Summary

Description

Bair Island is located adjacent to the San Francisco Bay in Redwood City, San Mateo County, California Figure 1. Historically, Bair Island was part of a large complex of tidal marshes and mud flats within the drainage of Bay and Belmont Sloughs PWA 2000. Bair Island was diked in the late 1800s and early 1900s for agricultural practices including cattle grazing. The island was converted to salt evaporation ponds by Leslie Salt Company starting in 1946, and remained in salt production until 1965. The lands were drained and eventually sold to a series of real estate development companies. This site is a large, restorable complex of former salt evaporators, and has been a major priority for addition to the Refuge since the original boundaries were drawn. The restoration of tidal habitats at Bair Island is ecologically important to South San Francisco Bay. Following restoration, Bair Island will become an integral part of the extensive wetland complex within the Refuge and adjacent state and privately owned wetlands. In addition to restoring 1400 acres of tidal wetlands to the much depleted South San Francisco Bay SFB tidalmarsh complex, the restoration activities planned for Bair Island provide a unique opportunity for documenting the effects and chronology of events that evolve during the implementation of a tidal saltmarsh restoration. Although similar restoration projects have occurred within the SFB Cooley Landing, Warm Springs, project development has not been documented to the extent that a specific set of guidelines could be produced for use during subsequent restoration projects. Therefore, the restoration plan, while primarily describing the steps required to produce a successful saltmarsh restoration, also provides a monitoring plan and the testing of hypotheses. These efforts will track the development of the tidal marsh as well as providing valuable information for future restoration projects.