McLaughlin Eastshore State Park protects a long stretch of San Francisco Bay shoreline along the East Bay, linking urban waterfront parkland with wildlife habitat across 1,854 acres and 8.5 miles of shore. Its wetlands, marshes, mudflats, and reclaimed lands reflect both ecological value and a long struggle over the bay edge’s future. Beginning in the 1960s, conservationists including Sylvia McLaughlin and Dwight Steele helped defeat major development plans and pressed for a continuous public shoreline park. Bond funding and public acquisition in the late 1990s made the park possible. Renamed for McLaughlin in 2012, it remains a product of grassroots activism, habitat restoration, and public access.