Crissy Field

Coordinates: 37°48′15″N 122°27′35″W / 37.8042°N 122.4597°W / 37.8042; -122.4597
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Crissy Field and the San Francisco skyline in 2011. The remaining structures of the former USCG Fort Point Life Boat Station (LBS) are in the foreground.
Aerial view of Crissy Field 1922–23, hangars and quarters in lower center. The H-shaped building at right center is the enlisted barracks.

Crissy Field is a public recreation area on the northern shore of the San Francisco Peninsula in California, United States, located just east of the Golden Gate Bridge. It includes restored tidal marsh and beaches.[1]

Crissy Field is a former United States Army airfield which is now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Historically part of the Presidio of San Francisco, Crissy Field closed as an airfield after 1974. Under Army control, the site was affected by dumping of hazardous materials.[2] The National Park Service took control of the area in 1994 and, together with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy,[3] worked to restore the site until 2001, when the Crissy Field Center was opened to the public.[4] While most buildings have been preserved as they were in the 1920s, some have been transformed into offices, retail space, and residences.

History

The land Crissy Field resides on is an ancient 130 acres (53 ha)

Ohlone people used the area for harvesting shellfish and fish. They also lived in seasonal camps in the area, leaving behind shell middens in the archaeological record. The Spanish arrived in 1776 and called the area El Presidio. They began to use the area for livestock grazing and agriculture. The 127 acres (51 ha) marsh site was filled in during the 1870s.[5] This alteration was finished in time for the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition nearby.[6] The U.S. Army took control of the Presidio in 1846, using the tidal wetland as a wasteland for dumping and draining. After filling in the marshlands, the Army covered over it and created an aerodrome.[2]

Air Service and Air Corps facility

Major Dana H. Crissy on December 20, 1917, at the School of Military Aeronautics of Princeton University

During

racetrack was already in use as an aviation field. Although the wartime appropriations were reduced by the end of the war, demolition of buildings posing a landing hazard began in the fall of 1919.[7]

The east–west clay and sand landing field was

George H. Brett, in October.[11]

In the early years, Crissy Field involved mainly the viewing of artillery fire,

U.S. Air Mail. The first Western aerial forest fire patrols took place from Crissy Field.[8]

General aviation takeoff at Crissy Field in 1972

The first successful

Albert Hegenberger flew non-stop to Hawaii in the Bird of Paradise, a specially modified transport plane, after staging at Crissy Field.[8]

Originally, Crissy Field was considered ideal for air operations. However, wind and fog often made for poor flying conditions, construction of the

Hamilton Field opened in Marin County, and while Crissy Field ceased to be a first-line air base, air operations continued until the 1970s.[8]

After the air corps and closure

When the air corps left, the administration building served as the headquarters for the

Military Intelligence Service Language School. Nisei soldiers were also trained as battlefield interpreters, as well.[8]

After World War II a paved runway replaced the grass landing field and the Sixth Army Flight Detachment used Crissy Field for light utility and passenger planes, and helicopter operations. During the Vietnam war the Army used Crissy Field for liaison flights and

MedEvac flights to transport wounded Vietnam soldiers 40 miles (64 km) from Travis Air Force Base to the Presidio's Letterman Army Hospital, a trip by ambulance on surface roads would take too long and possibly be delayed by traffic into San Francisco. At the end of the Vietnam war in 1974 the Army closed Crissy Field to airplanes, though helicopter operations continued for several years.[8]

As part of a national reduction in the number of functioning military bases, the Army decommissioned the Presidio in 1994, leaving Crissy Field “a jumble of asphalt and forsaken buildings” in the hands of the National Park Service."[12]

National Park Service

Crissy Field in 2007. The structures at right were the quarters of the Coast Guard Station, and the seaplane hangar is in the background.

In 1994 the National Park Service (NPS) took over the Presidio, and Crissy Field was declared a "derelict concrete wasteland" by NPS. Due to environmental concerns about the former airfield, NPS and the

Environmental Protection Agency used funds to monitor the area's chemical, biological and physical variables. NPS eventually worked with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy to revitalize the area and the Crissy Field Center was opened to the public in 2001.[2][4]

Restoration

San Francisco landscape architecture firm Hargreaves Associates was in charge of restoration of Crissy Field. The principal landscape architects were George Hargreaves and Mary Margaret Jones. Hargreaves and Jones advocated an "ecological approach to planning, the preservation and restoration of natural systems, and the notion of sustainable landscape."[13] During the planning stages of the project, Hargreaves and Associates participated in public meetings and feedback session to interface with the local community.[14]

The largest contribution for the restoration of Crissy Field came from the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. and Harold and Mimi Haas Foundations, totaling $18 million ($13.5 million from the Haas Jr. Fund and $4.5 million from Colleen and Robert Haas),[15] surpassing the NPS's $16 million.[16] Pledged in 1997 this grant was the largest cash gift in National Park Service history at that time.[15] The rest of the money came from members of the public. Some 2,400 people made donations towards the $34.4 million raised for Crissy Field, of which 2,200 were $100 or less. The Haas Fund granted an additional $1.5 million in 2007 and $2.5 million in 2015.[15]

Crissy Field Center

Experts handled specialized work such as the design and construction process, removal of hazardous materials, and testing and monitoring of the estuary and marsh, but those parts of the project that could be shared were delegated to the wider community of stakeholders. Approximately 3,000 volunteers, ranging from neighbors to elementary students, spent 2,400 hours planting 100,000 plants representing 73 native species.[17]

Crissy Field presented the challenge of the “restoration of a culturally significant grass military airfield” overlapping much of the same landscape as the tidal marsh, affecting “the ability to restore the marsh to the pre-military configuration, to an idealized ‘natural’ condition."[18] In order to create the new site, 87,000 tons of hazardous materials were removed from the site itself and the tidal wetlands were redesigned to simulate the wetlands that existed before the military appropriated the site and used the area as a dump and landfill location. The site provides great views of the San Francisco bay area, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge.[19]

The completed Crissy Field reopened in 2001. New and rebuilt sidewalks, boardwalks, and trails connect the field north to Fort Point, the Warming Hut (a cafe), and south to the Crissy Field Center, an environmental education center, and the Marina District.

Today

Crissy Field is now part of an urban national park, which, due to its location and scenic views, is visited by both locals and tourists.

Features

  1. West Bluff — the westernmost part of Crissy Field, which includes a picnic area, the Warming Hut cafe, and connector paths and trails to the
    Fort Point
    .
  2. Beach and dunes — the shoreline along Crissy Field has been restored, including the creation of sand dunes which provide habitat for several native species.
  3. Promenade and trails — The Golden Gate Promenade runs from the Crissy Field Center adjacent to the beach to the Warming Hut. This is also a section of the San Francisco Bay Trail, which runs along the coast of the San Francisco Bay.
  4. Newly restored tidal wetlands — The restored tidal marsh now[when?] hosts 17 fish species and 135 species of birds have been seen there. Around the tidal marsh, native vegetation has been planted and a boardwalk across the marsh has been constructed, providing views of the wildlife.[20]
  5. Crissy Field Center — An environmental education center for youth that provides school-year and summer programs.[20]
  6. Cross Country Course — Home to the USF Men's and Women's cross country teams.[21]
  7. Warming Hut Park Store — Shop with books, souvenirs, drinks and snacks for sale. Purchases support the Parks Conservancy and Crissy Field Center.[22]

Mark di Suvero Sculptures

In May 2013,

SFMOMA, in partnership with the National Park Service and Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, displayed eight of Mark di Suvero
's sculptures on Crissy Field.

Panoramic image of Crissy Field with the Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin Headlands seen in the background

See also

References

  1. ^ "Crissy Field Marsh and Beach - Presidio of San Francisco". U.S. National Park Service. Archived from the original on December 24, 2007. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "Crissy Field". Nature & Science. National Park Service. 2010. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
  3. ^ "History of the Parks Conservancy". Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. October 25, 2017. Retrieved February 5, 2019.
  4. ^ a b "About Crissy Field Center". About the Center. Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. Archived from the original on November 27, 2011. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
  5. ^ Boland, Michael. “Crissy Field: A New Model for Managing Urban Parklands.” Places July (2003): 40.
  6. ^ "Sustainable Wetland Design and Management at Crissy Field". Philip Williams & Associates Ltd. 1996. Archived from the original on November 20, 2006. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  7. ^ Haller (1994), pp. 13-15
  8. ^ a b c d e f "Crissy Field". History & culture. National Park Service. 2007. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
  9. ISBN 0-912799-38-2
    , page 31.
  10. ^ Haller (1994), p. 20
  11. ^ Haller (1994), pp. 22 and 25
  12. ^ Raine, George. “Back to Nature: After Years of Neglect, Crissy Field re-emerging as urban park.” The San Francisco Examiner, September 26, 1999, 1.
  13. ^ "Philosophy". Hargreaves Associates. Archived from the original on January 24, 2012.
  14. ^ Jaynes, Carla and Yennga Thi Khuong. “Financing Methods for Improving and Securing Public Spaces.” (New York: Arup, 2010.)
  15. ^ a b c Evelyn; Haas, Walter; Street, Jr Fund 114 Sansome; Francisco, Suite 600 San; Fax856-1500, California 94104 Telephone856-1400 (June 25, 2015). "Crissy Field". Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund. Retrieved February 5, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ "2002 Award Winners: Crissy Field: San Francisco, California". ASLA Online. Archived from the original on December 7, 2002. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  17. ^ "Search" (PDF). Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. Archived from the original on July 6, 2010.
  18. ^ Rieder, Kirt. “Crissy Field: tidal marsh restoration and form,” in Manufactured Sites: Rethinking the Post-Industrial Landscape ed. Niall Kirkwood. (New York: Spon Press, 2001): p.194
  19. ^ Reed, Peter. Groundswell: Constructing the contemporary landscape
  20. ^ a b "Crissy Field Center". Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. 2020. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
  21. ^ "Crissy Field". usfdons.com. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  22. ^ "Warming Hut Park Store". Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. December 12, 2017. Retrieved May 21, 2021.

External links


37°48′15″N 122°27′35″W / 37.8042°N 122.4597°W / 37.8042; -122.4597

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Crissy_Field&oldid=1127630278"