VIDEO: An aerial view of the Cargill Salt Ponds.
CLICK HERE if you’re having trouble viewing the video or gallery on your mobile device.
Back in June 2016, Bay Area voters approved Measure AA to raise $500 million to pay for wetlands restoration, flood control and wildlife projects around San Francisco Bay. Now the first wave of that money — nearly $18 million — is about to be put to use.
On Wednesday, the board overseeing the money will vote on projects in six counties totaling $17.9 million. They range from $7.4 million to restore former Cargill industrial salt evaporation ponds in Mountain View, Alviso and Hayward, to $450,000 to restore sand dunes, build a trail and clean up debris along Alameda’s shoreline. The projects chosen will affect roughly 2,618 acres.
Another $5 million is expected to be approved later this year for work to restore natural conditions, remove marine debris and create wetlands at a former industrial site along India Basin on the San Francisco waterfront.
“It’s a joyful feeling. We’re beginning the new era in restoring San Francisco Bay,” said Sam Schuchat, executive officer of the California Coastal Conservancy, an Oakland-based state agency that is helping administer the money. “People voted to tax themselves, which was a bold step. And here we are ready to hand out the first year’s money. It’s pretty exciting.”
Measure AA was the first time that all nine Bay Area counties voted on a single tax measure. The vote, which set the stage for future transportation or housing measures, needed two-thirds overall approval. It received 70 percent.
The money is overseen by the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority, a low-profile government agency that was established in 2008 when former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law supported by environmental groups and many Bay Area business leaders.
The $500 million — raised from a $12 per home annual parcel tax over 20 years, is considered a down payment on the estimated $1.5 billion cost to restore — where possible — most of the remaining shoreline areas around the bay back to natural conditions, from hay fields in the North Bay to former salt ponds around Silicon Valley.
From the Gold Rush until the 1970s, San Francisco Bay shrunk by about one-third, due to diking, dredging and filling to build highways, airports, farms and neighborhoods. Although modern environmental laws stopped that practice, scientists, government leaders and local officials have been on a slow campaign to enlarge the bay and bring back fish, wildlife and public access over the past two decades — a mission that also includes restoring wetlands to help protect Bay Area communities from sea level rise as the climate continues to warm.
The restoration authority’s board, which is made up seven local political leaders and chaired by San Mateo County Supervisor Dave Pine, will meet at 11 am Wednesday at the Santa Rosa City Council chambers to vote on the projects.
“There was twice as much money requested as was available. There’s a lot of demand,” said David Lewis, executive director of Save the Bay, an environmental group based in Oakland.
Overall, there were 22 applications totaling $47 million from cities, counties, nonprofit groups and private companies. The winning projects were recommended by the restoration authority board’s 33-member advisory committee and the staffs of the Coastal Conservancy and the San Francisco Estuary Partnership, a coalition of scientists and non-profit groups administered by the Association of Bay Area Governments.
The projects that are recommended for funding are:
- $1.6 million to restore 630 acres of former diked farmland on Montezuma Slough for fish and birds in Suisun Marsh, Solano County.
- $150,000 to the Sonoma Land Trust to develop a plan for restoration, flood protection and public access in the Lower Sonoma Creek portion of the San Pablo Baylands in Sonoma County.
- $6.2 million to Ducks Unlimited and $1.2 million to the California Wildlife Foundation for restoring 620 acres of former Cargill salt ponds off Mountain View, Alviso and Hayward.
- $4.4 million to the Santa Clara Valley Water District for the South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Project in San Jose’s Alviso neighborhood on the bay front. The project, which will cost $174 million, involves construction of new levees and tidal gates, along with restoration of salt ponds. Much of the project is expected to be funded by the federal government and the water district.
- $2.7 million to Point Reyes Bird Observatory, now known as Point Blue Conservation Science, to restore 1.3 miles of degraded shoreline back to wetland habitat in the North Bay in projects involving 5,000 teachers and students over the next five years. The money will be spent to plant thousands of shrubs, grasses and other native plants in San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Sonoma, Solano, and Napa Counties; Pickleweed Park in San Rafael in Marin County; and Shollenberger Park and McNear’s Landing in Petaluma.
- $630,000 to the Marin County Flood Control District to prepare detailed designs, permit applications, and environmental documents to restore 194 acres of tidal baylands and construct nearly a mile of levees at Deer Island, Novato, in Marin County.
- $539,000 to San Leandro to design and obtain permits to convert a 4.3-acre wastewater storage basin adjacent to San Leandro’s Water Pollution Control Plant to wetland and tidal marsh, along with planning for sea level rise in San Leandro.
- $450,000 to the East Bay Regional Park District to remove shoreline debris, restore sand dune habitat and create a new trail and water access at Encinal Beach in the city of Alameda.