Legacy
Their work not only rescued the Bay, but also inspired additional organizations and government commissions to protect other waterways from harm, ultimately changing the way we think about our urban environments.
parks for the people
The San Francisco Bay is now rimmed with parks, accessible trails, and wetland restoration projects such as the McLaughlin Eastshore State Park.
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(Personal Photographs, 2016)
"Eastshore State Park is one of the most outstanding achievements in the history of open space protection. It is the result of decades of citizen efforts to protect San Francisco Bay as a public open space resource. It is located in the midst of one of the most highly urbanized areas of California.
the California State Park and Recreation Commission renamed this 8.5-mile shoreline parkland McLaughlin Eastshore State Park
in honor of Save The Bay co-founder Sylvia McLaughlin."
-www.ebparks.org
inspiring others
After the Save San Francisco Bay Association won its landmark legal ruling, many other water-focused environmental organizations formed, such as Heal Santa Monica Bay, Save The Bay-Narraganset Bay, and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Additional regulatory agencies were made, such as the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, the California Coastal Commission, the Clean Water Act, and the Environmental Protection Agency. These organizations were inspired and influenced by Save San Francisco Bay Association.
"BCDC set the model used around the world for coastal zone management agencies, pre-dating the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Coastal Commission." |
"The ripple effects went far beyond the bay. They went across the country and around the world and into history." |
Ian McKernan: "How do you think their work influenced other environmental organizations?
David Lewis: Their model of organizing people, and their effectiveness in blocking environmentally damaging development by powerful moneyed interests, inspired other community-based environmental efforts to try and to be successful. These included “People for Open Space” that became the Greenbelt Alliance, working to preserve open land in the Bay Area, the movement to prevent development of the Marin Headlands north of the Golden Gate Bridge, to prevent siting of a nuclear power plant near Point Reyes, and many more. They also inspired a movement to protect Chesapeake Bay, the Hudson River, Puget Sound and many other areas. Also, the success of their efforts led by women I think helped other environmental organizations to realize that women can be powerful motivators and influencers … within families, within neighborhoods, etc. So appealing to women as supporters became more important as a path to success."
-David Lewis, Executive Director, Save the Bay
Personal Interview
"Until this point... environmentalism had been a small, elite movement. But Save the Bay changed that. It resembled other major movements of the day, civil rights, free speech, and, eventually, |
"The Save the Bay movement remains a monumental turning point in Bay Area history and the environmental movement...All of these efforts tapped a broad population to pressure elected officials against blindly going forward with palpably bad development projects." |
Paradigm shift
Ian McKernan: "How do you think their work changed how people think about the environment?
David Lewis: They were at the vanguard of efforts to preserve urban environmental assets, in the midst of bustling cities, not just remote wilderness many miles from civilization. This was a major paradigm shift in thinking about the environment – that it is part of a high quality of life for urban residents, and that limiting and concentrating development to preserve open space is actually good for the economy, because it creates living spaces where people want to locate, and businesses want to operate."
-David Lewis, Executive Director, Save the Bay
Personal Interview
"As University of California, Berkeley geography professor Richard Walker has observed, the movement transformed the popular vision of the bay from a “place of production and circulation of goods and people… |
"New public policies ended bay fill, promoted the restoration of marshes and wetlands, and opened hundreds of miles of bay shoreline to the public. The bay became “the visual centerpiece of the metropolis, a watery commons for the region, and a source of pride to Bay Area residents.” |