At right, a great egret

The San Francisco Estuary Project discussed the issue for several years and in 1993, in its Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan for the San Francisco Bay–Delta Estuary, recommended that a regional wetlands management plan be created and that it be based on habitat goals for the baylands ecosystem.

The San Francisco Bay Area Wetlands Ecosystem Goals Project was launched in mid-1995 with the formation of the Resource Managers Group (RMG) to oversee the effort. This group is made up of senior biologists, ecologists, and managers from the Coastal Conservancy, Department of Fish and Game, Department of Water Resources, Napa County Mosquito Abatement District, San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, National Marine Fisheries Service, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The RMG is assisted by volunteer scientists organized into species focus teams, a hydrogeomorphology team, and a science review group. The Goals Project covers the South and Central Bay regions, San Pablo Bay, and Suisun Marsh and Bay.

In establishing habitat goals, the focus teams first selected 121 key species to represent the fish and wildlife of the baylands ecosystem and identified their habitats. Next they reviewed historical and current information about each species, documenting how each uses its habitat. Then the teams prepared habitat recommendations and, in January 1998, presented them to other project participants. Based on these recommendations and discussions, the RMG developed habitat goals and prepared a draft report.

That draft report calls for sweeping changes in the habitat mix of the baylands ecosystem. It recommends that 60,000 acres of tidal marsh be restored, preferably in large, connected habitat patches for species that are of special concern, such as the salt marsh harvest mouse and the California clapper rail. This restoration would take place mainly along the Bay shore and at mouths of streams -- for the benefit of fishes -- and would include such natural features as salt pannes, tidal ponds, and large tidal channels that help to support large numbers of shorebirds and waterfowl.

Other goals include restoring or enhancing salt ponds, seasonal wetlands, and managed marsh habitat to support bird populations better; improving riparian vegetation; establishing natural transitions from mudflats through tidal marsh to uplands; and providing buffer zones to protect habitats from disturbance.

The RMG presented the draft report to the public in July 1998 at four meetings, attended by more than 150 people. Many environmental groups supported the recommendations, but duck hunters, farmers, and salt producers voiced concern that they might be adversely affected if the goals were fully realized. About 60 written comments were received and are being considered, along with workshop comments, as the RMG prepares the final report, which it plans to release at the State of the Estuary Conference in San Francisco on March 18.

The goals will serve as a collective vision -- everyone will be invited, but not required, to implement them. They should be useful to many entities involved in protecting and improving wetlands: private landowners seeking to improve wetlands on their properties; state and federal agencies that protect fish, wildlife, and wetland habitats; city and county planning departments that wish to protect wetlands through zoning; and other groups interested in undertaking wetlands restoration or enhancement programs.

The San Francisco Bay Joint Venture is using the goals as the biological foundation for its Implementation Strategy.

For more information contact Nadine Hitchcock at the Coastal Conservancy, (510) 286-4176.

Michael Monroe is an environmental scientist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in San Francisco, and co-chair of the Goals Project's Resource Managers Group.