Bill to fund efforts to restore bay's wetlands
Carolyn Jones
San Francisco Chronicle
04/23/2010
A 20-year wish list of San Francisco Bay wetlands restoration projects would finally receive funding under a $1 billion federal bill introduced by a Bay Area congresswoman.
The San Francisco Bay Improvement Act of 2010 by Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, would fund the restoration of thousands of acres of bay marshes that were filled in or destroyed by levees and other projects in the last century.
Among the parcels that could win grants are projects to restore 10,000 acres of former salt ponds in the South Bay, 3,300 acres at Skaggs Island near Vallejo and 10,000 acres of marsh in Suisun Bay.
Chesapeake Bay, the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain have all received large infusions of federal support in the past few years, and "it's high time we make San Francisco Bay a priority," Speier said.
"Frankly, the bay has been neglected," she said. "We have to invest in the bay because it supports the economy of the entire region."
The bill would also provide money for storm-water filters to keep toxic substances out of the bay and fund the cleanup of mercury and PCBs in bay waters. It would also pay for removal of nonnative plants and animals to benefit endangered species such as the clapper rail and salt marsh harvest mouse.
Tourism and fishing are among the industries that rely on a healthy bay, Speier said.
In 2008, 15 million tourists visited the Bay Area, injecting more than $8 billion into the local economy, according to Judy Kelly, director of the San Francisco Estuary Partnership.
"Those people didn't come here because we're in the middle of a desert. They came because we have the bay," Kelly said. "If this passes, it's a boon, economically and ecologically, for the entire region."
The bill has unanimous support from the Bay Area's congressional delegation and is awaiting a hearing in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
If passed, the Environmental Protection Agency would administer the law and award grants of $100 million a year for 10 years to environmental groups and public agencies working to improve the health of the bay.
"It's brilliant and it's desperately needed," said Marc Holmes, restoration manager of the Bay Institute. "If we don't pass legislation now and start a major, aggressive restoration effort, we'll pay in an order of magnitude far greater than what we'd spend today."
San Francisco Bay, the largest estuary on the West Coast, was once lined with 196,000 acres of wetlands, but because of development and in-fill, the number has dropped to about 36,000 acres. With this funding, about 100,000 publicly owned acres could be restored over the next 20 years, Holmes said.
