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Restoring Bay Area Wetlands
Over the past 150 years, nearly 95 percent of San Francisco’s Bay Delta Estuary’s historic tidal wetlands have been destroyed. This has resulted in wildlife losses, water quality reductions and decreased natural flood control.
To restore these wetlands and tidal marshes, I brokered a landmark public-private partnership to purchase thousands of acres of salt ponds along the San Francisco Bay shore and Napa River.
The Agreement provided for the acquisition of 16,500 acres from the Cargill Corporation for $100 million by public agencies and private foundations including the Hewlett, Moore and Packard foundations and the Goldman, and Resources Legacy Foundation, as well as $8 million in federal funding. An additional 8,000 acres of wetlands will revert to public ownership and be restored when Cargill ceases salt production around its Newark, California, plant.
Under the agreement, Cargill is responsible for removing any hazardous waste that may exist on the sites and leaving the ponds in a condition that would allow them to be discharged to the Bay under a permit from the Regional Water Quality Control Board.
This restoration is key to the survival of several endangered animals native to the Bay’s salt marshes, and will provide important habitat for harbor seals, young steelhead trout, and oysters. Wetlands restoration in the South Bay will also preserve the best remaining wild groves and riparian habitat in the Bay Area.
In March 2006, via a series of orchestrated levee breaches, several former Cargill ponds were opened to tidal action for the first time in 60 years. So far more than 12,000 acres of wetlands have begun the restoration process, including the 479 acres of salt ponds opened to Bay water. It was a major milestone in the largest wetlands restoration effort on the West Coast.
Since the initial restoration activities have begun and pond salinity has been reduced, Refuge staff have already observed a 100 percent increase in waterfowl and a 130 percent increase in shorebirds’ use of these ponds.
The long-term restoration planning process is a broad based effort involving technical consultants, scientists with both local and international expertise, and the active participation of local stakeholders who meet regularly to provide input on the design of the project. The three goals of the long-term restoration plan are to restore habitat, improve flood protection and increase public access and wildlife-dependent recreation in the South Bay.
For more information about the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project, please visit the project's website.
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