USACE-San Francisco dredging turns channel mud into tidal marsh wetlands restoration

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 10 2008 - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers San Francisco District joined the Port of Redwood City, U.S. Congresswoman’s Anna Eshoo’s office (D-Palo Alto), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Save the Bay, the Bay Planning Coalition and others as the a clamshell dredge started digging deep into the shipping channel at the Port of Redwood City to deepen the navigation waterways which keeps ships and commerce flowing through the channel.

The 200,000 cubic yards of Bay dredge material from two-mile shipping channel will be spread on Inner Blair Island to help raise a portion of the island by more than two feet and create a tidal marsh wetlands. Bair Island, the largest nature reserve in the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, once consisted of 3,000 acres of rich tidal marsh.

"This project is an outstanding example of federal, state and local governments joining forces with non governmental organizations and private citizens to achieve a common goal," said U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Deputy District Commander Maj. Adam T. Edwards. "And, shows what we can do when we all come together with a shared vision."

The concept of recycling Bay mud for local restoration is not new. Dredge materials from the Port of Oakland have been spread as far away as the Sonoma Baylands. But this is the first time a project has benefited from such a close source of soil, and it's a first for the South Bay.