Walnut Creek Metropolitan Park features a nature play area and traditional playground as well as a large off-leash area, and a multitude of hilly, meandering trails popular with mountain bikers. PARD recently installed its first nature play space in conjunction with a traditional playground replacement at Walnut Creek Metropolitan Park. Bond funding was earmarked for this site at the same time that a grant opportunity with the St. David’s Foundation was announced, allowing the Department to leverage resources and support the Cities Connecting Children to Nature initiative in the creation of the nature play installation. This large 290 acre park is a great place for nature play, mountain biking, bird watching, hiking, and splashing in the creek; there are baseball fields. Walnut Creek Metro Park is part of a larger network of parks and trails linked together to protect the Walnut Creek water shed.