23 Sep We Belong Outdoors: Bay Area Groups Confront Inequity, Make Nature More Accessible for All

Hikers take part in a Mental Health Hike at Wildcat Gorge Trail in Berkeley on Aug. 10. The monthly hikes are organized by The Black Neighborhood, a Bay Area nonprofit that emphasizes the healing power of the outdoors, fostering a sense of community and resilience. (Autumn DeGrazia / Bay City News)

Bay City News / LocalNewsMatters.org

Breaking through the thick marine fog at Wildcat Gorge Trail in North Berkeley, hikers — new and seasoned, young and wise — arrive to meet at the Tilden Park Merry-Go-Round nearby, ready with their hydration packs, dogs and in one case even a pet ball python.

“Everyone, take a moment,” interrupted Cory Elliott, CEO/president and co-founder of The Black Neighborhood, a nonprofit organization in Oakland dedicated to uplifting and empowering the Black community, who led with a mindfulness exercise before starting “Mental Health Hike #46” on Aug. 10.

“As you’re breathing, try to think about where you are. Try to let go of everything from yesterday. During this hike, we want you to look up. Please, look up, and look around. Look at where we are. We are no longer in Oakland. We’re no longer in the Bay Area. We are in the land of God — or whoever you may believe in. And this is our land. This is everyone’s land, and we are here to enjoy it, protect it and take up space.”

Although it’s a common belief that nature is the great equalizer, the Bay Area’s great outdoors often mirrors its difficult history of systemic inequality, revealing who gets access to nature and who doesn’t.

Widespread barriers – gentrification, public transit availability, physical accessibility and historical hostility to people of color in some regions — overlap with issues that reveal deeper patterns of cultural alienation and marginalized voices that continue to persist in the Bay Area.

“We’ve had just uninformed folks asking, ‘Why are you here? What are you doing? A lot of people don’t realize how unwelcoming outdoor spaces can be,” said Aimee Good, executive director of San Francisco-based Environmental Traveling Companions. The nonprofit works to ensure that people with disabilities and underserved youth aren’t just invited to nature but feel fully supported to explore a range of outdoor recreational activities.

A number of Bay Area groups are confronting outdoor inequity in different ways, from expanding access to natural parks to bringing new green spaces to the urban community.

The Black Neighborhood, for example, was founded in Oakland in 2016 with a focus on youth development through mentorships, domestic violence prevention workshops, policy advocacy, plus more.

During the height of COVID-19 and a renewed sense of injustices toward Black communities, The Black Neighborhood began taking on the outdoors with its expression “We Black Outside.” The program, which put a priority on Black mental health, sought to reclaim space historically denied to many African Americans due to institutional and social hurdles.

Throughout the hike at Wildcat Gorge Trail, The Black Neighborhood volunteers emboldened hikers to engage in self-care through nature. At nearly every mile on the trail, hikers stopped and took deep breaths to “de-stress, be friendly and let your guard down.” Although headphones were allowed, hikers were also strongly advised to “listen to nature.”

“Our participants are usually very floored by the feeling, they’re in the emotions and the spirituality of connecting with nature,” said Elliott, who noted the hikes average roughly 150 participants and vary in proximity and difficulty. Past hikes have exposed participants to rich terrains with redwoods, lakes and the oceans; wild animals such as elk, and areas ranging from Stinson Beach, Marin, Skyline, and beyond.

“Out of 100, at least 45% of them are brand new to hiking … people are so appreciative that we are helping them immerse themselves in nature in a way that they feel comfortable,” said Elliott.

Among those newcomers during “Mental Health Hike #46” in the Gorge were Oakland residents David Clay and Adriane Clay.

“My wife doesn’t get out much,” said David, “but she’s a social bug. It’s about her getting out with a big group of folks, it’s about the community and it’s been encouraging.”

“It’s been about extending that olive branch,” said their daughter Daneya Clay, who has been actively volunteering with The Black Neighborhood for the past three years. “Bring your community here, you’re safe to see your community outside.”

People come from different Bay Area cities to participate in the Neighborhood’s monthly hike, like returning participants and longtime friends Reiko Riley from San Mateo, and Erica Lindsay from Fairfield, who remind others that spaces in nature create lasting memories.

“This was the best gift that she’s ever given me,” said Lindsay, who reflected on the first time Riley brought her out on a hike. “I’ve just been so blessed.”

Since then, they’ve participated in about 13 hikes with the Neighborhood, and their favorite trails so far include Stinson Beach and Alamere Falls north of Bolinas in Marin County.

As a part of their tradition, the two meet up to park in Emeryville, then board an AC Transit bus together to arrive at a Black Neighborhood hike.

In Oakland, getting around without a car can exacerbate discrimination shaped by urban planning that has often neglected non-driving populations.

AC Transit, which serves the western portions of Alameda and Contra Costa counties, reports its average weekday ridership was approximately 123,000 during the 2023-24 fiscal year. But while AC Transit connects much of the East Bay, direct routes to regional parks or beaches are limited and reaching these destinations often requires multiple transfers on different transit agencies whether it’s BART or other regional shuttles.

While carpooling is always suggested as a solution, Riley and Lindsay’s bus-pooling offers another perspective on mobility as a shared experience, where the journey to the Gorge can be just as fun and communal as the hike itself.

For The Black Neighborhood, building connections that cross experiences, backgrounds, and circumstances isn’t limited to a select few, but to everyone who needs it.

Elliott envisions expanding experiences — like developing water safety skills, swimming, CPR, marathons, fishing trips, youth and adult camping — so community members feel prepared and confident in nature.

Through The Black Neighborhood, outdoor access is viewed as more than just recreation; it is an act of self-preservation, healing and land reclamation for communities where obstacles often remain.

GIVING BACK TO THE LAND IN SONOMA COUNTY

That relationship to land, rooted with care and ownership, speaks differently just another county north over at LandPaths, a nonprofit dedicated to making conservation and its rich environmental heritage in Sonoma County available to everyone.

Formed in 1996, LandPaths saw a turning point about a decade later when its executive directors recognized that their participants were predominantly white and middle-class.

They changed their approach to increase diversity and inclusion in a range of efforts that included expanding access beyond traditional demographic groups and developing culturally relevant programming to welcome underrepresented communities, including a targeted outreach to the Latino community. LandPaths began offering programs like community gardens, free or low-cost outdoor recreation, and scholarships for youth camps, all of which continue today.

“We’re not scaling up … getting bigger isn’t always the best approach, because that can lead to lower quality, lower impact, a sort of diluted programming,” said LandPaths communications director Leilani Clark. “But by giving back to the land, you grow to love it more, and you want to take care of it. It becomes a reciprocal relationship.”

LandPaths manages seven preserves in Sonoma County that are permanently protected from further development, but it particularly invites families to its two-acre community garden, Bayer Farm, that’s been a collaboration with the city of Santa Rosa for the past 18 years. There, families grow and harvest together, share stories, and plant cultural roots as the garden changes throughout seasons.

A sense of belonging is defined differently here — by growing food, using hands to tend the earth, and passing on knowledge through stewardship.

On Aug. 1, LandPaths hosted “Let’s Read Outside/Leamos Afuera” at Bayer Farm. During the event, the Huerta family proudly displayed the fruits of hard work at what they call their “second home” with 20 years of dedicated crop cultivation.

Cornelio Huerta showed off his pride-and-joy crops with the skills he acquired from his father and has passed on to his own son, Daniel, who also grows beans, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, and much more.

“I love being in contact with nature,” said Cornelio’s wife, Luz Huerta, who said she routinely finds herself urging others to go outside if and when they can. “I work with families with small children and always have information to help them get outside and share information about LandPaths. But a lot of people aren’t able to because Latino families are always busy working.”

Encouragement to “go outside” and “connect” can sometimes feel complicated and less like leisure and more like luxury. For some, like the Huerta family, it feels enriching to tend a small humble plot of land with ancestral ties to agriculture. And the parents are grateful they’ve been able to keep those bonds alive for their children, Leslie and Daniel, who have fond memories of growing up and running around the farm.

But while the Huertas have succeeded in sharing their love for outdoor activities with their children, Luz said she recognizes that it isn’t so easy for many others. She noted that some potential participants see outdoor recreation as self-indulgent. As LandPaths’ mission shifted to be more inclusive and less of an activity associated with status and class, the group encountered more than a few people who felt they couldn’t afford it while working to make ends meet or who just didn’t relate to hiking and other outdoor activities.

That’s where LandPaths’ new audience manager Danny Chaparro comes in with a background in working with youth case management long enough to recognize hurdles and to try to open doors, whether it’s with a group of 20 to Yosemite National Park for the very first time or to Grove of Old Trees, LandPaths’ 40-plus-acre redwood sanctuary.

“My experience working with at-risk youth, I’ve had to deal with a lot, with kids getting stereotyped and myself included,” said Chaparro.

One of his initiatives through LandPaths is Stand for the Land, a program supported by a three-year grant secured by the city, that helps at-risk youth exposed to youth or gang violence in collaboration with Santa Rosa schools, Santa Rosa High School’s Restorative Resources staff and the Santa Rosa Violence Prevention Partnership. Chaparro has been able to use his professional networks to better serve LandPaths’ monthly outdoor adventures by reducing financial barriers with the help of partners.

“I lead with curiosity with everything. If I can be myself around youth and families and combine that with outdoors, I just need to hype it up and get them curious,” Chaparro said.

LINKING LATINOS TO OUTDOOR RECREATION

Another group that wants to encourage a diverse mix to feel welcome outside is Latino Outdoors.

A national nonprofit organization based out of San Francisco, Latino Outdoors centers its mission around “getting Latino community members to connect and engage in the outdoors and embrace cultura y familia as part of the outdoor narrative, ensuring our history, heritage, and leadership are valued and represented.”

The 2020 U.S. Census reported nearly 1.9 million Hispanic or Latino residents in the Bay Area. For groups like LandPaths and Latino Outdoors, that presence shapes more than demographics, it informs the languages spoken at picnic tables, the meals shared so that everyone is fed and the need for park information in Spanish.

Latino Outdoors hosts a variety of activities that range from climbing, queer caminata, native plant nursery days, dancing bachata, and more. All gear is provided by the organization: sleeping bags, tents, sleeping pads, backpacks — it can all add up.

Depending on funding, shuttle buses are sometimes available to take participants out to places like Muir Woods, or to a more urban outing in Vallejo.

“Our goal is just to connect people to people, and people to place,” said Aurora Cortes, Latino Outdoors’ Bay Area regional coordinator. “I’ve seen people that don’t know each other come to our outings, and they literally are like, the bestest of friends … genuine friendships have been born from outings.”

During Latino Outdoors’ “Sanos y Seguros” event at Quarry Lakes in Fremont on June 8, participants of all ages enjoyed a picnic by the lake and homemade tamales by the water. In addition to food on the tables, arts and crafts and outdoor materials such as maps of local trails are provided in Spanish.

Many participants come across Latino via Facebook events — frequently people looking for free, inclusive opportunities to go outside with families.

Single parent Kelly Madrigal and her 17-year-old son Nico Reyes have been attending Latino Outdoors events for about four years since she turned to the public library to look for low-cost activities she and her son could do on the weekends.

“Everyone can, and should, experience the outdoors. Doesn’t matter if you’re an immigrant or different,” Reyes said.

Nico was inspired by his experience with the group to take up his first summer role as camp counselor at the La Honda YMCA.

His experiences with Latino Outdoors made him confident of being able to show 11-year-olds about the outdoors, sharing his own excitement and knowledge.

Kelly Madrigal shared that joining LO’s outings with her son has improved her own mental health, with spending time outdoors with others and reconnecting with familiar faces, like Lillian Martinez.

Martinez, a Fremont resident who has participated with the group for the past five years, has enjoyed hiking with a diverse group — and being not only exposed to the land, but to its history.

“You learn about the Native Americans that were here,” said Martinez. “You appreciate the first peoples in the lands, the animals and the plants. It’s real informative for everyone, and I love it.”

A NEW PARK FOR URBAN AREA OPPORTUNITIES

While these groups encourage exploring nature, the reality is that not everyone in the Bay Area has the flexibility to leave the city.

For many, outdoor solutions can’t require a journey to a remote destination.

It can start within the city, where green spaces offer many of the same opportunities.

One such space that is new lies along the India Basin in San Francisco’s Bayview-Hunters Point. There, the city’s Recreation and Park Department has partnered with the Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit organization with a strong urban conservation focus, to develop the 10-acre India Basin Waterfront Park.

This park reflects a strong focus on public access, climate resilience, equitable development, habitat restoration, and community programming.

The cost of the park project is immense — $200 million — including $54 million from state funding, $29 million from the city’s 2020 Health and Recovery Bond, $25 million from philanthropists and more. After completing the first two phases — building out a 2.5-acre site at the southeast point of India Basin — the project unveiled accessible trails, native landscaping, viewing platforms, a restored historic shipwright’s cottage, a maker’s workshop, restored shoreline habitat, and a food pavilion. The last phase of the renovation of the 7.5-acre India Basin Shoreline Park and will combine with 900 Innes to become India Basin

Waterfront Park with improved amenities for the community such as a cookout terrace, an all-ages playground, two basketball courts and more.

TPL’s Bay Area Parks for People director Šárka Volejníková underscored the important relationship between developers and residents.

The project, she said, is one of the few parks in San Francisco that is guided by an “Equitable Development Plan,” that outlines the waterfront park plans while preserving the culture and identity of Bayview-Hunters Point, which was developed by members of the community and the project’s partners.

“Residents can recognize their own culture reflected in how the park was built, the artwork and the signs … acknowledging, representing, just carrying the cultural richness that’s already here,” said Volejníková. “An equitable development plan should be the new standard for park development to really address the needs of the community that go beyond recreation.”

Volejníková’s comment reflects the concern some feel that reinvigorating historically marginalized spaces can make “belonging” feel contested. Some residents of Bayview-Hunters Point worry that such projects can actually dilute the sense of community — potentially displacing people, jobs, resources and other opportunities when they’ve fought to keep these communities intact.

According to a 2023 “Bay Trail Equity Strategy” report from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, recreational amenities like trails and parks can contribute to rising property values and displacement pressure. Communities like East Palo Alto, San Leandro and parts of Hunter’s Point are already experiencing it.

“I don’t like feeling unwelcome in my neighborhood, especially when my neighborhood was deemed the San Francisco African American Arts and Cultural District,” said longtime Bayview-Hunters Point resident Latrice McNealy, who has noticed a change of demographics on the same streets she grew up on, feeling like a stranger in her own community. “To get the vibes and the negative looks that I’m getting from people who would never walk down Third Street, let alone live here, and to look at me and my kids in our space — that I deem is our space — and look at us like we’re not supposed to be here? It’s not right.”

At the groundbreaking of the India Basin Waterfront Park Project’s final phase on Aug. 19, the A. Philip Randolph Institute, an organization for African American trade unionists and a partner in the city’s project, and its executive director, Jacqueline Bryant, addressed San Francisco’s history of gentrification and concerns about lack of consistency.

“We don’t want to see everything go away, when all of the dust settles and all of the fanfare goes away,” Bryant said, emphasizing that community-driven development goes beyond financial investment. “It’s really creating the roots of strength that I think will help people thrive in this space and inspire the next young generation to steward the park.”

ACCESSIBILITY FOR ALL ABILITIES

Finally, even the most elaborate outdoor spaces can be inaccessible if they aren’t designed for every kind of body and ability.

That’s the gap Environmental Traveling Companions wants to close. From kayaking out at sea, whitewater rafting, cross-country skiing, and more, where up to 90% of youth participants are receiving free trips, physically challenged participants are moving on their own terms.

“Always be curious. Never assume,” said Good, the group’s director.

At Environmental Traveling Companions, relationships are reciprocal. In shared activities, such as teaming vision-impaired participants with sighted volunteers in kayaks, something unexpected happens: a feeling of confidence born of partnership and mutual trust.

To establish that trust, Good emphasized the importance of training staff and instructors in inclusion, adaptive techniques and understanding needs and preferences, of letting participants lead with respect and agency.

“While the sighted person describes what they see, the vision-impaired person shares what they’re experiencing through their other senses — the smells around them, how the water feels, the temperature changes, which direction the wind is blowing, where they can feel the sun,” said Good. Along with helping physically challenged participants, the learning exchange empowers the volunteers, who can gain a completely new perspective on nature and become more present and aware of sensory details they would normally overlook. Volunteers typically realize they’re getting as much from the experience as they’re giving.

The Bay Area had played a major role in the disability rights movement tracing back to the 1970s during a takeover of the San Francisco Federal Building. It was a landmark event that lasted for over a month and included many voices, including many individual people of color, the Black Panther Party, and gay men’s health groups.

Since 1972, Environmental Traveling Companions has been building on that legacy by forging adaptive ways for outdoor adventures with multi-day adventures that include trips to the Grand Canyon, Rogue River expeditions and camping with leadership opportunities to empower people with disabilities, along with everyone else around them.

Training guides aren’t just based on technical recreational knowledge and skills; it’s also about cultural and physical accessibility, which the organization continually refine. It’s a working effort focusing on inclusion and adaptive techniques. According to Good, participants learn how to guide people with vision impairments, including navigating stairs, narrow pathways and low-lying branches, transfer techniques such as how to safely transfer people who use wheelchairs into boats and kayaks, where professional support doesn’t exist in only theory, but practice as well. It’s a participant-centered approach that is also enhanced by the cultural and language training that guides and attendants acquire.

“Everyone belongs in these spaces. Everyone has a right to get access to these amazing spaces and do these really fun activities,” said ETC’s program director Daniel Berger. “I wish the general community would just try and be a little bit more welcoming.”

A GROWING MOVEMENT

As these groups make clear, outdoor equity is about access to many places and in many different ways.

It’s about wild, remote areas, nearby countryside, and urban green space.

It’s about access for communities isolated by redlining, disinvestment, disability.

It requires an understanding that history still shapes who feels welcome in different spaces.

It needs a commitment to building mutual trust and accountability that can help sustain and grow a sense of community.

There are many organizations across the Bay Area bringing a wide range of experiences and insights to this project. Some focus on reclaiming public lands, others build bridges between newcomers and older communities, and still others prioritize reshaping what “outdoors” means in an urban setting.

Their emphases differ but they share a common objective. Together, they allow the greater Bay Area community to reimagine outdoor equity through community-led efforts.

It’s a concept that seems likely to grow.

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