Recalling the Lost Bay Wetlands

Recalling the Lost Bay Wetlands. Golden Gate National Recreation Area. San Francisco Bay was once ringed by extensive wetlands. The northern edge of the Presidio consisted of a beach backed by sparsely vegetated dunes. Inland from the beach and dunes was a meandering slough that paralleled the shore. The lake in front of the Palace of Fine Arts is a remnant of that old slough. By 1900, the Army had filled the area between Lyon and Halleck streets to build cavalry stables , Today park visitors enjoy a new landscape with a boulder-edged stream and lagoon designed by the Office of Lawrence Halprin. The lagoon uses reclaimed water, as does the landscape irrigation system. Mature trees were planted here to create this pastoral landscape., Inset left , San Francisco Bay shore with Letterman Hospital in the distance, early 1900s. These wetlands were filled by the Army and the Panama-Pacific International Exposition at the turn of the century. , Inset above , Aerial view of the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge in 1934 with the Palace of Fine Arts, Crissy Army Air Field, and, to the far left, part of East Hospital. In 2001, a 20-acre tidal marsh with restored dunes and native plants replaced part of Crissy Army Air Field., Inset right , A new 550-bed hospital opened in 1969 to serve troops returning from the Vietnam War as well as military families. That 10-story building was removed and its pulverized concrete reused in the new Letterman Digital Arts Center. Its seven acre parking lot is now part of the Letterman Digital Art Center.