Before the area was settled by Europeans, almost 200,000 acres of marshland ringed the bay and the Crissy Field marsh stretched along two miles of the rim. But about 85 percent of the marshes around the bay were diked and drained, mostly for hay fields and salt ponds, according to Marc Holmes, director of wetland restoration programs for The Bay Institute, a group seeking to restore bay watershed health. Steps are being taken to restore tens of thousands of acres of wetlands, he says. At least 15,000 acres have been purchased for that purpose, and that's not including about 18,000 acres of salt ponds being eyed for restoration. The goal of state and federal agencies is to restore 100,000 acres to their original wetland state.
Marsh restoration has wide support, but buying land in the pricey Bay Area can cause setbacks.
San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and other politicians have sought to link the funding for the purchase of the salt ponds for restoration to approval for new runways at San Francisco International Airport that would extend into the bay. While the two issues are proceeding separately, the airport could contribute to the Cargill deal to help offset environmental damage to the bay caused by the runway expansion. Funding for restoration can come from state and federal agencies as well, but that sometimes can be difficult to get, Holmes says. When the money comes, the next step basically is punching a hole in the dikes and letting nature take its course. But sometimes, the land has compacted so much that those restoring the wetlands have to bring it back up to its former height.