Heron’s Head is a narrow spit that juts into San Francisco Bay in the Hunter’s Point Bay View district between Lash Lighter Basin and Yosemite Slough. It is one of the bay’s last remaining mud flats…and it means a lot of things to a lot of people.

The narrow spit at Heron’s Head was restored after Hunter’s Point Shipyard closed in 1974. Grass and a clay “cap” several inches below the surface keeps contaminants at bay.
Photo Credit: Susan Galleymore: Earth Day 2010.

To the descendants of the Ohlone people it means a sacred connection to ancestors…and an opportunity to restore the land and traditional ceremonies.
To Lennar Corporation and the politicians planning urban development it means wealth, power, and influence.

To the tight-knit, low-income community that lives in the district it means a home worth fighting for, despite the heavy metals, solvents, petroleum products, PCBs, and vinyl chloride pollutants that remain in the ground since Hunter’s Point Shipyard shut down in 1974.

To the team that participated in the decade-long planning and building of the solar generated Eco-Center it means serving and educating the public – despite the State of California’s dire financial situation that halted funding in December 2009.

Visitors line up to tour the Eco-Center on opening day.
Photo Credit: Susan Galleymore: Earth Day 2010.

On Earth Day weekend hundreds of people attended the Eco-Center’s grand opening. They toured the Center, climbed onto the “living roof”, and shared their appreciation for San Francisco’s first public property that is focused on building skills to generate innovations for a sustainable future. 

Located near the entrance to the spit on a slight rise overlooking the mud flats, the 1,500 square foot Eco-Center is constructed of recycled concrete, certified wood, and other environmentally friendly building materials.

Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) and super-insulated materials minimize heat gains and losses, provide seismic support and fire resistance, and reduce the Center’s use of its electricity that is generated solely from solar panels and a wind turbine.

The green Eco-Machine under construction. It will treat waste water in the greenhouse where ultraviolet lamps also treat “black water” from the Center’s sewer system.
Photo Credit: Susan Galleymore: Earth Day 2010.

The “living roof” is planted with native vegetation to provide habitat for insects, birds and other wildlife and to insulate the interior on hot days and prevent heat loss on cold days. Rainwater captured from the roof and stored in three tanks each with 14000 gallon capacity offsets the building’s water use, feeds the toilet, and irrigates the living roof. “Black water” (sewage), processed in the treatment plant in the greenhouse, distributes to the landscape where it is further purified by toxin-absorbing vegetation. “Grey water” (waste water from sinks and drinking water) irrigates the native plant landscape.

The Eco-Center’s site partner, Arc Ecology, plans to present classes on the indigenous Ohlone that shaped this habitat for at least 10,000 years. So it is fitting that a small group of Rumsen Ohlone built a sweat lodge on the spit some distance from the Eco-Center and, for three days and nights leading up to the grand opening, conducted ceremonies and sacred dances to honor their past and to restore the land.

For some Ohlone in the group, it was the first time they had been here. This, despite a draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that states there are at least four, and probably five, Ohlone village sites within the development boundaries and another 16 sites within one-quarter mile. And despite California Senate Bill 18 of 2005 that stipulates Ohlone tribes listed with the Native American Heritage Commission be included in planning development at Hunters Point Shipyard.

With storage capacity of 14000 gallons each, the tanks (left, front), harvested from rainfall on the roofs, feed the toilet and irrigate the “living roof.”
Photo Credit: Susan Galleymore: Earth Day 2010.

Ann Marie Sayers, Tribal Chair of Costanoan Indian Canyon and the only Ohlone that has succeeded in obtaining title to her ancestors’ land, says, “The sites affected by the development are extremely significant and are believed to be burial or ceremonial sites. In addition to protecting these sites, we will work with the local community to protect health, land, and the fragile bay marine environment.”

While the Eco-Center has been years in the making, the multi-day Ohlone ceremony began Thursday night, April 15 when the main fire was lit at sundown. Ohlone elder Daniel faced each of the four directions as his voice and those of his companions, accompanied by the beat of a drum, swirled with the wind into the dark. Behind them, across the narrow estuary, seagull chatter almost drowned out the hum of fork lifts in San Francisco’s Pier 94 recycling center.

It was appropriate that these elements came together in this way on this first night: a piece of land with spectacular views reclaimed for the local community, a recycling center that diverts consumer goods from landfill, the off-the-grid Eco-Center, and people fired up for another, more natural, more inclusive way of being.

“Tell people you saw Ohlone dance at Heron’s Head!”
Photo Credit: Susan Galleymore: Earth Day 2010.

Earlier that day, when the Ohlone men constructing the temporary, willow sapling sweat lodge prepared to dig the pit for hot rocks and use that earth as an altar, the Eco-Center director was reluctant. He was concerned that they would breach the layer of clay with which the Navy capped its toxic contaminants. That the pit was only six inches deep said much about how this land was remediated…and how little protection there may be for the health of humans and other creatures.

The men built the sweat lodge anyway but the incident encapsulates the concern of many: the fragmentation of the natural world, the contamination of our Earth, and how to restore balance for the future.

The ceremonial fire burned continuously through Thursday night’s singing, Friday night’s community sweat, and Saturday night’s Acorn and Bear Dances performed in the deep dark. It died out after the group said its formal goodbyes on Sunday morning. Then, in bright sunlight, the Ohlone performed the Acorn Dance at the Eco Center to welcome visitors.

Afterward, the Rumsen Ohlone chief told the audience, “When somebody tells you there are no more Ohlone left, you tell them you saw Ohlone dance here at Heron’s Head Park!

The collaboration between the Ohlone, the Eco-Center, and the local community is a harbinger of new directions rooted in ancient traditions.