Working together, local, state, and federal politicians led by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, environmental groups (Sierra Club, Save the Bay), private foundations, and Cargill Corporation have made a deal to purchase over 16,500 acres of southern bay coastal lands (for $100 million, from Cargill) and restore them over the next 20 to 40 years to something close to their original state as tidal marshes. This is a very major positive development; we’re talking about several pieces of wetlands that total an area approximately the size of Manhattan.
“Over the past 150 years nearly 95 percent of San Francisco Bay’s historic tidal wetlands have been destroyed by diking, draining, and filling-in of these extremely productive habitats, resulting in wildlife losses, water quality reductions, and decreased natural flood control. Many remaining wetlands continue to be threatened by pollutant runoff and diverted freshwater flows,” according to a recent Save The Bay press release.
Private foundations, including the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, will put up $35 million of the purchase price. The State of California, using money from recent bond issues and other previously legislated dollars, will put up $57 million; the Feds are putting in $8 million. No mention of where the money to perform the restoration work–estimates run from $200 million up to $1 billion–will come from.
BillSaysThis 