Editorial: Approval of WildCare plan is cause for celebration in Marin

WildCare’s long and winding journey to expand and upgrade its facility appears to be coming to an impressive end.

The San Rafael Planning Commission has approved the longstanding wildlife hospital and education center’s plans to renovate the campus where it has built its program and services for more than six decades.

In fact, the program has been active for so long, many old-timers still call it the “Boyd Museum,” its former name recognizing Marin explorer and philanthropist Louise A. Boyd.

WildCare is a longstanding community fixture. Located next to Albert Park, its tiny campus has been a place where people can bring orphaned or injured birds and animals and learn about local wildlife.

The nonprofit’s journey has included several crossroads, financial and geographical, where it considered relocating to a much larger site off Smith Ranch Road at the north end of San Rafael. But the estimated cost was far beyond its financial capabilities.

There’s no question that the center is sort of shoehorned into its current site, just over one-third acre along Mahon Creek.

Still, WildCare continued its important work, rescuing animals brought to them for care and serving as an educational resource, teaching others about Marin’s birds, lizards and mammals that share our landscape.

WildCare has raised $8 million for its project, which will include preserving the historic Terwilliger Building, named after Marin’s famed naturalist Elizabeth Terwilliger. The building was constructed in 1879 as a parish hall for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and moved to the site after the church moved to Court Street.

The new construction will involve building a tiered three-story building, providing more modern accommodations and outdoor cages. A new bridge will be built across the creek.

The improvements will not only modernize its facility, but expand its work, which in 2022 involved treating 3,422 injured, ill and orphaned “wild patients.” A survival rate of nearly 80% is the result of the center’s dedicated staff and caring volunteers. Just as important is its Terwilliger Nature Education Programs that reach more than 40,00 Bay Area youngsters and adults every year.

In addition, WildCare has been on the front lines in increasing public awareness about problems facing Marin’s wildlife.

The city’s approval finally answers the questions about the nonprofit’s future.

It is also recognition by the city that WildCare is an asset for downtown and the community.

The nonprofit’s executive director Ellyn Weisel calls the city’s OK “a critical milestone.”

She’s right.

After many years of focusing on a possible move to Smith Ranch Road, WildCare in December decided it would focus on making better use of its current site.

Its design, in appearance and function, does just that and drew praise from city commissioners.

Determining the right future for WildCare has been a bumpy ride. But that path didn’t stop its  staff and volunteers from taking care of the squirrels, jack rabbits, fawns, owls, ducks and other birds, foxes, raccoons and skunks brought to the center to be rescued.

Those “wild patients” may have been injured, struck by a car, flown into a window or fallen out of their nest. WildCare has long been there to nurse them back to health.

WildCare has an important job to do, taking care of Marin’s “wild” inhabitants who need help and can’t take care of themselves. Long-lasting community support, memberships and volunteers has made the center a Marin fixture.

The commission’s approval underscores that importance and mission.