The Dotson Family Marsh, formerly Breuner Marsh, is a 238-acre (96 ha)North Richmond's Wetlands Threatened by Development
, Pacific Institute, access date August 8, 2008Breuner Marsh Stewardship
by Aleta George, Bay Nature, March 2006, access date August 8, 2008 Parchester Village Residents Fight to Preserve Breuner Marsh, Open Space
by Tomio Geron, November 12, 2004, access date August 8, 2008

regional park A regional park is an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, recreational use or other reason, and under the administration of a form of local government. Definition A regional park can be a special park distri ...

San Pablo Bay San Pablo Bay is a tidal estuary that forms the northern extension of San Francisco Bay in the East Bay and North Bay regions of the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California. Most of the Bay is shallow; however, there is a deep water ch ...

in the East

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

city of

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, In 2009 the

East Bay Regional Parks District The East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) is a special district operating in Alameda County and Contra Costa County, California, within the East Bay area of the San Francisco Bay Area. It maintains and operates a system of regional parks which ...

acquired the Breuner Marsh site, adding it to

Point Pinole Regional Shoreline Point Pinole Regional Shoreline is a regional park on the shores of the San Pablo Bay, California (the northern arm of the San Francisco Bay), in the United States. It is approximately in area, and is operated by the East Bay Regional Park Dis ...

. A

habitat restoration Restoration ecology is the scientific study supporting the practice of ecological restoration, which is the practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human interrupt ...

plan for 60 acres of

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s and 90 acres of

California coastal prairie California coastal prairie, also known as northern coastal grassland, is a grassland plant community of California and Oregon in the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome. It is found along the Pacific Coast, from as far south as L ...

was subsequently approved. On April 22, 2017, the district renamed Breuner Marsh as the Dotson Family Marsh, honoring a local family that had worked for many years to keep Breuner Marsh wild and open to the public."Point Pinole Regional Shoreline." East Bay Regional Parks System.
Accessed August 29, 2017.

Geography

The boundaries surrounding Dotson Family Marsh are approximately: *

to the west. *

Giant Marsh In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: '' gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fro ...

and Point Pinole Regional Shoreline Park to the north. *a

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

embankment and Parchester Village to the east. *

Rheem Creek Rheem Creek is a urban stream in western Contra Costa County, California, which empties into San Pablo Bay south of Point Pinole. The creek rises from Rolling Hills Cemetery and passes through Rollingwood, the campus of Contra Costa Community Col ...

to the south.San Francisco Bay Area Wetlands Restoration Program
, Letter of Review/Breuner Marsh Mitigation Bank, January 28, 2003, access date August 8, 2008

History

The former Breuner Marsh land was owned by Fred Parr in the mid 20th-century. It was/is located between the bay and Parchester Village, a post-WW II master planned community that was the first in the state to sell to African Americans. It was built by Parr with the promise of maintaining the marsh free from development. However, Parr subsequently sold it off, leaving the community's open space in uncertainty.

Gerald Breuner

The new owner was Gerald Breuner, the owner of the former

Breuners Home Furnishings Breuners Home Furnishings was a chain of furniture stores in Southwestern United States for 148 years before declaring bankruptcy in 2004. Founded in California during the California Gold Rush in the mid-19th century, its stores served California ...

chain. During the 1970s he had much of the wetlands illegally destroyed, with the intention of building a private general aviation airport, to be called

Breuner Field The Dotson Family Marsh, formerly Breuner Marsh, is a 238-acre (96 ha) However community and political opposition prohibited it,Parchester's Marsh
, by Kathryn Gillick, Ecology Center, access date August 13, 2008 and the small model plane airfield was the largest he could build, and some of the mixed wetlands—grasslands still remained. In the 1980s Bruener tested experimental aircraft, a

gyrocopter An autogyro (from Ancient Greek, Greek and , "self-turning"), also known as a ''gyroplane'', is a type of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift (force), lift. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an ...

, at the site, and used it as his primary residence. Collective pitch change system for teter-bar type gyroplane rotary wing aircraft
United States Patent 4741672, May 3, 1988 access date August 15, 2008 Breuner Field or Breuner Airfield was a 5-acre (2 ha) private

radio controlled aircraft A radio-controlled aircraft (often called RC aircraft or RC plane) is a small flying machine that is controlled remotely by an operator on the ground using a hand-held radio transmitter. The transmitter continuously communicates with a receiver ( ...

airfield or "flying field" and club built in the 1970s.About
, BARCS.org, January 20, 2008, access date August 10, 2008Richmond
Gallagher & Lindsay Realtors, access date August 10, 2008 It was located on the illegally reclaimed wetlands, at 4114 Goodrick Avenue, and was accessible from the Richmond Parkway. The site had a sports club, some cottages, and a fishing pier. The runway was about 300 ft (91 m) and is marked with x's to state that it is not suitable for landing by any planes.Google maps
access date August 15, 2008 It was run by the Bay Area Radio Control Society.

Bay Area Wetlands LLC

Breuner Marsh was purchased in 2000 by ''Bay Area Wetlands LLC'', a company that planned on selling the land to the highest bidding developer. After the purchase by Bay Area Wetlands LLC, various proposals to develop the marsh were put forward. These included upscale housing, an industrial complex, a mixed use

transit village A transit village is a pedestrian-friendly mixed-use district or neighborhood oriented around the station of a high-quality transit system, such as rail or B.R.T. Often a civic square of public space abuts the train station, functioning as the hu ...

with housing businesses, and a transit center, and expansion of Point Pinole Regional Shoreline, with Breuner Marsh being restored. The latter was the preferred option from the Parchester Village Neighborhood Council which had fought development in the past. Development was also fought by the Sierra Club and the North Richmond Shoreline Open Space Alliance, and by

Gayle McLaughlin Gayle McLaughlin (born 1952) is an American politician from Richmond, California. She was first elected to the Richmond City Council in 2004 when she was a member of the Green Party of California. She won two consecutive four-year terms as the ...

and the

. The East Bay Regional Parks District had considered using

Eminent Domain Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...

to prevent development of the rare undeveloped

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

shoreline and to protect endangered species.Park District may save Breuner Marsh
''Sierra Club Yodeler'', access date August 8, 2008 Bay Area Wetlands LLC at one point wanted to build "''Edgewater Technology Park''" but were rebuffed by Parchester residents. Signature Homes, a housing construction firm, bought a six-month option at one point, but was unable to persuade the city council to rezone the area from light industrial, since the city wanted revenue building commercial development instead of funds-draining housing that would place addition strain on city services. The city was willing to zone 27 acres (11 ha) for residential but no more.Breuner Marsh to become parkland at last!
Citizens for East Shore Parks, access date August 8, 2008 A lawsuit was filed against the property owners to protect the open space, and the court's preliminary judgment was reached on March 28, 2008. The jury decided that the value of the was $6.85 million. This was contrary to the East Bay Regional Parks District's appraiser whom valued it at $1.5 million, and the previous purchase price the Breuners received of $3 million. The defendant owners argued that the city would make up to $18 million off the where development would be allowed. The owners were allowed to keep 20 acres (8 ha), but appealed the March 2008 decision nonetheless. A sale was finally reached two months later for the undeveloped property.

Parkland

Threatened wildlife species in the area include the

white-tailed kite The white-tailed kite (''Elanus leucurus'') is a small raptor found in western North America and parts of South America. It replaces the related Old World black-winged kite in its native range. Taxonomy The white-tailed kite was described in 18 ...

, a state "Species of Concern," and

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

such as the

salt marsh harvest mouse The salt marsh harvest mouse (''Reithrodontomys raviventris''), also known as the red-bellied harvest mouse, is an endangered rodent endemic to the San Francisco Bay Area salt marshes in California. The two distinct subspecies are both endangere ...

and the

California clapper rail Ridgway's rail (''Rallus obsoletus'') is a near-threatened species of bird. It is found principally in California's San Francisco Bay to southern Baja California. A member of the rail family, Rallidae, it is a chicken-sized bird that rarely flie ...

.Government report
p. 6, access date August 10, 2008 The East Bay Regional Park District purchased a large portion of the historic Breuner Marsh in May 2008 for $8,830,155. The Park District has approved plans to restore tidal wetlands and coastal prairie habitats on the property. In addition the district planned to add a component of the

San Francisco Bay Trail The San Francisco Bay Trail is a bicycle and pedestrian trail that when finished will allow continuous travel around the shoreline of San Francisco Bay. As of 2020, of the trail have been completed. When finished, the trail will be over of p ...

.EBParks News Archive
/ref> In 2011, EBRPD acquired Breuner Marsh, using $6,875,000 of its own bond funds. The San Francisco Bay Area Conservancy (SFBAC) joined the EBRPD effort, authorizing $1,250,000 of Conservancy funds plus a $920,000 grant from the state Fish & Wildlife Agency.''Breuner Marsh Restoration Project''. San Francisco Bay Area Conservancy. August 2, 2012.
Accessed July 25, 2018. On April 22, 2017, the district renamed Breuner Marsh as the Dotson Family Marsh, honoring a local family that had worked for many years to keep Breuner Marsh wild and open to the public, while opposing several attempts to develop the tract for commercial ventures.

Notes

References

External links

Google maps: Breuner MarshCalifornia Coastal Conservancy: Breuner Marsh Restoration & Public Access Project
— ''recommended actions (2012 documents)''. {{East Bay Regional Parks Marshes of California San Pablo Bay Wetlands of the San Francisco Bay Area Geography of Richmond, California Landforms of Contra Costa County, California East Bay Regional Park District Parks in Richmond, California Model airplane fields