The Presidio of San Francisco is 2.5% of the area of the city itself.
In 1995 it will be handed over to the National Park Service by the US Army.

The Presidio will become the largest Urban Park to ever be converted from
Military use.
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A Very Honorable Discharge

The Presidio's closure results from a recommendation contained in the December
1988 report of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission, appointed by the
Secretary of Defense.  The Commission recommended that the Presidio and 85
other installations be closed or realigned.  Of the 86 bases affected
nationwide, only the 214-year-old Presidio would stay under government control
as provided by the 1972 legislation establishing GGNRA.

Quickly, the Presidio became the most controversial of the bases slated for
closure.  Congresswomen Barbara Boxer and Nancy Pelosi - both strong supporters
of the GGNRA - contested the Base Closure and Realignment Commission's
estimates of cost savings resulting from the closure.  They pointed out that
unlike any of the other bases proposed for closure, the Presidio cannot be sold
to generate revenue for the government.  They also pointed out that the Federal
government will still be responsible for the costs of managing the post in the
future.  

In November 1989, Congress voted to affirm the base closures, including the
Presidio.  But, through language contained in the 1990 Defense Appropriations
Bill, Congress recommended that the Interior and Defense Departments develop
agreements to allow Letterman Army Medical Center and the Sixth Army Reserve
functions to continue, and to arrange Army access to the Commissary, Child
Development Center, and the housing at the Presidio.  

The Department of Defense and the Department of the Interior are examining the
issue of some continued Army uses of the post, beyond the 1995 date now
specified for full closure.  A special study may be needed to evaluate an
extended military presence and provide for a smooth transition from Army to
National Park Service management.  Whatever the outcome of deliberations on
this issue, the National Park Service will eventually manage all or most of the
Presidio.  As a result, the Presidio planning process will address the future
of the entire post.


How the Presidio Became a Park

When the Presidio was proposed for closure in 1988, many people were surprised
to learn the post was part of GGNRA, and has been since 1972.  But for many
others, the Presidio's inclusion within GGNRA represented a triumph of
conservation.

Beginning as early as the 1870s, the Presidio has been a temptation for real
estate speculators, developers, and entrepreneurs.  But thanks to its vital
importance to the nation's defense, the Presidio always remained secure in
military hands.  However, in the late 1960s, the specter of an abandoned
Presidio and the potential loss of its sweeping views, open space, and historic
values led   already alert Bay Area environmentalists to press Congressman
Phillip Burton to include the Presidio within the boundaries of the GGNRA Q a
new urban National Park he had proposed.  Their efforts were successful, and
when GGNRA was created in October 1972, the Presidio was guaranteed a method to
eventually take its place as a major portion of the new park.




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