East Bay Regional Park District and City of Martinez Advance Carquinez Strait Shoreline Trail and Marsh Restoration

Natural resource ecologists and trail maintenance crews with the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) and the City of Martinez Public Works Department have completed autumn shoreline maintenance and tidal channel clearing across the Radke Martinez Regional Shoreline and the adjoining Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline. Reviewed during an October 2026 update to the Park District Board of Directors and Martinez City Council, the seasonal stewardship effort prepares more than 1,900 combined acres of waterfront parkland for the arrival of tens of thousands of migrating Pacific Flyway shorebirds and waterfowl.

Accessed from the northern foot of Ferry Street adjacent to the Martinez Amtrak intermodal station, Radke Martinez Regional Shoreline preserves critical brackish tidal marshlands where fresh water from the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta mixes with salt water from San Pablo Bay. Throughout October, park district restoration biologists and Contra Costa Mosquito and Vector Control District specialists inspected marsh sloughs and Alhambra Creek outflow channels to ensure unobstructed tidal circulation, protecting habitat for native pickleweed, great blue herons, snowy egrets, and the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse.

West of downtown Martinez along the paved Carquinez Scenic Drive segment of the San Francisco Bay Trail and Bay Area Ridge Trail, park maintenance crews have patched asphalt drainage swales, cleared eucalyptus and oak windfall from cliffside overlooks, and refreshed interpretive signage between Eckley Pier and Port Costa. The motor-vehicle-free scenic corridor remains one of central Contra Costa County's premier accessible routes for cyclists, stroller-pushing families, and distance runners.

Radke Martinez Regional Shoreline and the Carquinez Strait trails are open daily from 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. with free parking at the Ferry Street staging areas. Residents can view naturalist-led autumn birdwalk schedules and trail maps online at ebparks.org or by calling (888) 327-2757.