By Alison Hawkes, Bay Nature
The Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the largest urban national park in the nation, contains many of our most beloved and familiar spots — Crissy Field, Alcatraz Island, Muir Woods — but it’s hardly a typical national park.
The park stitches together nearly two dozen distinct natural areas encompassing 80,000 acres from Marin to San Mateo counties, in one of the country’s most urbanized regions. In fact, it sees more visitors per year (18 million) than any other national park unit and that makes for some unique challenges, to put it lightly. Exhibit A: Just last week, the park released its long-awaited and controversial dog management plan, which puts new restrictions on off-leash dogs in favor of protecting areas for wildlife and visitors seeking pet-free experiences in nature.
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