History of Emeryville Children & Nature

Emeryville Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee

Emeryville Children & Nature was born from the efforts of the Emeryville Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee. Committee members began discussing and recommending alternative park features in 2019, such as adding loose parts to a playground for creative play, and adding logs to our park lawns for sitting. While the city was unable to implement either at the time, the discussions led committee members to learning about nature playgrounds and the robust San Francisco Children & Nature program.

Davenport Park

In 2020, families living on the Emeryville marina petitioned for a "hybrid" nature playground for the playground being designed for Davenport Park. The idea was to have natural playground equipment in addition to standard playground equipment, which added to the committee's children and nature momentum, though such a design was not possible for the city at the time.

In early 2020, a fence was installed around Davenport Park in response to another petition signed by nearby families for a safe natural place for their children to play while the playground was still in the design phase. The enclosed park organically became a nature exploration area for children, though it was unfortunately often used as a dog park. Regardless, the natural area was still occasionally able to be used by local families, and a portion of the area was retained after the playground was complete, adding again to the momentum for a children and nature program in Emeryville. The area is still one of the few natural areas in Emeryville for children to explore, though it unfortunately lost three out of its five trees in the 2023 storms, a major loss to the park and the children.

Local families look forward to new trees for Davenport Park's natural area, as this one was lost in the 2023 storms along with two others at the park

Children & Nature Program Recommended to City Council

In the fall of 2022, the Emeryville Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee made an official recommendation to city council that they start an Emeryville Children & Nature program. The recommendation included a list of "low effort and low cost" preliminary actions that was developed in conjunction with city staff. The recommendation appeared to be well received by council, though city funds and staff time were still too limited to take any action.

The committee also determined in 2022 that a city-wide parks and nature survey would be necessary to confirm whether nature was actually a priority for residents, a requirement before implementing any related parks projects. A similar community input effort for Stanford Park was already underway, where it had been determined by a 2018 survey that plants and trees were a priority to residents. The efforts for Stanford Park were converted into a draft for a city-wide parks survey that is expected to come out in Spring 2024.

A Log for Stanford Park

The Emeryville Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee also voted in the fall of 2022 to recommend to city council that they add natural materials to a specific area at Stanford Park, including a log or stump, and/or a native plant. The recommendation was made to council in March 2023, on a stormy evening in which dozens of trees on the Marina would fall once again that winter. Design criteria for stable ground level logs and stumps was provided, as was San Francisco Children & Nature's plant list. This was not feasible for the city at that time, but ECN is now collaborating with the city on a Pilot Nature Exploration Area at this site.

The Emeryville Parks and Recreation Committee has requested that logs or stumps be placed at city parks for residents of all ages to sit and relax on

Emeryville Children & Nature is Founded

Members of the Emeryville Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee applied for an Emeryville Community Grant in early 2023 for a new organization, Emeryville Children & Nature, to be fiscally sponsored by Kala Art Institute. The organization received $4,050 in July 2023 to build a website, prepare a large Create-with-Nature kit for programming through the Emeryville Center for Community Life (ECCL), and to host at least one Nature Pop-up at ECCL or a city park. The grant projects are required to be completed by the end of June 2024. More information about these current projects can be found here.

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