The oil spill fouling Bay Area beaches has not impeded progress on improvements to the city's gay beach. Crews continue to remove toxic landfill from the slopes above North Baker Beach, and parks officials expect to have work completed next month.

Yet when the stretch of beach frequented by gay men will reopen to the public remains an open question, as oil covers rocks along the shoreline. As of Tuesday, November 20 many beaches remained closed, including Marshall's Beach, which is also referred to as North Baker Beach.

"We have the trail open but the beach closed," said Kim Cooper, a project information manager for the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. "Work is continuing on the hillside. We are hoping by early January to have the fences down."

Early in the morning of November 7 the Cosco Busan cargo ship hit the Bay Bridge and spilled 58,000 gallons of bunker fuel oil into the bay. Initially following the accident the gay beach was not impacted, but the tides eventually deposited the oil along the rocky shoreline.

"Last week it got really stinky and awful. One my folks got a migraine from it," Cooper told the Bay Area Reporter Thursday, November 15. "It is mellower now, but the oil has moved up into the rocks because we have had high tides and large swells the last couple of days. It is not that nice; it is going to have an impact for a while."

Because the spill impacted other beaches more severely, it wasn't until last week that the Coast Guard toured North Baker Beach to inspect the damage there. Cooper said the inspection team did not know when crews would arrive to begin cleaning up the oily mess.

"It still smells like a gas station," said Cooper. "This site hasn't been as badly affected as other areas so it is not a high priority."

In July parks officials had closed off the northern two sections of the gay beach – formally called North Baker Beach or Marshall's Beach – in order to begin remediation work on the cliffs above and to protect the public from falling objects and exposure to toxic material. The Presidio Trust and National Park Service are working together to clean up several former Army landfill sites that contain a variety of hazardous substances, including PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and pesticides.

"We took out all of the fill. It used to be the brown, gun

Presidio Park workers Tim Platz, left, and Kim Cooper on the new Batteries to Bluffs Trail. Photo: Rick Gerharter

ky stuff on the hillside," said Cooper as she pointed to one removal site where work is already completed during a tour of the area in early November before the oil spill. "The serpentine is now showing, which is the state rock."

Several bulldozers, spider-like excavators, and six large excavating machines are stretched out along the hillside. Each day the machinery removes 6,000 tons of the contaminated soil. Up to 60,000 cubic yards will be removed.

"We are on schedule and have moved more material than we anticipated," said Andy Sheaffer, owner of AIS Construction and the contractor hired for the project. "Getting our conveyors installed probably has been the most challenging part of the job."

Sheaffer said weather-wise he and his crew have been "very fortunate." During the rains in late October, he did worry work would have to stop.

"I thought we were in for it. If we get significant amounts of rain, the slope would become too wet and it would be too precarious," he said. "It is why we are working so hard to get the beach open. We work six days a week for 12-hour shifts."

The southern most section of the gay beach area had remained open to the public until it was closed due to the oil spill. Four parks conservancy staffers had been stationed on the beach and the hilltop to inform visitors about the beach closures and ensure people do not venture into the construction zone.

Despite their efforts to keep people away, parks staffers have had to deal with trespassing sunbathers, fishermen, the occasional jogger, and speed users who ignore the posted signage. The danger of doing so is readily apparent – dozens of boulders litter the shoreline.

"All the boulders down there all rolled off the hill to the beach. We had a boulder get loose as big as a car," said Cooper. "One guy put his blanket down on the beach while five excavation machines were working above him."

When access is restored to Baker Beach, Cooper stressed those sections of coastline in the project area will remain off limits until the work is completed and it is determined to be safe.

"It is still not safe. The slope is unstable. We can't let anyone in legally until we get clearance from the state Department of Toxic Substance Control," she said.

The area had been expected to reopen in January 2008 or earlier if possible. But that timeline may now be pushed back due to the oil spill damage.

Trails removed, rerouted

Two unofficial trails that had led down to the beach – one from the parking area behind Battery Godfrey along Lincoln Boulevard, the other from the hillside in-between Batteries Boutelle and Marcus Miller near Merchant Road – have been removed to prevent erosion and protect native plants.

To allow for access to the beach, a new Batteries to Bluffs trail has been constructed. It opened in October and reroutes beach goers from the Battery Godfrey parking lot down to the southern end of the gay beach.

The trail provides a safer route down the hillside and winds its way past a willow forest, marsh area, and a seasonal creek dubbed the Valley of the Serpent. It is accessed off the Coastal Trail a short distance to the left of the parking lot, however, dogs are not allowed due to the sensitive bird habitat it meanders through. While dogs are allowed on Baker Beach, they are not permitted on the gay beach areas.

"We will have signage telling people how to reach the beach," said Cooper. "We are also doing habitat restoration in the context of the trail restoration. This area has one of the highest levels of bird diversity in the Presidio."

Another project in the area has rerouted Merchant Road, which leads southbound drivers from the Golden Gate Bridge to newly paved parking areas. The old road configuration proved to be hazardous and caused traffic accidents. It now comes to a clear four-way stop at Lincoln Road; the old roadway is to be removed and replanted.

The beach trail accessed off Merchant Road will eventually be rebuilt, but Cooper said work would not begin until another toxic landfill site in the area has been removed, probably within the next two years. Parks officials also plan to rehabilitate the batteries in the area sometime in the near future.

"We want to reinterpret them more and give people a little bit of the history," said Cooper.

For more information about the remediation project visit www.presidio.gov/nature/cleanup, call Cooper at (415) 760-7010, or e-mail presidiobluffs@parksconservancy.org.