Looking Back: Greenbelt Alliance Origins

Greenbelt Alliance * The Newswire
Volume 2, January 2003

After World War II, the San Francisco Bay Area underwent rapid growth and expansion that took the form of sprawling suburban developments, increasing traffic, and a loss of agriculture and open space. Local residents became concerned that poorly planned growth was eroding the sense of community and distinctive character of many Bay Area towns. Out of concern for these changes, representatives of various conservation, planning and recreation groups, including the Sierra Club, San Francisco Planning and Housing Association, and Marin Conservation League, met June 17, 1958 at the home of Dorothy Erskine in San Francisco. They formed a coalition known as "Citizens for Regional Recreation and Parks" (CRRP) to "exchange information, develop common policy on regional conservation issues, and conduct educational programs concerning the preservation of open space."

The first project undertaken by CRRP was to compile an inventory of the Bay Area's publicly owned, permanently protected open space. CRRP widely distributed this information throughout the Bay Area, and the inventory served as the basis for a 1959 conference entitled "Our Vanishing Open Space."

In addition to the open space inventory, CRRP organized regional opposition to a plan by the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) to sell 6,500 acres surrounding San Pablo Reservoir for housing developments. CRRP succeeded in blocking the sale of the land, which remains protected to this day. This was the first of many endangered open spaces throughout the Bay Area protected by CRRP, which evolved into Greenbelt Alliance.

Next month, read how Citizens for Regional Recreation and Parks helped protect Fort Funston and Fort Baker.

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