The East Bay Regional Park District is honoring one of its earliest champions of parks and open space by renaming Redwood Regional Park, located in Oakland, after Dr. Aurelia Reinhardt, whose contributions played a substantial role in the formation of the East Bay Regional Park District in 1934.
Dr. Aurelia Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park recognizes the only woman, who was one of five original board members, of the elected to represent the newly-founded Park District on its first Board of Directors. A lover of redwood trees, Dr. Reinhardt worked to acquire property that would become Redwood Regional Park. The park’s redwood grove, Aurelia Reinhardt Redwoods, already bears her name.
“Aurelia had a long history of public service and advocacy for human and environmental rights,” said Park District Director Dee Rosario, who initiated the renaming. “She was an amazing woman whose legacy is still alive today in the Park District’s 73 Regional Parks and 125,000 acres of preserved open space.”
The now-publicly-named Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park is one of the Park District’s most popular dog-friendly parks and receives 1.4 million visitors per year. A public recognition celebration to rename Redwood in honor of Aurelia Reinhardt will be held at a later date.
