Lake Merritt is a large tidal lagoon that lies just east of downtown Oakland, California

Oakland, California

Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...

. It is surrounded by parkland and city neighborhoods. A popular 3.1 mile (5 km) walking and jogging path runs along its perimeter. It is historically significant as the United States' first official wildlife refuge, designated in 1870.
The lake is formed where several creeks empty into San Francisco Bay

San Francisco Bay

San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...

. It was surrounded by 1000 acres (4 km²) of wetlands in the time when Ohlone Indians fished, hunted and gathered food along its shores.