A $1.5 million project to restore two eroding beaches at Blackie's Pasture will begin Tuesday, Sept. 8, using sand, gravel and logs rather than the concrete seawalls and riprap that line much of Richardson Bay, The Ark reported.

The work, formally called the Greenwood Beach Restoration Project, covers about 1.4 acres of shoreline at one of Tiburon's most-walked stretches of waterfront. Crews will place native vegetation and natural materials including sand, gravel and cobble to rebuild the beaches and shield the tidal marsh behind them from further retreat, according to the Town of Tiburon's capital projects page.

The approach is known as a "living shoreline." Instead of armoring the coast with rock or concrete, it mimics the beach's natural structure so it can absorb wave energy while providing habitat for estuarine organisms. The town says the project is meant to show that bay beaches designed this way are a viable long-term alternative to hardening.

Construction is expected to take four to six weeks, putting completion around mid-October. Work must fall outside the nesting and birding season set by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, The Ark reported when the grant was approved.

Funding comes from multiple sources. The Tiburon Town Council voted unanimously on Oct. 16, 2024, to tentatively accept a $1.4 million grant from the California State Coastal Conservancy. Preliminary designs were funded through a partnership between the Marin Community Foundation and the Coastal Conservancy. The full project is budgeted at $1.5 million in the town's adopted FY2026-27 Capital Improvement Program.

Before construction, the County of Marin placed fluorescent-dyed sand tracers at four locations on the site to track how sediment moves during storms. The dye is environmentally safe, according to the town.

The beach project is one piece of a broader climate strategy. Tiburon is separately developing a shoreline adaptation plan, funded by a nearly $600,000 grant from the California Ocean Protection Council received in August 2025, with the planning process expected to wrap up by January 2028. Town climate official Grace Ledwith told the Marin IJ in July that the goal is "to create a long-term road map, so to speak, that helps Tiburon make informed decisions about future investments, improving community resilience, and positioning us to pursue funding to implement adaptation strategies …"

Blackie's Pasture takes its name from a former Presidio cavalry horse who grazed the meadow for 28 years. A bronze sculpture of Blackie by artist Albert Guibara has stood at the site since 1995. The sculpture is visible from Tiburon Boulevard along the waterfront path.

No public meetings about the project are scheduled as of late August. Construction begins Sept. 8 at 1 Blackie's Pasture Road.