Eden Shores, Hayward, California -
In January 2020, I made a return trip to the Eden Shores development, an area I photographed in 2010 and 2011. Eden Shores is a relatively new housing development that was enabled by the construction of a substantial, highway-grade bridge over the main East Bay railroad line. It presents as a herniation of development intruding into what were, other than old salt works, previously undeveloped baylands. It makes for an interesting visual contrast with the surrounding wildlife refuge and a cautionary example of how willing developers are to build at or very near current day sea level. Eden Shores features a rather unique “cat moat” along its western edge. As I understand it, this was designed to serve as a barrier separating domestic animals from the wildlife refuge.
Since I photographed there a decade ago, Eden Shores has been joined along the bayland edge by a rather large FEDEX distribution center. The Bay Trail winds past this facility before turning into the housing development. I am photographically drawn to what I think are a set of fallow duck hunting ponds immediately west of Eden Shores and its cat moat. The seasonal ebb and flow of rainwater in this area seems to create a lively set of colors and textures from the ground surface there, aided no doubt by residual salt in the soil.
I am taking these documentary photographs under a Special Use Permit from the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge. Kite flying is prohibited over the Eden Landing Ecological Reserve without a Special Use Permit.
Eden Shores, Hayward, California -
In January 2020, I made a return trip to the Eden Shores development, an area I photographed in 2010 and 2011. Eden Shores is a relatively new housing development that was enabled by the construction of a substantial, highway-grade bridge over the main East Bay railroad line. It presents as a herniation of development intruding into what were, other than old salt works, previously undeveloped baylands. It makes for an interesting visual contrast with the surrounding wildlife refuge and a cautionary example of how willing developers are to build at or very near current day sea level. Eden Shores features a rather unique “cat moat” along its western edge. As I understand it, this was designed to serve as a barrier separating domestic animals from the wildlife refuge.
Since I photographed there a decade ago, Eden Shores has been joined along the bayland edge by a rather large FEDEX distribution center. The Bay Trail winds past this facility before turning into the housing development. I am photographically drawn to what I think are a set of fallow duck hunting ponds immediately west of Eden Shores and its cat moat. The seasonal ebb and flow of rainwater in this area seems to create a lively set of colors and textures from the ground surface there, aided no doubt by residual salt in the soil.
I am taking these documentary photographs under a Special Use Permit from the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge. Kite flying is prohibited over the Eden Landing Ecological Reserve without a Special Use Permit.