Wildcat Canyon Regional Park
| Wildcat Canyon Regional Park | |
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Wildcat Canyon park on April 22, 2007
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| Location | Contra Costa County |
| Coordinates | 37°56′05″N 122°17′09″W / 37.93472°N 122.28583°WCoordinates: 37°56′05″N 122°17′09″W / 37.93472°N 122.28583°W |
| Area | 2,429-acre (983 ha) |
| Operated by | East Bay Regional Park District |
Wildcat Canyon Regional Park is a 2,429-acre (983 ha) East Bay Regional Parks District park located within the city limits of Richmond in Contra Costa County in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. It includes a portion of Wildcat Canyon as well as a portion of the adjoining San Pablo Ridge, and is directly connected to the more heavily used Tilden Regional Park.
The area was inhabited by Native Americans until 1772 when a group of "Catalan volunteers" led by Pedro Fagas and Fray Juan Crespi came across the settlement while searching for trade routes north beyond the Carquinez Strait. The Spanish settled the general area and by 1840 had parceled the land for missions and cattle raising coming into conflict with the historical communal practices of the Native Americans. Juan Jose and Victor Castro were given rights to all vacant land in the area. They kept some valuable lands and gave much of the land over to municipal authorities for water usage. In 1935, the East Bay Regional Parks District acquired the land that formed Tilden Park to the South and continued to acquire land to the north of Tilden until in 1976 it had sufficient land to form Wildcat Canyon Regional Park.
EBRPD announced on February 17, 2014 that it had acquired 362 acres (146 ha) of woodland on the east side of Wildcat Canyon Regional Park, which will be added to the existing park. The addition will provide easier access for visitors from El Sobrante and Richmond.The property had been owned by a developer who had intended to build 36 houses on it, before the recent collapse of real estate prices.
Wildcat has an abundance of wildlife both flora and fauna. There are Coast Live Oak, California Bay Laurel, Big leaf maple, Madrone, alder, willow, Dogwood, and eucalyptus forests. There are humid chaparrals made up of coyote brush, poison oak, elderberry, snowberry, bracken fern, and blackberry brambles.
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