Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley Oral History Center University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California East Bay Regional Park District Oral History Project Robin Freeman: East Bay Regional Park District Parkland Oral History Project Interviews conducted by Shanna Farrell in 2017 Copyright © 2019 by The Regents of the University of California Interview sponsored by the East Bay Regional Park District Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley ii Since 1954 the Oral History Center of the Bancroft Library, formerly the Regional Oral History Office, has been interviewing leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of Northern California, the West, and the nation. Oral History is a method of collecting historical information through tape-recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. The tape recording is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewee. The corrected manuscript is bound with photographs and illustrative materials and placed in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and in other research collections for scholarly use. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective, partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ********************************* All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between The Regents of the University of California and Robin Freeman dated December 7, 2017. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. Excerpts up to 1000 words from this interview may be quoted for publication without seeking permission as long as the use is non-commercial and properly cited. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to The Bancroft Library, Head of Public Services, Mail Code 6000, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000, and should follow instructions available online at http://ucblib.link/OHC-rights. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Robin Freeman, “Robin Freeman: East Bay Regional Park District Parkland Oral History Project” conducted by Shanna Farrell in 2017 Berkeley, 2019. Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley iii Robin Freeman, 2017 Photo by Shanna Farrell Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The Oral History Center would like to thank the East Bay Regional Park District for their generous support of this oral history project. The Parkland Oral History Project is funded by the Interpretive and Recreation Services Department of the East Bay Regional Park District, coordinated by Beverly R. Ortiz, Ph.D., EBRPD Cultural Services Coordinator, and supported by staff at all levels of the Park District. Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley v Robin Freeman is a longtime Bay Area resident and educator. He founded the Berkeley Creators Association art studio and led educational programs in Tilden and Wildcat Canyon in the East Bay Regional Park District. In this interview, he discusses his early life, education, love for teaching, leading outdoors educational programs, working with the EBRPD, a 1989 creek restoration project, and creating meaningful environmental programs. Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley vi Table of Contents—Robin Freeman Project History Interview 1: December 7, 2017 Hour 1 1 Parents Elizabeth and Augusta Freeman: “They were a kind of a combination of risk takers by being, at that time, as a rare, intercultural marriage” — Moving from place to place often due to father’s profession as a doctor and researcher — Piqued interest in the natural world while driving to California with family during teenage years — Interviewing for a job at Yosemite and getting placed at Tuolumne Meadows in the High Sierra — Moving to Berkeley and setting up a nonprofit and the Berkeley Creators Association art studio — Choice to take community college classes: “Where they didn’t tell you what was good to build, they just told you how to build. And at the Ivy League, we were heavily told what’s good” — Sponsoring the Friends of High Sierra organization and scholarships through Berkeley Creators, encouraging various demographics to take part — Initial meeting with Tim Gordon at Tilden Park, discussing the environmental education center — Rearranging the trail at Tilden — Working with the childcare research center funded by Carol Sibley — Restoration of the Wildcat Creek bank with Tim Gordon and Friends of the High Sierra — Slowing down erosion and its debris in the 1989 creek restoration — Integrating more diverse student participation in restoration projects while teaching at community college Hour 2 20 Interest in education programs and early community college course offerings as a professor — Premise of in-progress psychology book on decision making with Steve Rau — Former students who became East Bay Regional Park District employees — Influence of Carl Anthony in encouraging underrepresented demographics to get involved with environmental projects — Origin and development of San Leandro Creek Plan — Meaningful parts of working with the Park District — Support for the district to utilize the insights of local rangers more often than the views of outside consultants — Critical points of development needed for California parks — Early inspirational influences Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley vii The East Bay Regional Park District Oral History Project The East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) is a special regional district that stretches across both Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. First established in 1934 by Alameda County voters, the EBRPD slowly expanded to Contra Costa in 1964 and has continued to grow and preserve the East Bay’s most scenic and historically significant parklands. The EBRPD’s core mission is to acquire, develop, and maintain diverse and interconnected parklands in order to provide the public with usable natural spaces and to preserve the region’s natural and cultural resources. This oral history project—The East Bay Regional Park District Oral History Project— records and preserves the voices and experiences of formative, retired EBRPD field staff, individuals associated with land use of EBRPD parklands prior to district acquisition, and individuals who continue to use parklands for agriculture and ranching. The Oral History Center (OHC) of The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley first engaged in conversations with the EBRPD in the fall of 2016 about the possibility of restarting an oral history project on the parklands. The OHC, previously the Regional Oral History Office, had conducted interviews with EBPRD board members, supervisors and individuals historically associated with the parklands throughout the 1970s and early 2000s. After the completion of a successful pilot project in late 2016, the EBRPD and OHC began a more robust partnership in early 2017 that has resulted in an expansive collection of interviews. The interviews in this collection reflect the diverse yet interconnected ecology of individuals and places that have helped shape and define the East Bay Regional Park District and East Bay local history. Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley 1 Interview 1: December 7, 2017 01-00:00:06 Farrell: This is Shanna Farrell with Robin Freeman on Thursday, December 7, 2017, and this is an interview for the East Bay Regional Park Department Oral History Project. And we are in Oakland, California. Robin, can you start by telling me where and when you were born, and a little bit about your early life? 01-00:00:27 Freeman: I was born in the East Side Hospital in Manhattan, 1944, in May, 17. My father was off in the Second World War. Oh, he was a doctor in the Army, so he came back and forth, which was why I was born just before the war was over. My parents were both from New York State. My mother is from an elder family in upstate New York, Monroe, New York, and my father was a Jewish immigrant. I mean, his older siblings and parents were. He was born here, I think. But they were a kind of a combination of risk takers by being, at that time, as a rare, intercultural marriage. My father would create his own medical research career. (Then I see siblings here.) 01-00:01:44 Farrell: Can you actually tell me what your parents’ names were? 01-00:01:45 Freeman: Oh, right. My mother’s Elizabeth Freeman, Elizabeth Gignoux Hulse , and my father is Gustave Freeman. 01-00:01:56 Farrell: Okay. What was your mother’s occupation or, yeah, what did she do? 01-00:02:06 Freeman: She was a social worker. But like that time, then my father decided she shouldn’t work, which was probably a mistake. She started that again after we had all left the house. 01-00:02:24 Farrell: Okay. Did you have siblings? 01-00:02:28 Freeman: Yeah, an older brother, Jonathan, and a younger sister, Phyllis, who were— Jonathan was probably born in Chicago, and Phyllis was born in New York City. 01-00:02:50 Farrell: Okay. 01-00:02:50 Freeman: N.B. I asked my sister. 01-00:02:62 Farrell: So you were born in Manhattan, but were you raised there as well? Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley 2 01-00:03:06 Freeman: Just the first year, and then we went back to Chicago. 01-00:03:12 Farrell: To Chicago, okay.