Bay Tidal Marshes

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This research will focus on the San Francisco Bay Tidal Marshes which have been declining in area since initial settlement by European settlers and various forms of development over the past 200 years. Influence from European settlers drastically reduced the original area of the tidal marshes in the San Francisco Bay to its lowest of 10% remaining of the original wetlands during the 1980s. The economic motives over time have generally outweighed the costs of setting aside these environments which created the trend of utilizing these spaces as natural resources. Many of the freshwater and brackish water were first converted to create farmland but the salt marshes were generally left alone until salt became a valuable resource. In the early …show more content…
Many of the problems that effect the tidal marshes of the Bay Area have come from the decisions by the neighboring populations. Demands of natural resources from these cities have great impacts on the wetlands. For example in the 20th century, the demand for housing created the economic incentive to transform agricultural farmlands, which were already converted from wetlands into spaces for residential developments. These residential developments then created the demand for waste disposal spaces because of the high consumption that was mainstream around this time (San Francisco Bay Area Tidal Marshes, 2012). At the height of this development phase, in the 1960s 4mi2 of Bay were being filled each year (BayTrail). Before the demand of residential developments in the region in the 20th century, the tidal marshes were used to develop military, shipbuilding, and docking facilities when the region was first being settled. Additionally, landings were constructed across wetlands to provided easy access to transport redwoods to the Presidio at the Golden Gate and Yerba Buena (Josselyn, …show more content…
Along with local and state government, there are many local agencies and organizations that create programs and projects that benefit the well being of the area. One example of these local agencies would be the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority, which was created by the California Legislature in 2008 because of the need for new local funding due to the lack of funding from previous sources. The main goal of the Restoration Authority is to raise and allocate local resources for the restoration, enhancement, protection, and enjoyment of wetlands and wildlife habitats in the San Francisco Bay along its shoreline and associated flood management and public access infrastructure. The agency does not regulate the projects, it only provides funding towards projects. Another local organization, San Francisco Bay Trail plans to connect the entire Bay Area with a 500 mile long walking and cycling path through 47 cities and all nine counties of the Bay Area. Along the San Francisco BayTrail are many different types of environments that surround the Bay Area including tidal marshlands. Portions of the trail will be built alongside wetland restoration projects, complimenting the goals of creating wildlife oriented public access and recreation spaces associated with restoration projects (BayTrail). With the tidal marshes spanning across varying counties, this
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