Press Coverage

The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy is in the news! Read the latest coverage about the Parks Conservancy and our work below. Check out our Press Room for press releases and more about the Parks Conservancy, or contact us directly at media@parksconservancy.org.

Sunlight shines through canopy at Muir Woods
San Francisco Chronicle

"One of the small natural miracles in this part of the world is just an autumn rainstorm away." As part of Redwood Renewal at Muir Woods, the National Park Service (NPS) and its partners are helping undo the damage of the past and restore habitat for the federally endangered coho salmon.

Tree canopy showing gaps that let light in.
KneeDeep Times

The Marin Regional Forest Health Strategy is the latest in a series of studies going back to One Tam’s Peak Health inventory of 2016, and the first to look beyond the greater Mount Tamalpais area to cover the entirety of Marin, including private lands. KneeDeep Times, "the Bay Area's climate resilience magazine," investigates.

Jolene Babyak stands on the parade grounds on Alcatraz Island in front of reporters.
NBC Bay Area

October 26, 2023 marked 50 years of tourists visiting Alcatraz Island, the notorious former maximum security federal prison-turned-national park. NBC Bay Area got an insider's vantage point from Jolene Babyak, a Bay Area author who was raised on the island while her father worked at the prison.

The Alcatraz Historic Gardens with the Power Plant seen in the background.
KTVU

The former federal prison at Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay marks 50 years as part of the National Park System on Thursday, October 26, 2023.

John Cantwell talks to reporters on Alcatraz Island.
New York Times

To mark 50 years of Alcatraz Island being opened to the public, the National Park Service with the Parks Conservancy and Alcatraz City Cruises hosted a celebration on the island.

View of wind turbines and solar panels from atop an Alcatraz cruises boat.
The San Francisco Standard

Alcatraz has so many layers of history: military base, federal prison, site of Native resistance, bird sanctuary. The 22-acre island in the San Francisco Bay continues to generate speculation and ink, creativity and reflection.

A Ferruginous Hawk is captured flying past Hawk Hill in November of 2016.
KALW Local Public Radio

For nearly 40 years, the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory at the Parks Conservancy has collaborated with the National Parks Service to track the migratory patterns of these birds – collectively known as raptors – with the mission of inspiring their preservation throughout California.

A sunset view overlooking Lands End, the ruins of Sutro Baths, and the ocean.
The San Francisco Standard

Sutro Lands End Partners, LLC has been awarded a 20-year lease for the former Cliff House restaurant space, which is inside Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The partners will revive the space as well as the café inside the Lands End Visitors Center operated by the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.

Fog rolling over forest at Mount Tamalpais
The Mercury News

A task force commissioned by Gov. Newsom has unveiled a new online tool that it says will provide a first-of-its-kind map showing all forest and fire prevention work completed in California. 

“The dashboard that the task force has developed is very much in line with the types of tools we’ve been developing regionally to support cross-jurisdictional and landscape-level projects,” Danny Franco, senior project manager with the Parks Conservancy, said.

Nicki Phelps stands on Alcatraz Island with a view of San Francisco behind her.
National Park Service

Nicki Phelps, Vice President of Visitor Programs and Services at the Parks Conservancy, was the recepient of the 2022 James V. Murfin Award for Cooperating Associations and Partnerships which recognizes individuals who have made significant and lasting contributions to improve and strengthen the 100-year partnership between the National Park Service and cooperating associations.

Fern Creek Trail
SF Gate

The main entrance to Muir Woods, which features the Muir Woods Visitor Center, is on Muir Woods Road — a winding road down to the valley floor from Panoramic Highway above. While you do need a Muir Woods parking reservation if you want to park your car in the lot at the entrance, you don't need a reservation to actually enter Muir Woods. 

Staff and volunteers at the Presidio Native Plant Nursery.
ABC 7

At the Presidio Nursery, Parks Conservancy staff raise trees and other native plants from samples collected in the Presidio. When they grow, these plants provide natural habitat for local pollinators, making it possible for more insects to thrive and birds to nest, making the Presidio's ecosystem more resilient to climate change.