RECLAMATION
Dumbarton Quarry: Evolution of a Mine and Its Public Benefits By Dave Brown, Principal/President, Benchmark Resources
Before: This December 2008 view shows the operation at the final stages of mining. The plant site sits aside the quarry.
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n August 28, 2021, CalCIMA Member DeSilva Gates’ Dumbarton Quarry opened its gates to new traffic - motorhomes and campers. The first phase in transformation of the site to the Dumbarton Quarry Campground regional park was completed with an RV campground, camp store, 200-seat event amphitheater, playground, and bicycle paths and hiking trails. The East Bay Regional Park District will manage the site for public recreational use and heralded the occasion as “the first public park opened in the region in decades.”
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Reclamation of the quarry for a campground was not the original plan. Dumbarton Quarry began its life in 1957 like most quarries, simply as a local source of quality rock located in close proximity to regional construction projects. Over the years, critical infrastructure in the East Bay and beyond were built with rock from the quarry. Dumbarton Quarry supplied local aggregates—shortening haul distances and reducing air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions long before there was environmental vernacular for these benefits. The quarry provided material for repairing damage
caused by natural disasters like the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and the 1991 Oakland Hills fire when considerations for response and resiliency to environmental disasters were just beginning to become recognized as important elements of community planning. Federal and state environmental laws, including the California Surface Mining and Reclamation Act (SMARA), and changes in regional and local land use plans all appeared after the quarry began its operations. For compliance with SMARA’s reclamation plan requirements, reclamation of the site with a lake and park was proposed. The Conveyor • 2022 Winter Issue
