A nature exploration area and gathering space is finally open and ready for the Ocean View-Merced Heights-Ingleside community.
The road to build the 2,000-square-foot space for kids to climb and explore in the Brotherhood Way Open Space was long and bumpy for the volunteer group Friends of OMI Mini Parks, part of the group We Are OMI.
“The OMI doesn't have a whole lot of community gathering spaces, and when we were thinking about that, I'm like, ‘Oh, wouldn't it be nice for a place to just be in nature and have a place to sit and relax or to play.’ The greenway is kind of like that,” Johanna Lopez Miyaki said.
Tucked between the Head & Brotherhood Mini Park and Sisterhood Gardens, the natural playground is made up of strategically placed logs that encourage children to interact in creative ways like jumping from stump to stump or playing with soft wood chips that lie across the bottom. There is also a section for those passing by to stop and rest or gather for events.
First pitched in 2022, the group won funding from the Community Challenge Grant in 2023. In 2024, they lost their fiscal sponsor in the San Francisco Parks Alliance after the alliance imploded. Their fortune began to turn around in 2026 thanks to city partners, namely the San Francisco Children & Nature.
Crews work on OMI Nature Exploration Area in September. | SF Children & Nature
The area broke ground on Sept. 1 with help from landscaping company SF Landscapes and logs donated by the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department and took roughly three weeks to complete.
SF Landscapes has worked on other exploration areas across the Bay Area, including ones at McLaren Park and the Randall Museum in San Francisco and the Anna Yates Middle School in Emeryville. SF Landscapes owner, Brett Stephens, said the team used concept plans to create a space that encourages play and imagination.
“SFL is very proud to be a part of these public spaces projects that bring the community together and enrich the youth's experience with the natural world,” Stephens said.
Lopez Miyaki said KALW Public Media, where she is a community engagement manager and producer, and help from SF Children & Nature, SF Department of Public Works and Rec and Park provided consistent help to complete the project.
KALW signed on as the fiscal sponsor for the project’s $158,000 grant.
SF Children & Nature’s Maria Durana worked as the unofficial project manager and, through the department, supported We Are OMI with the proposal and design and visioning process, along with sourcing materials from Rec and Park.
Public Works mulched and pruned the area and sealed and stained the logs. Thirty-six Lick-Wilmerding High School students volunteered to spend a day helping Public Works.
Durana said their aim was to create an inviting space for kids to explore rather than direct them exactly how to play.
“We want to help change that by mobilizing parents, community organizations, city agencies and residents to create more opportunities for children to play, explore and connect with nature right in their own neighborhoods,” Durana said. “This project is a great example of what we can accomplish when community advocacy, funding, city agencies, nonprofits and volunteers come together around a shared vision.”
While the area is open, We Are OMI is still working on other aspects like interpretive signage. Due to the grant, the space is only leased for one year, but Lopez Miyaki hopes it will remain a permanent attraction in the OMI.
They also plan to host monthly public programs at the park and are kicking off the project’s opening on Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon with activities like rock painting, nature play and remarks from District 11 Supervisor Chyanne Chen.
“It's a lovely little pocket in our neighborhood where you can get out, be in nature and kind of get back to some of the things that I think we've gotten away with living in a city like San Francisco,” Lopez Miyaki said.
