to mitigate pollution resulting from toxic dumping. The EBRPD will create channels and introduce native plants to reduce soil erosion and filter sediment from stormwater before it enters the bay and will install a new trail network.
The project is garnering mostly praise from frequent park visitors, although some users have some reservations about fencing that will keep dogs away from mudflats frequented by waterfowl.
Ren Bates, the park district’s division lead of design and construction, told Richmondside in an email that, “The project was generated and required by the SF Regional Water Quality Board to improve water quality in the SF Bay,” and that, pending funding and permit approvals, it could begin in early 2027.
The project will temporarily close a large section of Point Isabel for an extended period of time. According to plans outlined in the park district’s report, the north section of the park, which accounts for about half of its approximately 43 acres, will have to be shut down for six to 24 months, “depending on soil source availability and weather.”
Lew Jacobson comes to the park twice a day with his dogs. He’s the board chair of Point Isabel Dog Owners & Friends (PIDO), a nonprofit that works with the park district to maintain Point Isabel’s off-leash access program. He told Richmondside that he thinks the inconvenience of the closure will be worth it.
“It’s going to take time,” Jacobson said. “But you can’t have dogs and heavy equipment at the same time. I think the future of off-leash walking in Point Isabel [depends on] this mitigation project.”
Plan to install fencing to keep dogs off mudflats sparks debate among some Point Isabel users
The project isn’t entirely without controversy. There’s disagreement within PIDO, which has more than 2,500 members, about plans to install permanent fencing that would prohibit water access along North Point Isabel McLaughlin Eastshore State Park to prevent dogs from disturbing mudflats and the shorebirds that use them. (The narrow Hoffman Channel that runs between the north and south sides will remain only fenced off on one side and will stay accessible to dogs.)
While the park district, PIDO’s leadership, and a local bird expert think the fencing is necessary to protect the park and its wildlife, some PIDO members think it will disturb the park’s beauty and that other methods should be used to keep dogs out of the mudflats, which they say rarely happens.
Everyone seems to agree on at least one thing: Point Isabel is a special place largely due to its welcoming nature toward dogs. The park district describes Point Isabel as “the most dog friendly park in the district” and states that “over one million visitors come to the park each year, most of them with their dogs.” While the district doesn’t allow dogs off-leash in many areas of most parks, Point Isabel is an exception. Special rules allow dogs to be off-leash throughout all of Point Isabel as long as they are within sight and control of their owners.
On a recent weekday morning, dozens of dogs were frolicking, wrestling, and fetching balls. A few swam in the waters of the San Francisco Bay and Hoffman Channel. It’s a scene that PIDO member Mary Barnsdale and her dogs Gracie, Gonzo and Corky savor. Barnsdale, who first came to the park about 45 years ago and still visits regularly, feels Point Isabel has been essential to her dogs’ development as they were “all rescued from unhappy circumstances.”
“They arrived at Point Isabel with trepidation and learned it’s a happy place,” Barnsdale said. “A lot of that has to do with people handing out dog treats. It’s trick-or-treat everyday.”
Barnsdale feels the welcoming community and open off-leash space has been good for her and her dogs. Point Isabel is where she’s met most of the people she currently knows in the area and it has allowed her dogs to “come into their own.”
“There’s a big difference between a dog who’s been able to set its own agenda and one who is always under tight control with few imaginative options,” said Barnsdale. “They grow; their personalities evolve.”
AJ Benham, a PIDO board member who’s been visiting Point Isabel since the 90s, also had kind words for Point Isabel.
“Where else can you go with this kind of acreage on the water and let your dog play off-leash?” Benham told Richmondside. “It’s just such a unique combination of a beautiful environment, dogs can play here, and everyone gets along, generally.”
Jacobson has been coming since the mid-80s. In addition to bringing his dog, he’s a bird enthusiast, photographer and nature lover who regularly takes photos at the park.
“There’s incredible views of San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, Marin, the marshlands and the birds,” Jacobson said.
EBRPD says project is to fix past environmental damage
While the park has a strong community of happy pup and human visitors, its stability could be tenuous. The park district’s project aims to mitigate the threats. Some of them date back to when Point Isabel was a dumping site for dangerous industrial waste; others have to do with sea level rise caused by the climate crisis.
Prior to the East Bay Regional Parks District acquiring control of Point Isabel in 1975, much of the site was used as a dump for industrial waste. The area used to be called Battery Point and during the 1950s and 1960s large quantities of battery casings were buried there while it was under the control of the Santa Fe Land Improvement Company.
Before that, lead from ammunition and explosives had been accumulating since at least the 1850s, when it was popular for bird hunting. In the early 1900s, a dynamite factory operated at Point Isabel. After that factory closed, it was used by a rifle club for target practice from the late 1930s to the late 1950s.
In 1980 the California Department of Fish and Game found widespread contamination at Point Isabel. So, the Contra Costa County Department of Health Services and the San Francisco Bay Water Control Board ordered Santa Fe Land Improvement to do a massive cleanup. The company started the 14-month cleanup project in 1985.
The company removed battery casings and contaminated soil, set up infrastructure to prevent lead from leaching into the bay and to monitor the site’s groundwater, brought in tons of specially prepared soil for a cap over the landfill, installed rocks to prevent shoreline erosion, and constructed a gravel road around the site.
According to PIDO, while the cleanup was happening, it worked with the park district to craft the rules that allowed it to become an off-leash park. PIDO has long helped maintain the site since then with monthly cleanups and other events, such as an Earth Day volunteer work party. (Its popular Halloween dog costume contest is set to take place on Sunday.)
Sam Goldsmith, a PIDO board member who first visited the park as a kid in the 1990s and now visits with his dog Dolma, said he’s recently become fascinated with the park’s history.
“As I started to really connect with the ways in which this place came to be what it is today, I’ve had a lot of appreciation for the footsteps that have walked here to make this happen,” Goldsmith said. “It’s far from inevitable that it would be the wonderful place that it is today.”
Both the cleanup project and PIDO’s continued efforts to support the park have shaped Point Isabel to be what it is today. But now that 1985 landfill cap has aged. Since the early 2020s, lead has been found in several spots throughout the park, which have been fenced off.
Invasive species also pose a hazard. Park users report that a species of invasive foxtail, which is known to spread in disturbed sites like landfills, have proliferated. These foxtails are dangerous to dogs, as they have sharp points that can bury into tissue, causing wounds and infections. Barry Snyder told Richmondside his dog inhaled a foxtail at the park, resulting in a $900 vet bill. Jacobson said such stories are not uncommon. During Richmondside’s visit, several dogs were wearing mesh head coverings to protect against the plant.
In recent comments that PIDO’s board of directors made to the park district, they praised the project, saying that it will “provide long-term, sustainable recreational use of the park and warning that “if North Point Isabel is subsumed by sea level rise, no one will have access.” They also state that “the clay cap over the former ‘Battery Point desperately needs repair in order to maintain safe use by everyone.” The board also said that “replacing the current brush with native plants and natural turf will be especially welcome,” and expressed optimism that this could “remediate a scourge to dog owners: foxtails.”
Fencing off mudflats is sticky issue for some Point Isabel users
The PIDO board’s comments on fencing were controversial for some PIDO members, who disagreed. The board said that while it wants to have more information on how the fence will look, they want it to be “as visually un-intrusive as possible.” Overall they support adding fencing, as it could prevent dogs from disturbing mudflats and shorebirds such as burrowing owls.
“PIDO recognizes that the lack of a physical barrier to the mudflats allows for a risk of canine incursion into the sensitive environment, despite PIDO’s efforts to educate the public about the rules regarding the mudflats,” PIDO’s comments read. “Long-term harmony between off-leash activities and the environmental resources is essential to maintain long-term dog access to the park as a whole.”
The proposed fencing would keep dogs from entering mudflats that are exposed during low tides, offering birds a foraging spot. Dogs would still have access to swim in San Francisco Bay, though the water there is often choppier. Bates, of the park district, told Richmondside that the fence would be 42-inches-high and made of ridged wire mesh with wood posts.
Barnsdale said she’s studied the park district’s project for years and largely agrees with the PIDO board’s comments, except for its stance on fencing, which she is vehemently against installing.
“Anyone who pays any attention to the project is going to love everything except the fence,” Barnsdale said.
Barnsdale called the fence proposal “overkill,” saying she rarely sees dogs enter the mudflats. She also worries that dog owners who prefer the calmer waters will simply go around the fence. She thinks additional fencing could make the park look “unfriendly.”
She suggested other methods of discouraging dogs from entering the mudflats, such as increasing fines for owners and putting up additional signs.
“I can’t believe this is such a crisis that they suddenly feel like they need to fence the whole area,” Barnsdale said. “If it were, you’d think they’d already have temporary fencing put up now, but that hasn’t happened. If you had a sign that said ‘$250 fine if your dog goes into the mud,’ you’d get results.”
Barnsdale isn’t the only PIDO member who disagrees with the fencing. Other PIDO members, such as Ellen Soohoo and David Emanuel have also been critical of it on PIDO’s Facebook page.
“A fence will take away from the magical views at Point Isabel Regional Shoreline,” Soohoo said in an email to Richmondside. “Dogs aren’t allowed in the mudflats and in the decades that I’ve been walking at Point Isabel almost every day, rain or shine, I have rarely seen one there. No person wants their dogs in that stinky mud anyways.”
Another PIDO member, Eileen Cohen, called the fencing proposal “an extreme over-reaction” in an email.
Bates told Richmondside the district has heard concerns about the fencing, but the district feels it’s necessary to protect shorebirds.
“[The park district] is aware of the concern about the proposed resource protection fencing and is open to discussing dog owners’ concerns,” Bates said. “The proposed alignments of fencing were determined by biologists to protect the most vulnerable habitat areas for shorebirds.”
Expert says even at high tide, dogs can disturb resting fowl
Whitney Grover, who holds a master’s degree in environmental management and is the director of conservation for the Golden Gate Bird Alliance, a not-for-profit that “is dedicated to protecting Bay Area birds, other wildlife, and their natural habitats,” told Richmondside that she “would definitely support a fence” at Point Isabel.
“I definitely understand that some of our parks need to have off-leash dog areas but keeping dogs out of the most sensitive parts of the habitat I think is really important,” Grover said.
She pointed out that several species of birds, such as the marbled godwit, long-billed curlew, and black-necked stilt, regularly use the Richmond Inner Harbor shoreline and mudflats and said that it is especially important to protect the western burrowing owl, as it is currently under threat.
Last year the California Fish and Game Commission named the western burrowing owl as a candidate to potentially be listed under the California Endangered Species Act in part due to “permanent habitat loss caused by urbanization.”
Grover said she isn’t concerned about dogs killing birds but said that dogs flushing birds from their foraging areas harms them and that many of the birds that forage or rest at or near the mudflats are small and well-camouflaged, so dogs could unintentionally harm them. While dog owners opposed to the fencing said dogs rarely enter the mudflats at low tide, when they’re most visible, Grover said dogs entering the area at high tide can be dangerous as well, as birds resting in the rocks nearby can be easily disturbed.
Regardless of how people feel about fencing, Barnsdale told Richmondside she feels the park district should do more to inform the public about the project and solicit feedback. She wants to see more signs about the project and representatives from the district at the park talking to the public, as “people who have been going there everyday probably have some useful ideas.”
Bates said the district is in regular contact with PIDO “to provide updates on the project” and posted all legally required signage related to it. The district had a little over a monthlong public comment period that wrapped up on Oct. 20 but many appear not to have known about it. When Richmondside visited the park earlier this month and talked to four regular park users, none of them had heard about the project. Bates didn’t answer when Richmondside asked if there would be other opportunities for public input.
One park user who talked with Richmondside was Debra Grabelle. She was throwing a ball into the water along the north side of the park for her dog Basco. When told about the proposed fence to protect shorebirds, Grabelle said if it’s important, she would support it.
Grabelle called Point Isabel “amazing” and said that it’s given Basco a place to “run and feel free,” and is a place where she’s found a supportive community.
Pointing to San Francisco Bay, Grabelle said, “I can have him swim over there; it’s OK. I’m more concerned with the bigger picture than him being able to catch the ball here.”
Good article about a complicated project that East Bay Regional Park District is going to do a great job on.
One thing missing is that the fencing controversy is about whether it’s necessary to fence THE ENTIRE SHORELINE of this beautiful park. It’s not–and it will make the park less attractive. (We saw that when the north bank of Hoffman Channel was fenced off, to prevent erosion of that bank and any release of lead.)
People and dogs can only enter the water or mudflats in two small places. Along the rest of the shoreline, access is already too difficult because of the boulders and steep bank. The recapping project will raise the peripheral path (a sea level rise measure)…which will make the bank steeper…which will mean it needs even more boulders. That will make access even more unlikely. And the boulders will look great, too.
Go for the natural-looking solution, EBRPD. We will love you even more for it.
Thanks for sharing this news. My dog and I enjoy it several times a week. I hadn’t heard about this change. Doggie parents also need to hear about Mudpuppies, a great to get a nail trim or full bath. Also, the Sit and Stay cafe that is open daily.
I would suggest that if they want to redirect dogs swimming at high tide at that sensitive habitat site, it would be wise to finally invest money for a human- and dog-accessible waterside entry, where it’s not dangerous or threatening with high waves and sharp rocky banks. Especially with climate warming effects like inland waters’ toxic algae growth and need to find cooling places for humans and dogs. I notice that EBRPD rarely places accessibility as a high priority for recreational opportunities; here’s a high impact opportunity for the many who walk dogs at PI because of very limited accessible offleash walking elsewhere across the park system, as well as others who cannot safely w swim their dogs elsewhere. Over a million visitors warrant investment too!