Bay
Crossings Environment
Wetland
Restoration Key to Bringing Back The Bay
Audubon’s
San Francisco Bay Restoration Program Launches Wetland Restoration
Effort
By Guest Columnist
Debbie Drake Director, Audubon San Francisco Bay Restoration
Program
There’s nothing quite
like San Francisco Bay. From quiet inland marshes to deep open water,
the Bay enhances the quality of life for seven million residents and
provides a unique natural experience for millions of annual visitors.
San Francisco Bay is one of the great estuaries of the world, providing
habitat to a rich complex of fish and wildlife including over twenty
species currently threatened with extinction. The Bay also serves as the
lifeblood for shipping, fishing, farming, recreation and commerce in the
nation’s fourth largest metropolitan region.
But the Bay needs our
help. Today, nearly 80 percent of San
Francisco Bay’s original wetland habitats have been diked and filled
for farming, grazing, salt extraction, building and other development.
The Bay’s wetlands are its kidneys, filtering toxic pollution and
excess nutrient runoff that would otherwise destroy this fragile
ecosystem. Wetlands also serve as a natural buffer protecting scores of
local communities from flood surges and erosion. As Bay Area wetlands
disappear, the Bay’s sustainability diminishes as well.
Together, we can bring
back the Bay—make it healthy again. Our goal is to restore 100,000
acres of Bay wetlands and associated habitats over the next twenty
years. The Baylands Ecosystem Goals Report serves as the road map
to guide this public and private effort. Released in 1999 by a group of
over 100 scientists, the Goals Report represents the best
scientific thinking about restoring Bay Area wetlands.
Restoration goals have
been developed for 124 sites around the Bay encompassing over 100,000
acres, or roughly half of San Francisco Bay’s lost wetland acres. This
will be a monumental effort with a price tag of $2 billion or more. But
the benefits of re-creating so much wetland habitat are enormous. By
investing in wetlands restoration now, we can clean our water, preserve
habitat for fish and wildlife, and prevent flooding. The restoration
will also create 150 square miles of attractive open space—for
swimming, fishing, wildlife watching and contemplation—in the heart of
a major urban area.
The time to act is now.
Population growth and development have put the Bay Area under pressure
as never before. Land that isn’t protected will soon be developed. But
the region’s commitment to quality of life and penchant for innovation
provide a unique opportunity. Today we have the knowledge, the partners
and the potential to restore San Francisco Bay. It took over four
generations to fill and pollute the Bay, it could take only one
generation—this one—to bring it back.
For more information about
Audubon’s San Francisco Bay Restoration Program visit our web site at www.AudubonSFbay.com
