The New Beaches at Blackie's Pasture Won't Be Finished When the Crews Leave

The Town of Tiburon has given its contractor until about Nov. 20 to rebuild the two small beaches at Blackie's Pasture. The beaches themselves are on a longer schedule. This project was designed so that waves move the new sand and gravel into place over time and native plants slowly hold the backshore together. Most of that will happen over the next few winters, after the trucks are gone, while Richardson Bay is closed to boats and its wintering waterbirds are back.

What the crews are building on Greenwood and Brunini beaches

On Aug. 19, the Tiburon Town Council voted 3-0 to award the construction contract to Livermore-based Goodfellow Bros. for $468,983. The vote also lets the town manager approve change orders of up to 15%, or $70,347, which puts the maximum at $539,330, The Ark reported. The contract will be fully reimbursed from a $1.5 million grant the town received from the California State Coastal Conservancy in 2024, according to the Marin Independent Journal.

The work covers 1.4 acres of Richardson Bay shoreline. The Ark and the IJ describe these tasks:

1. Grading back the eroding scarp, which is the steep face where the beach has been cut away.
2. Removing and disposing of old asphalt and debris.
3. Installing two rock sills at Brunini Beach.
4. Placing a log backstop at Greenwood Beach.
5. Spreading coarse beach sediment along the shoreline and planting native vegetation.

The town's own notice went up on Aug. 31, 2026, under the headline "Greenwood Beach Restoration Project Begins This Week." The two news reports gave slightly different start dates. The IJ said Sept. 1 and The Ark said Sept. 8, the day after Labor Day. Both reported the same finish target. David Eshoo, the town's public works engineering manager, told the IJ that construction is expected to be complete by Nov. 20, followed by "additional establishment periods, monitoring and maintenance work." No progress report has been published since then, so Nov. 20 is still a target and not a confirmed finish date.

Why the shoreline is getting sand and logs, not a seawall

Most hardened shoreline along the bay is lined with riprap: large rocks piled against the bank. This project was built to show an alternative. Eshoo explained the approach to The Ark:

"We're installing a living shoreline, meaning that the material that's being installed here at this beach, the wave action will pull the material out and push it back in so that it doesn't erode any of the areas along Blackie's Pasture."

At the August meeting, Councilmember Alice Fredericks asked whether the approach was "considered superior to boulders and rocks." Eshoo answered, "Absolutely, that is correct," the Marin IJ reported. He also said the project would serve as a pilot that the town could use in other locations.

Audubon California, which lists the Town of Tiburon, the County of Marin and Gillenwater Consulting among its project partners, describes the goals in similar terms. The project aims to restore and expand mixed sand-gravel beaches and salt marsh, reuse local or off-site sediment where it can, and restore native backshore and salt marsh plants. Its stated purpose is to make the usual "emergency" riprap response unnecessary, since riprap would "degrade the scenic, recreational, and habitat values of the shoreline."

A project that started in 2017

The project has been in the works since 2017. Several of its milestones have been easy to miss.

The San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority lists its piece as the Greenwood Gravel Beach Design Project. Its grant came from Measure AA, the regional parcel tax Bay Area voters approved for bay restoration.

The March phase is still on the beach. That spring, the town installed the drift sill, a low strip of cobble salt marsh that runs perpendicular to the shore, and planted it with small plants. The Ark photographed crews hauling rock and soil on March 25. The town and Audubon have asked park users not to remove rocks or cobbles from the sill and not to walk on it, so the new plantings aren't trampled. The Parks Maintenance Division takes questions at 415-435-7354.

Winter shapes the beach while the bay is closed to boats

Audubon's project page includes a rendering of the site as it is expected to look about three years after construction. That three-year horizon reflects how the design works. The waves that rework the new gravel come with fall and winter weather, and the native vegetation needs several seasons to take hold along the regraded scarp.

The same stretch of water has its own seasonal rules. Every year from Oct. 1 through March 31, about 900 acres of the Richardson Bay sanctuary are closed to boat traffic and in-water activity, including kayaks, paddleboards, canoes and sailboats, according to Audubon's sanctuary closure page. The closed area runs from the Cove housing complex to Strawberry Point, east to Belvedere and north to Blackie's Pasture. Signs on pilings and buoys mark the boundaries.

The closure protects Greater and Lesser Scaup, Ruddy Ducks and Surf Scoters, among other species. Audubon's seasonal bird chart shows Bufflehead and Canvasback on the bay from October through April. Audubon also describes Richardson Bay as important habitat for Pacific herring, a fish, as well as for wintering waterbirds.

The timing lines up. The beach rebuild is scheduled to finish about seven weeks into the boat closure. For the rest of the winter, the bay off Blackie's Pasture is closed to paddlers while the new beach settles in. Audubon points to walking or biking the shoreline path as the way to see sanctuary wildlife during those months.

Walking Blackie's Pasture before Nov. 20

The beach construction areas are closed while work is underway. Eshoo told the IJ that "there will also be construction equipment and trucks traveling through portions of Blackie's Pasture to access the work area." He added that "the Town's intent is to maintain public access to as much of Blackie's Pasture and the surrounding trail system as practical, while restricting access to the active construction and staging areas." No published notice has said which specific path segments or parking areas are affected, so the fencing and signs on site are the most reliable guide on any given morning.

A few details for planning a visit:

• Dogs: Leashed pets are allowed on the Richardson Bay Rail Trail, according to Audubon. Pets are not allowed at the Richardson Bay Audubon Center.
• The Audubon Center: It's at 376 Greenwood Beach Road, with published hours of Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is closed weekends. The visit page also showed a "Center: Closed" status when we checked, so look at the page before you go. Entering the property while the gates are locked counts as trespassing.
• A guided walk: The Center's free, staff-led Monthly Bird Walk has a session listed for Thursday, Dec. 10, 2026, at 10 a.m. It typically covers the center trail and shorebird spotting. That date falls after the Nov. 20 construction target, so the walk may include a look at the new beaches.
• Coffee: If your walk heads toward downtown, Paradise Coffee opened in late April at 1775 Tiburon Blvd. in Point Tiburon Plaza. Its owners are Sam Cook, William Caamal and Juan Carlos Caamal. The trailer serves drinks, sandwiches, breakfast burritos and waffles, according to The Ark.

After Nov. 20, the town's stated plan moves to establishment, monitoring and maintenance. That is the period when the native plants are expected to take root and the waves start moving the new gravel into a natural beach profile.

At Krystow & Kemp, we follow changes along the Tiburon shoreline because they affect daily life and the way homes along this waterfront are presented and valued. If you own on the Tiburon Peninsula and would like to talk about how your home's setting and views fit into today's market, we'd be glad to arrange a complimentary home valuation and bespoke listing consultation.