The Tilden Environmental Education Center is in the Tilden Nature Area, seen here in 2023, close to the Little Farm. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight

In 2024, the East Bay Regional Park District asked the public to weigh in on three potential designs for a new Tilden Environmental Education Center, which it hoped to build to replace the existing, deteriorating structure — if it could raise the funds. Two years later, the project is on hold due to a lack of money.

“Like every capital project the park district takes on, this one has to compete for limited public dollars and, right now, we don’t have a funding source identified for construction,” Max Korten, EBRPD’s acting general manager, said. 

The 50-year-old visitor center, built in 1974 in the Tilden Nature Area near the Little Farm, needs fire protection upgrades. It is covered in wood shingles, some of which are rotting, and has no sprinkler system, Berkeleyside reported in 2024. It also needs plumbing, electrical and accessibility system upgrades. A report commissioned by the city in 2017 recommended that the park district replace, rather than repair, the building.

Rising costs, decreasing revenue

EBRPD says about $2 million has already been invested in the project, much of it on the initial design phase work. The bulk of that came from Measure WW, passed by voters in Alameda and Contra Costa counties in 2008; around $100,000 came from funds set aside for Tilden Park improvements from Measure FF, passed in 2018. 

The park district has not identified a funding source to build a new center, which, in 2017, was estimated to require a budget of around $14 million and is now expected to cost $40 million. Inflation and tariffs have contributed to that increase, Korten said. And the district does not have a firm timeline for when design development and construction will resume. 

“Pausing here lets us protect the investment already made in design while we work on securing the funding this project deserves,” Korten said. 

Korten said it was originally expected that a portion of the funding would come from the Regional Parks Foundation, a nonprofit that raises money to support the EBRPD, but that appears to no longer be the case. In 2025, the foundation’s assets decreased from about $26.9 million to $23.7 million. 

Another reason for the shortage is that revenue from property taxes in Alameda and Contra Costa counties is growing at a slower rate than it used to, Korten said. Currently, 87% of the district’s funding base comes from property tax. The rest comes from state and federal grants, as well as local parcel tax and bond measures, according to the EBRPD’s website.

ADA compliance is a priority

The center was built decades before the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act and is not fully ADA accessible. While it does have ramps, some are overly steep and some parts of the center are too narrow for wheelchair maneuvering. 

“The biggest thing is we want to make sure that it [the project] would increase accessibility,” Korten said. “Especially for people with disabilities to be able to access everything at the Environmental Education Center.”

“It’s super cool. I’m so excited about it, and hopefully we’ll be able to figure out a way to fund it to make it happen,” Korten said.

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