Tidal Restoration at Eden Landing

Shifting gears a bit, I'm going to blog a business trip to a really neat ecological reserve in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Eden Landing Ecological Reserve is in the south bay in the city of Hayward, the first exit off Highway 92 west before the approach to the San Mateo Bridge, in Alameda County, California. It contains approximately 4600 acres of salt ponds, managed marshes, restored salt marshes, and transitional areas between marsh and uplands, to support a wide variety of plants and animals, including waterfowl, shorebirds, marsh birds, fish, and mammals. And for people, it provides recreation such as hiking, cycling, birding, and hunting. 

The land is owned and managed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and is undergoing restoration from salt flats to a functioning tidal marsh ecosystem. Once restored, it will support Threatened and Endangered species such as the Salt-marsh Harvest Mouse, California Ridgway's Rail (formerly California Clapper Rail), California Black Rail, and Western Snowy Plover. Save the Bay, a non-profit organization working to protect and restore natural ecosystems of the San Francisco Bay, brings volunteers to plant the native vegetation after CDFW does its construction work to allow natural tidal flow from bay waters to return to the area and create marshland.

My job as an environmental scientist is to work on the conservation side of the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan (no stop-the-tunnels comments please; I only work on the conservation of terrestrial species!). A major part of this plan is tidal marsh restoration, so we were able to leave our cubes for a day to take a tour at Eden Landing and see how it was done. The area was formerly used for the solar process of salt production by Cargill. When CDFW purchased the land, they started the process of restoring the industrial salt ponds into natural wetlands. On a nice sunny day in October,  I joined a group of my colleagues on a guided tour of Eden Landing with the Reserve Manager to see what the unrestored and restored lands look like, to see restoration in action, and to ask a million questions.

We learned about the process of breaching levees to bring the water in, contouring the land, and construction of large horizontal levees that provide refugia for little birds and mammals during the high tides. We saw how ponds were managed for just the right amount of flow, depth, and salinity needed for the species to live and thrive here. We saw the amazing before and after of restoration activities and heard the story of how the return of tidal waters brought in leopard sharks, to the amazement of visitors fishing in the area.

Before: bare salt ponds from the salt production industry use

After: a thriving vegetated ecosystem

A tidal haven for leopard sharks

We stopped and had our lunch at a spot with 4 benches--each with a beautiful clear day view of the Bay Area's famous mountain peaks: Mount Hamilton to the south, Mount Diablo to the northeast, and Mount Tamalpais to the north. It was quite a spot for a picnic. Eden Landing isn't just for scientists to visit. It is open to the public and a perfect day of open space for Bay Area locals that need to prioritize getting out in nature. In fact back in the 90s when I was a Silicon Valley nerd working in the computer industry and heavily into photography, I remember visiting Eden Landing for the beautiful photographic opportunity it offered.

And for those who really want to get involved in the process, I am certain Save the Bay would be happy to sign up more volunteers. I'd be out there planting vegetation if I lived in the area.