User:Asimonegarcia/Tilden Regional Park

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Prior to being a public park, the lands that are now Tilden Park were ancestral lands of the Confederated Village of the Lisjan/Ohlone Indians. Tilden Regional Park

New Deal Era

Stone restrooms at Big Leaf Picnic Area At the June 4, 1936 board meeting of East Bay Regional Park District, the same meeting that authorized the land purchase, the Board appropriated $63,428 in local funds for park development. In doing so, they met their matching fund obligation in order to qualify for $1 million in federal relief funds for park development.[3]

From 1935 to 1941 a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp, "Camp Wildcat Canyon" was located in what is now the Tilden Nature Area. In the six years of “Camp Wildcat Canyon”, more than 3,500 men from eighteen states passed through for enrollment terms of 6 months, with the option of extending their service. The CCC crews built much of the park's earlier infrastructure and features including roads, trails, bridges, picnic areas, and golf course. The CCC also did work in the park related to fire and erosion prevention, insect and pest control, and geological work. In 1935, California Congressman John H. Tolan, who represented Alameda County helped get a $1.5 million dollar grant request to the Works Progress Administration (WPA) approved. The grant allowed construction on the Wildcat Canyon Road to commence, which was a 7 mile scenic road connecting Berkeley and Orinda. WPA crews built the Lake Anza dam and stone buildings including restrooms, the original Lake Anza beach house, and the exterior of the Brazilian Room. The WPA crews also contributed to the reforestation of Tilden Park after the eucalyptus was removed. CCC and WPA workers assisted in the replanting of redwoods in the park that were shipped down the California coast from Fort Bragg. The aesthetic of the park today is directly derived from the original work performed by the CCC and WPA. The Brazilian Room, restroom buildings, stone monuments, and stone road ditches all remain in the park today. The stone that was used to build all the structures in the park were quarried in-park near the Big Springs trailhead on South Park Drive.