The partners of the San Francisco Bay Joint Venture share a larger common vision for protecting a total of over 200,000 acres of wetlands in the nine counties that surround San Francisco Bay. The goals, habitat types and strategy for the implementation of this vision/plan can be found in Restoring the Estuary.
San Pablo Bay, the north end of San Francisco Bay, offers a unique opportunity to connect large sections of land to protect and restore wetlands in this densely populated Bay Area that have not yet been urbanized.
In 2005, partners from the San Francisco Bay Joint Venture who have been actively working to protect and restore wetlands in San Pablo Bay came together to find ways to educate the traveling public about the wetlands and projects along the 17 mile stretch of State Highway 37, now known as the North Bay Flyway Highway.
"Estuary" - an estuary is a place where the river meets the sea, where fresh and salt water mix
Brief History
The San Francisco Bay Estuary is the nation's second largest and perhaps the most biologically significant estuary on the Pacific Coast. It has also suffered some of the most extensive degradation of any estuary in the nation. Close to 85 percent of the wetland habitats that were once here have been lost, and much of what remains has been degraded. It wasn’t until the late 1980s that the cost of this loss was acknowledged and a concerted effort to protect and restore these important ecosystems began to emerge.
Much of the land in San Pablo Bay was diked for agriculture in the late 1800s to provide food for the dairy industry and hay for the horses in San Francisco. Earthen levees were built to prevent the tidal flow of water into the wetlands, claiming large tracts of flat land from the Bay. Over the years, these lands have subsided (dropping below sea level), industry has changed, and it is now no longer profitable to use these former wetlands for farming. Since 1996, Joint Venture partners have been acquiring lands to what now amounts to more than 40,000 acres of land for protection or restoration. During this period of time, some of the land has been restored to wetlands, some is just beginning to be restored, and the rest is either in the planning stages or remains as active agriculture and cattle grazing.
Wetland Habitat and Other Values
Wetland Habitat Types »
The Bay Estuary’s ecological value lies mainly in the wetlands along its edge, and in the riparian habitats of streams and rivers feeding into it. These habitats are essential to the health of a myriad of fish and wildlife populations as well as important feeding and resting sites for the millions of shorebirds and waterfowl that stop here during their annual “winged migration” along the Pacific Flyway between Alaska and South America.
In addition to the critical role they play as spawning habitat for freshwater and marine fish, food sources and cover for birds and other wildlife, wetlands play many vital roles for people and their communities. Wetlands protect shorelines, cleanse pollutants from runoff, slow the flow of floodwater and provide significant economic returns for their recreational values.
Wetlands Along the North Edge of San Francisco Bay
Whether you are lucky enough to be someone who commutes along Highway 37, someone who uses that route to get to the Sierras, a NASCAR fan, or a traveler who happens upon it, you likely are aware of the wetlands as you pass between Vallejo and the turn off to Highway 121 and the Infineon Raceway. But perhaps you don’t know that you have entered a National Wildlife Refuge there consisting of more than 13,000 acres.
Between the turnoff to Highway 121 and the Petaluma River sits the 3,500 acres of wetlands, farm fields and associated uplands comprising the region known as the Sonoma Baylands, of which the 2,327-acre Sears Point Restoration Project is a part. The Sears Point Restoration Project is the single largest acquisition since the State’s purchase of the Cargill salt ponds in 2003. This project represents the Bay Area’s sole opportunity to restore an entire, connected mosaic of habitats including tidal marsh, seasonal wetlands, streams, vernal pools, and upland grasslands.
Between the Petaluma River and Highway 101 North you’ll find a patchwork of properties including: Hamilton/Bel Marin Keys to the south, and Bahia to the North.
"MISSION 37"
What started as a conversation about how to better inform the public about the value of wetlands and the amazing work being done in the North Bay became an outreach campaign with 4 components:
- The first involves this web site which we hope reaches a new audience and plants a seed of interest that will sprout for a lifetime;
- The second includes audio – a tour of the projects that can be downloaded and listened to while driving or simply heard while sitting at your computer miles away – and 90 second radio programs/podcasts that give voice to some of the people involved in wetlands protection and tell more of the stories about wetlands;
- The third takes advantage of existing signs to promote the project and will result in more interpretive signs for those who can get out on trails in the wetlands and enjoy them;
- The fourth is about partnering with local government to acknowledge the bookend cities of Novato and Vallejo as the official “gateway to your wetlands”. (to be adopted as a resolution in March of 2006, and dedicated in an official public ceremony in May)
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About the Project