ABSTRACT
The site that is now Crissy Field was originally part of the water system of the Bay; it consisted of a wetland that was žlled for the 1911 Exposition and was used as a racetrack until the 1920s, at which time it was converted into a grass airželd. In 1995 when the project began, the site was 85 percent asphalt inside, around which were miles and miles of chain-link fence. A few remnant palm trees were scattered about the parking lots from the days when the site had been an army base. Although the site was characterized by abandoned barracks and leftover land, it still offered a great bayside setting and contained a few fantastic areas, such as the remnant dune želds. There were also various restricted zones ranging in type from a thin strip at the water’s edge that was protected as habitat for the western snowy plover to other areas where lead paint had been dumped by the army. Before the site could be regenerated as a public park, the army had to go through a cleanup process involving digging up
toxic areas and laying the material out in the sun to cook and be heavily irrigated in order to leach out the contaminants before the soil was put back in place.
