03-18-2003 - Human World

sagar: Author=’Jorge Salazar’ program=’3725′ video=”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”:http://www.blm.gov/nhp/ to the “National Fish and Wildlife Foundation”:http://www.nfwf.org/.

_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.

Written by EarthSky