Editor’s note: We’re republishing some of our best reads of 2025. This exploration of Oakland’s estuary was a beautiful swan song from our Nature and the City reporter, a self-described “water geek,” Callie Rhoades. “Thank you for this extensive report on the state of the Oakland estuary and shoreline,” one reader wrote, thanking us for highlighting the work of “so many partners who are dedicated to cleaning up debris and maintaining a cleaner estuary, against all odds.” This story originally appeared in September.
One recent August morning, the sun was just rising when I was up and out the door of my apartment, heading to the Oakland estuary. Not everyone would be excited to get up at “oh-god-thirty” to tromp out to the bay’s shoreline and strap themselves to a wobbly paddleboard to hunt down piles of garbage. But as an environmental reporter and water nerd, I was pumped.
I’ve been out on the water before to check out garbage cleanup efforts by a large Army Corps of Engineers vessel, so I thought I knew what was ahead of me. But what I encountered that morning was something more extensive — a secret world of hazardous waste and marine debris lurking just out of view of everyday Oaklanders and eluding scattershot attempts at enforcement…