Board Confirms Max Korten as Park District GM After Flow Trail Clash

The East Bay Regional Park District board made its biggest personnel move in years on Aug. 4, unanimously installing Max Korten as permanent general manager — and heard an hour of impassioned public testimony from conservationists and youth mountain bikers at war over a proposed flow trail in Wildcat Canyon.

• Max Korten locked in as permanent GM at $389K after serving as acting leader for more than a year; board praised labor relations turnaround, budget transparency and conservation focus

• Wildcat Canyon Flow Trail debate packed public comment — Friends of Wildcat Canyon Park, youth bike teams and BAMBI's 16,000 members clashed over recreation vs. the park's 1985 conservation mandate

• $1.48M Crown Beach sewer overhaul awarded to separate the district's most-visited park from aging shared infrastructure

• Measure WW progress report accepted, showing $348.6M leveraged beyond the original $500M bond — but calls for a forensic audit of former GM spending persist

• Over a dozen fires hit district parks in one month, with the district helicopter logging 100-plus water drops on the 1,000-acre "Little Fire" near Shadow Cliffs

More than a dozen residents filled the public comment period with dueling testimony over a proposed 1.4-mile engineered downhill mountain bike flow trail in Wildcat Canyon Regional Park — a project that has become a proxy fight over the district's dual mandate to provide recreation and protect natural lands.