A Marin Audubon project that seeks to restore lost wetlands and bolster sea-level rise defenses for San Rafael’s Canal neighborhood cleared a major funding hurdle on Friday after being awarded a nearly $1 million grant.
The San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority voted unanimously to fulfill Marin Audubon’s request for $985,300 to conduct an environmental review and design its planned restoration and expansion of the 20-acre Tiscornia Marsh.
“We’re anxious to get started,” Marin Audubon’s executive director Barbara Salzman said after the vote. “It’s an exciting time and we hope to benefit all of San Rafael and particularly the Canal area.”
Marin Audubon acquired the Tiscornia Marsh property just north of Pickleweed Park as well as part of the existing levee through a donation from Mary Tiscornia in 2008. The environmental organization plans to expand the existing marsh by up to 10 acres using dredged sediment while also raising levees and protecting the marsh from further erosion. The city of San Rafael owns the 6 acres of diked wetlands to the east that also would be included in the project.
Douglas Mundo, co-director of the climate change readiness group Shore Up Marin and executive director of the Multicultural Center of Marin, said he was glad to hear the project received the funding and believes it will help protect the community from sea level rise while providing an environmental benefit.
“We hope they will continue engaging the community and working with us who are part of the neighborhood that could be impacted by the sea level rise,” Mundo said.
The project was one of five recommended for funding by the bay authority’s staff, which is comprised of California Coastal Conservancy and Association of Bay Area Governments staffers. The Tiscornia Marsh project won the authority’s favor for its combination of restoring wetland habitats, which serve as habitat for endangered species, while also protecting a vulnerable community against sea level rise, according to authority program manager Matt Gerhart.
“There are some interesting strategies in the way they’re building the marsh out,” Gerhart said. “It will be a really good learning example there.”
Marin Audubon’s track record with projects and the support the effort has received from community leaders such as the San Rafael City Council also factored into the decision to fund the design, Gerhart said.
This is the second year the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority has allocated Measure AA grants. The authority was created by the Legislature in 2008 to allocate funds for projects that would restore and enhance lost wetlands habitats in San Francisco Bay. San Francisco Bay has lost 90 percent of its tidal wetlands with the bay about a third smaller than its natural state before humans began to fill in wetlands for development, according to the Coastal Conservancy.
Tiscornia Marsh has been eroding for the past few decades. Salzman estimated that about a third has been lost since about 1987. As ocean levels rise, it will be more difficult for the marsh to naturally rebuild.
The project is being funded with revenues from Measure AA, a $12 parcel tax levied on nine Bay Area counties that will last until 2037. The tax generates about $25 million per year, Gerhart said, with about $21.5 million available to grant out this year. Of the 15 applications, only five were selected, including Tiscornia Marsh.
Environmental review and environmental design will take at least a year. Next, construction funding as well as dredged materials that pass California Water Resources Control Board standards will be required.