Jobs are scarce and many people struggle hard to survive. But from another point of view, this beautiful area has great potential. It has retained an environment that can provide a kind of life many people long for and can no longer find in prosperous, densely developed coastal areas. It's quiet here. You can step out on the shore and see no other people at all.
Wildlife abounds in the smooth bay waters, broad mudflats, and wet diked meadows.
Dairy cattle and egrets stand side by side in the green spring grasses. Local residents dig for shellfish along the shore, canoe and kayak on the bay, and scan its surface for waterfowl resting on this stopover along the Pacific Flyway. They go out onto the ocean to fish, go inland for sunshine on foggy Sundays. Summer months bring a surge of tourists and visitors, but this traffic is slight compared to that of other coastal regions. But in the wake of a successful lawsuit by the Surfrider Foundation, the mill's effluent is clean enough for surfing at the North Jetty.