Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
we'd done before, and for what mix of new tidal wetlands and existing
managed ponds we needed,” says Amy Hutzel, manager of the San Fran-
cisco Bay Area Conservancy, a state agency that has since played a key role
in securing properties for restoration. This mix had been a sticking point
for many earlier projects.
The region then launched a new organization to help coordinate im-
plementation of the goals. The San Francisco Bay Joint Venture would
consist of a partnership of on-the-ground wetland, wildlife, and shoreline
managers from both government and nonprofit organizations. Its work
also embraces national U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service efforts to sustain the
wetlands, coasts, and waterways that ducks and geese depend on as they
migrate through the United States and Canada.
But the real impetus behind bay wetland restoration sprang from Cali-
fornians' growing support for clean water. “People liked projects that
made the water environment better, that gave them clean, safe, reliable
water—whether they were drinking it from the tap or touching it on the
bay shoreline,” says Steve Ritchie, who once oversaw regional water quality
and supply programs and later ran major restoration programs both up-
and downstream. “Everyone thought restoration was a worthwhile invest-
ment.” Voters overwhelmingly approved money for delta restoration in
1996 with Proposition 204, and for bay restoration in 2000 with Proposi-
tions 12, 13, 40, and 84. “It was a sea change in our approach to clean water
and environmental quality, the beginning of the serious age of restora-
tion,” says Ritchie.
Since then, every region of the bayshore has benefited from new sci-
ence, new partnerships, and new funding for restoration. According to the
4,000
3,500
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
prior to
1986
1990
1995
2000
2005
2008
Figure 16. Acres of salt pond and other habitat opened to tidal action since the
1980s. (S.F. Estuary Institute)
