Celebrating the Golden Gate National Parks
(l to r) Craig Middleton, Presidio Trust; Greg Moore, Golden Gate
View the Guide online.National Parks Conservancy; Frank Dean, National Park Service and
Charles Birnbaum, The Cultural Landscape Foundation.
San Francisco is home to an exceptional number of talented landscape architects, designers, and others who have all designed projects for the Golden Gate National Parks – their collective achievements and the skilled stewardship of the park system by the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, The Presidio Trust and the National Park Service were the focus of several events in early April.
On Thursday, April 4, Stewardship Excellence Awards were given to the three park stewards at an elegant reception at the Bently Reserve attended by more than 225 people. TCLF Board Members Rene Bihan and Alexis Woods are the organizational geniuses that pulled together the event – the Honorary Chair was Rep. Nancy Pelosi and the event raised more than $46,000 for TCLFs educational programs, including two that were launched that evening. Unveiled that evening was a new 30-minute YouTube video about the park system produced by the SWA Group – extensive thanks go to Tom Fox – and the lavishly illustrated guide What’s Out There Golden Gate National Parks, which has been donated for sale at the park’s gift shops with proceeds to benefit the 
San Francisco Excursionpark system. In addition to the SWA Group, TCLF is grateful to the other four generous sponsors, including lead gifts from Valley Crest, Kay and Frank Woods, Fisher Development, and Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects.
Following the launch of the book and video, a sold-out, exclusive tour of recently completed projects within the Golden Gate National Parks took place on Saturday, April 6, featuring John Skibbe from the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and Michael Boland and Tia Lombardi of The Presidio Trust, along with many of the leading landscape architects practicing in the Bay Area today including Marta Fry of Marta Fry Landscape Associates, Alain Peauroi from Surfacedesign, Stephen Wheeler of Stephen Wheeler Landscape Architects and Willett Moss from CMG Landscape Architecture. The day also included a specially created lunch at Greens restaurant in Fort Mason, and concluded at the home of pioneering Modernist landscape architect Thomas Church.
The San Francisco Chronicle ran an extensive article prior to the reception and tours and followed up with an article about the reception and What’s Out There guide.
