The salt ponds have much to offer in all three areas. In the March issue of Bay Crossings we’ll offer a special in-depth feature; these pictures are to whet your appetite.

The history of salt mining on San Francisco Bay goes back to the Gold Rush days and features some of the Bay’s most colorful characters. Generations before Silicon Valley the redoubtable Bay salt farmer pioneers were developing technology unique in the world to deal with the special challenges of harvesting salt from the Bay.

As these pictures show, the salt ponds are spectacularly beautiful. Seen from the air, bacteria in the ponds creates intense colors that present astonishingly beautiful vistas of crenellated Mondarin patterns.

But the most exciting part of the salt ponds story is the extraordinary opportunity presented by the possibility that they might be in large part sold to the State. The owner of the salt ponds, Cargill, is rumored to be willing to part with over 10,000 acres of salt ponds and private negotiations are said to be underway between the company and state agencies. If it happens, restoration of the salt ponds would be by far the most significant step ever taken to return the Bay to its natural state.