U.S. Wildlife Officials Seek Ideas to Restore San Francisco Bay
WetlandThree islets surrounded by narrow sloughs, grassy marshes and gray mudflats lying a stone's throw from Redwood City office towers are the focus of the largest restoration project in the history of San Francisco Bay.
Federal wildlife officials are asking for ideas as they design a recovery plan for Bair Island, a swampy, mucky ecological wonderland that is considered vital habitat for two rare creatures found only in the bay. It is home to dozens of other species, including harbor seals that give birth and nurse their pups in its sheltered backwaters.
The private Peninsula Open Space Trust last year turned the islands over to the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, where managers have begun gathering information and preparing to launch a two-year process to plot the recovery of this once-and-future salt marsh.
While details of the restoration are yet to be ironed out, biologists expect to gradually breach the dikes that first converted marshland and seasonal wetlands into dry ground more than a century ago. The bay will do the rest, flooding former industrial salt ponds and creating a healthy environment for pickleweed, shorebirds, fish and countless creatures that thrive in tidal waters.
Most important to federal wildlife officials are the two rarest: the California clapper rail, a secretive bird that nests only on the edges of San Francisco Bay, and the salt marsh harvest mouse, a nocturnal rodent believed to be the only mammal to drink nothing but salt water. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is under a Congressional directive to restore Bair Island on behalf of these two endangered species.
"Our primary goal is restoration of tidal marshes for those critters," said Clyde Morris, manager of the wildlife refuge.
But there are other goals, and practical benefits for people who live near the bay. Letting the tide flow freely in and around the islands will scour natural waterways and could reduce the need to dredge Redwood Creek, a shipping channel for the Redwood City port. And natural tidal action is expected to eliminate many of the island's stagnant pools, mosquito hatcheries that are a bane to residents of nearby Redwood Shores.
At a recent hearing, neighbors of Bair Island asked refuge officials to preserve opportunities for recreation as they do restoration work. Trails on the innermost island are popular with runners, bird watchers and dog owners, and duck hunters have prowled the outer islands for generations.
John Fritz, who has sailed, camped and hunted on the islands for most of his 55 years, urged federal biologists not to convert Bair into a bird sanctuary alone.
"It's a refuge, but it's also in the middle of 7 or 8 million people," he said. "My biggest concern is that the opportunity for waterfowl hunting is as relevant as anything else."
Others differ, and all these opinions are being sought as the wildlife service prepares a draft plan expected to be published next winter. Public meetings to gather more input will be held in the spring of 2001.
Ralph Nobles, who helped lead a community battle that saved Bair Island from becoming a mini-city in 1982, envisions docent tours of the outer islands once the endangered species have established stable populations.
"The main reason it was purchased was for the benefit of wildlife, not for humans," he said.
"People realize its value more and more as time passes, as congestion gets worse, pollution gets worse," Nobles added. "To have an area like Bair Island raises the spirits. It's a prize that we're all going to be so pleased with in the future."
Even Fritz, who is skeptical of federal management of the island, welcomes the environmental intervention. But he cautions others not to look for convenient pathways and comfortable picnic spots. The outer islands will always be relatively inaccessible to all but sailors and the most intrepid kayakers.
"A marshland is kind of mucky," Fritz said. "It's not romantic. It's not blue water in St. John. Don't go looking for that."
For more information, to be added to the mailing list or to submit written comments on the Bair Island restoration planning effort, write to Clyde Morris, Refuge Manager, Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, P.O. Box 524, Newark, Calif. 94560. Written comments for the "scoping" phase are due Friday.