Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
while the cement will hold the briquettes together just long enough for
young oysters to make it on their own. Seament can also be used to build
“reef balls,” resembling hollow, table-sized wiffle balls. Reef balls have been
used around the world to attract corals and establish mangrove stands.
Both techniques could provide oysters with a settling surface without add-
ing permanent fill to the bay.
All of these techniques have been used at the Marin Rod and Gun
Club restoration site since 2004—attracting thousands of baby oysters
and doubling the native Olympia Oyster population present in the estu-
ary. The oysters are also providing a hoped-for side benefit: eelgrass from
an adjacent restoration project is growing better between the shell reefs
than on its own. In 2010, local experts began similar experiments on the
opposite shore, near the Berkeley marina.
Though the ecological well-being of the bay and its watershed may be the
primary goal of restoring eelgrass beds and tidal wetlands, and of giving
endangered species the habitat they need to thrive, the well-being of the
human populace is also important. People—what they do, how they live,
and the choices they make—are essential in any restoration package. If
people care about the bay, they'll fight for it. Those who walk their dog on
the beach, bike along levee-top trails, see Marsh Hawks and Great Blue
Herons hunting along the shore, or kayak or boogie board across the water
will come to value the bay's contribution to their quality of life.
Over the years, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development
Commission has made it easier for the region to get down to the bay and
touch the water. Four decades ago, when citizens “saved the bay” and cre-
ated BCDC, there were only a handful of tiny parks and piers along the
shoreline. Indeed, one of the mandates of the new commission was to pro-
vide more public access to the bay's coastline. By 1989, the commission
had helped open more than 100 miles of shoreline for recreation. Today,
the public can visit over 300 miles of bayshore, the centerpieces of 135
shoreline parks. In all, these bayside parklands encompass 57,000 acres of
open space—an area roughly twice the size of the city of San Francisco.
Residents of some of the densest, most urbanized quarters of the Bay
Area can now walk their dogs beneath the signature red bridge at San
Francisco's Crissy Field, stroll through the heart of the busiest container
shipping port on the Pacific coast along Oakland's Middle Harbor shore,
or marvel at muddy future wetlands from paths skirting Marin's former
Hamilton Army Airfield. Some of the region's little league baseball teams
