Water-trail activists possess a distinct vision

Paul McHugh, Chronicle Outdoors Writer
Thursday, July 5, 2007

Gaze over the 470 square miles of San Francisco Bay. If you see only water, you might lack what the first President Bush called "the vision thing." Others have looked upon that vast, shimmering blue expanse and imagined a network of launch points, campsites and destinations that -- taken together -- could form a Bay Area Water Trail. Such a recreational resource would serve the region's swelling numbers of sea kayakers, rowers and small-boat sailors, as well as dragon boat and outrigger canoe paddlers.

Well-loved and well-used water-trail systems now flourish in places like the coast of Maine and Seattle's Puget Sound. The bay water trail was a dream of local aquatic activists in the group Bay Access until 2005, when the Legislature passed a bill authorizing the trail's creation. Since then, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (usually referred to as BCDC) has taken the lead, and formulated a draft plan that's now being given to relevant agencies, and being made available for public comment as well.

One part of the bay that's easy to perceive is that it's almost entirely encircled by land. A famed wisecrack about real estate is, "They just aren't making it anymore." Well, that's particularly true around here. The BCDC was formed in the 1960s to rein in the filling of the bay -- which had been roaring along at a 4-square-mile per-year pace. Nowadays, with that infilling constrained, with our human population rising, and with the prospect of added recreational facilities on shore limited, our open bay waters are a logical place to turn to establish zones for public fun and games.

Since the water-trail project formally became authorized, this shift has begun to occur rapidly.

"We will mail out our draft plan on Friday, then meet with the Coastal Conservancy about it on July 16, and our own board on July 19. Both of those are public meetings," said Sara Polgar, the BCDC planner who has shepherded the project's progress. "We'll next take in comments and reviews, then send a final version to the Legislature in January. After environmental review, we should be able to kick off implementation by next spring."

Actually, builders of the Bay Area Water Trail won't be starting flat-footed. Polgar's research indicates that an informal water trail (of sorts) already exists. She lists 113 "backbone sites," presently available for incorporation in a water-trail system. These include 55 waterfront parks, 21 marinas/harbors and a like number of boat-launch ramps, four public access points, four wildlife refuges or reserves and eight private shoreline businesses.

Yet, obstacles to linking these points together in a user-friendly format are formidable. There are not many miles of open beach along the bay's 400 milelong shoreline. Most of it is filled with concrete seawalls, or the stacked rock and boulder barricades known as riprap.

The most attractive use of a bay water trail would be as a venue for multi-day excursions. However, that would require development of campground and lodging options -- among the hardest to create. Presently, only two boater camps exist: one at Kirby Cove on the Marin Headlands, the other in the state park on Angel Island.

For this grand scheme to work, an alphabet soup of agencies will need to cooperate, including (but not limited to) the National Park Service, the federal Fish and Wildlife Service, regional and county park systems and the state parks department.

Another major player is likely to be California's Department of Boating and Waterways, which has long nurtured a program for designing and building individual, "water-trail-type" facilities in spots along rivers and in selected harbors. Although that department is funded primarily by a gasoline tax on power boaters, it has shown itself eager to provide support for muscle-powered craft.

Projects in which Boating and Waterways has demonstrated useful expertise include: a small boat storage and shower facility in Santa Cruz harbor; a windsurfer and kayaker launch site at Seal Point Park in San Mateo; and a stream bank restroom for rafters on the Kings River. Guided by program manager Mike Ammon, the department also has perfected designs for low-freeboard floating docks and push-slab launch ramps -- both of which could proliferate on a bay water trail.

But no matter how creative, dedicated and cooperative these agencies might be, a water trail just won't float without the aid of citizen volunteers and site stewards. Public involvement is the force that has allowed the Washington and Maine water-trail projects to proceed, and succeed.

The Maine system, run by the Maine Island Water Trail Association, was launched when a coastal survey found that the state possessed an inventory of more than 1,000 unclaimed islands, rocks and sandbars. The current water trail links 100 sites for launch, day-use and camping along a 350-mile-long route. A good half of these are on private property, but the Maine association members, who number about 4,000, make the cooperative system work by providing volunteer cleanup days, site stewards, island adopters, and the like.

The Washington Water Trails Association is organized along similar lines. Its 1,400 members include some individuals in their 80s who began working on public-boating access after World War II. At present, the region offers: the Cascadia Marine Water Trail, which runs 140 miles from Canada to the south end of Puget Sound, and provides abundant camping; the Lakes-to-Locks Trail, with day-use access on the east side of the sound; the Willapa Bay Water Trail; and the Northwest Discovery Water Trail, which traces the nautical route taken by Lewis and Clark.

Washington association director Reed Waite hastened to point out that though many parts of these water trails are built, the projects are essentially an unending work in progress.

"We hope to achieve a safe pullout or campsite every 8 miles or so," Waite said. "We've got about 55 campgrounds, but we'll need 200 more before we can even think about calling it complete. And we have a goal of at least 10 more major waterfront parks on the sound."

Completed portions are available for aquatic vacations by out-of-state visitors -- especially those who are eager to start visualizing the possibilities for the San Francisco Bay Area.

Lest we forget: Long before there was gasoline, there was water. Small boats on water were humanity's top mode of travel for many millennia. It was French voyageurs adopting and adapting the Ojibwa birch-bark canoes who first opened North America to European trade and exploration.

And when Europeans finally reached California, they discovered in widespread use here the elegant tomols (sewn plank canoes) of the Chumash, the balsas (reed bundle boats) of the Ohlone and Miwoks, and the redwood dugouts of the Yuroks, Wiyot and Tolewa.

The builders of water trails might learn they've done more than provide a recreational resource. They are rebuilding the highways of humanity's past, restoring them as viable routes for future uses we might not be able to yet visualize.

Bay Access formed in 2002 to lobby for water-trail legislation. The group is poised to morph into a cooperating association for trail volunteers. Its Web site, bayaccess.org, is scheduled to go online this month. Meanwhile, contact President Penny Wells, (415) 459-8727 or kayakqueen@msn.com. Windsurfers and other small-craft sailors can contact Jim McGrath,

macmcgrath@comcast.net. Founding member Bo Barnes will guide the annual Sojourn tour of bay water-trail sites: Oct. 6-8 (paddle and campout on Angel Island), Oct. 13-14 (paddle to Brooks Island, barbecue and stay on Victory ship), Oct. 18-21 (hike Sonoma Creek, then paddle to bay). To reserve a berth on these trips, contact Barnes at Bobo3@rcn.com.

SFBCDC (San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission) is the lead agency in bay water-trail planning. Its Web site title page, www.bcdc.ca.gov, has a link under "Special Programs" on the left side to the water-trail project, and on the right to a Shoreline Access Web Guide -- a marvelously interactive map of the greater Bay Area. The July 19 meeting on the water-trail starts at 1 p.m., at the Metro Center Auditorium in Oakland, at 101 8th St. (close to Lake Merritt BART station).

The California Department of Boating and Waterways can provide information on recreational resource work across the state. At dbw.ca.gov, click on "facilities" on the left, and then "facilities projects blogs," on the right.

The California Coastal Conservancy meeting on July 16 begins at 9 a.m., at 1330 Broadway (11th floor), Oakland. The water-trail report is only one agenda item, and there will be an executive summary. (510) 286-4182, or www.coastalconservancy.ca.gov

Other water trails: Get user information about the Maine coastal water trail at mita.org, and about the Washington water trails at wwta.org/index2.asp

E-mail Paul McHugh at pmchugh@sfchronicle.com.

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This article appeared on page D - 8 of the San Francisco Chronicle