Salt Ponds
Satellite map of salt ponds in the San Francisco Bay area
DB: This is Earth and Sky, with a look at one of the biggest wetlands restoration projects in the history of California.
JB: The San Francisco Bay area has about 40,000 acres of artificially created salt ponds. There’s a plan now underway to gradually convert about a third of them to habitat more attractive to native wildlife. The main effort will be to try to restore the daily ebb and flow of the ocean tide to the area by removing levies. John Takekawa is a research wildlife biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. He’s involved in monitoring and researching the ecology of the project – which could take decades to complete.
John Takekawa: The restoration project will be one of the most complex ecological projects that we’ve ever seen, in that we have a lot of competing issues for both water and habitat in the greater Bay Area. And that includes that we have the water supply for the City of San Jose putting fresh water into the system which does not promote some of the salt marshes we’re looking for.
DB: Another concern is for migratory birds that currently depend on the salt ponds. Their habitat will decrease, and what remains after restoration will have to be optimized. Thanks today to the Bureau of Land Management to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
JB: By the way, you can chat live with a planet hunter this Wednesday at 3 p.m. Eastern – at earthsky.org. We’re Block and Byrd for Earth and Sky.
The following person was interviewed for today’s program. Our thanks to:
John Takekawa
Research Wildlife Biologist
Biological Resources Group
Western Ecological Research Center
U.S. Geological Survey
Links
South Bay Salt Ponds Restoration Project
California Resources Agency – Cargill Agreement Documents
Additional Teacher Resources
NASA Earth Observatory, Earth Observatory Newsroom: Salt Ponds in San Francisco
In recent years the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project has been converting several clusters of salt evaporation ponds back into the tidal marshes, mudflats and other wetland ecosystems that pre-date human development of the area. This site explains the ecological benefits of this transition as well as provides some breathtaking satellite imagery of the area.
San Francisco Chronicle: Salt Ponds On Way To Becoming Wetlands; Cargill Agrees To Sell 16,500 Acres in Bay
This article discusses what it calls one of the nations “biggest wetlands restorations outside the Florida Everglades,” the conversion of 16,500 acres of man made salt ponds around the San Francisco area back to the wetland systems they once were before human inhabitation.
Save The Bay, Bay Issues: Turning Salt Ponds Into Environmental Gold; Restoring Wetlands in San Francisco Bay
This site explains the ecological importance of the restoration of the San Francisco Bay. Also discussed are the efforts that are in place to oversee conservation in the area of both the flora and fauna that will be reintroduced, along with links to more information on the projects.
