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New: East Bay Parks Are Removing Big Berkeley Dirt Pile from McLaughlin Park
Workers today are beginning to renovate McLaughlin Eastshore State Park in Berkeley by moving around a 53-foot high dirt pile at the park, East Bay Regional Park District officials said.
A section of the park called Brickyard Cove will be closed for several months, according to the park district, which manages the park on behalf of the state.
The work is expected to be completed by late summer.
The pile of dirt has been at the park for about 10 years and consists of excavated dirt from various construction projects such as California Memorial Stadium at the University of California at Berkeley and sports fields at El Cerrito High School, park district officials said.
A small portion of the pile contains arsenic and will be taken to a toxic waste center. Part of the remaining pile will be used to create several hills to buffer the park from Interstate Highway 580 and the rest will be left where it is, according to the park district.
Workers will create a picnic area and views for enjoying the scenery and bird-watching. The rest of the work consists of fixing trails on the hill, removing invasive plants, planting native species and restoring the shoreline, park district spokeswoman Carolyn Jones said.
Besides moving the dirt, workers will be removing chunks of concrete at the park.
"It's an old garbage dump," Jones said.
Wildlife biologists concluded last week that the pile of dirt contains no nesting birds or burrowing owls, park district officials said.
The park is named after Berkeley resident Sylvia McLaughlin, who died last month at the age of 99. McLaughlin was a founder of Save the Bay, an environmental group whose aim was to save the shore of San Francisco Bay from being filled in.
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