GOLDEN GATE NATIONAL RECREATION AREA

Description

Essentials about the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in brief

The Golden Gate National Recreation Area is a so-called “National Recreation Area” managed by the National Park Service around San Francisco Bay. Covering over 33,000 acres, the area is 2½ times the size of the city and county of San Francisco, making it one of the largest and most visited urban parks in the world.

The grounds of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area

The recreation area does not consist of one contiguous area, but extends over subareas from northern San Mateo County to Marin County in the south and also includes various subareas of San Francisco. The Golden Gate National Recreation Area was established by U.S. President Nixon in 1972. With available capital, land has been purchased over the years from the U.S. Army, private landowners, and industry, such as Alcatraz Island, Fort Mason military base, and the coastal Marin Headlands. Because of its more than 2,000 plant and animal species and unique landscape that stretches 95 kilometers along the Pacific coast, UNESCO declared the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and 12 other adjacent protected areas a biosphere reserve in 1988.

The north side of San Francisco Bay

On the north side of San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area includes the dark forests of Muir Woods National Monument with its giant coast redwoods, idyllic Olema Valley with its idyllic meadows and forests, gorgeous Stinson Beach and the Marin Headlands with its magnificent views of San Francisco, the Pacific Ocean and the bay.

The urban area of San Francisco

But even in the San Francisco metropolitan area itself, many areas are part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. These include the legendary prison island of Alcatraz, the huge Presidio, a former military site south of the Golden Gate Bridge, the beautiful city beaches of Baker Beach and Ocean Beach, the recreation area of Crissy Field and the rugged headland of Lands End.