Valentine's Day was a sweet occasion for the San Francisco Bay Trail project in Richmond. Two government agencies recommended award of grants worth $639,000 to the Port of Richmond to build 2.4 miles of new Bay Trail. California's Secretary of Resources recommended award of a $350,000 Environmental Enhancement and Mitigation Program grant, and the Association of Bay Area Governments Bay Trail Steering Committee approved a $289,000 Bay Trail grant.

Combined with other funds, these grants will be used for Bay Trail access to historic Kaiser Shipyard 3 features in the Point Potrero Marine Terminal as part of the Rosie The Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park. The new Bay Trail segment will lead from Canal Boulevard near Seacliff Drive around the western perimeter of Point Potero Marine Terminal to the Whirley Crane and SS Red Oak Victory.

TRAC, the Trails for Richmond Action Committee, prepared both grant applications for the Port of Richmond. Since its founding in 1999, TRAC has prepared grant applications bringing $2.5 million to the City of Richmond for Bay Trail projects. Richmond now has 25 miles of Bay Trail built -- more than any other city on this planned 500-mile hiking and biking trail encircling San Francisco and San Pablo Bays.

Although the Shipyard 3 Bay Trail can be built this year, there is no funding for the $385,000 needed to fabricate and install interpretive and sculptural exhibits designed by Leslie Stone & Associates, which designed new exhibits along the Yosemite Falls Trail and elsewhere in Yosemite National Park, as well as at Chrissy Field in San Francisco. Exhibits are needed in Shipyard 3 as part of the National Historical Park mission to tell the amazing story of WWII shipbuilding accomplishments.

For more information, including the trail route and exhibits, please see http://www.pointrichmond.com/baytrail/ferrypointshipyard3.htm.

If you know of a philanthropic individual or organization who might want to play a major role in outfitting the Shipyard 3 Trail in Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park with a full complement of interpretive exhibits, please contact me.