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SAN FRANCISCO BAY WETLANDS REGIONAL MONITORING PROGRAM
Impact/Purpose:
The monitoring program should provide the scientific understanding necessary to protect, create, restore, and enhance wetlands of the San Francisco Bay Region through objective and cost-effective monitoring, research and communication.
Description:
The geographic area to be monitored is the San Francisco Estuary and its watersheds from the Golden Gate to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta at Broad Slough. The initial focus will be the baylands of the region defined as the lands between the maximum and minimum elevations of the tides. An agreement between the State of California and EPA created the San Francisco Estuary Institute to coordinate environmental monitoring in the Estuary. A multi-agency steering committee has developed a plan for conducting monitoring in the wetlands. The plan includes such elements as: 1. Temporal distribution of wetlands 2. Variation of the tidal marsh plant community 3. Monitor invertebrates, amphibians, and reptiles 4. Variation of intertidal sedimentation rates throughout the Estuary 5. Are marsh plains and tidal flats aggrading or degrading? 6. Is the Estuary shoreline eroding or accreting? 7. Where do shorebirds go during high tide? 8. What are the most critical patches of habitat for shorebirds? 9. How do tidal marshlands support fish? 10. Effect of channels, levees, basins and other structures on the wetlands The monitoring program is just beginning and is expected to take several years. A monitoring plan was completed in January 02, but actual field monitoring has not yet begun. A full description of the program is available online.
