Marin Audubon Society

Marin Audubon Society (MAS) has acquired 1,008 acres of baylands and associated upland during the Campaign for Marin Baylands.

Currently MAS holds title to eight properties, totaling 411 acres of wetland and wetland-related upland habitats associated with San Francisco and San Pablo bays. With the exception of sites 1 and 2 (see below) all of the properties were acquired as part of the Baylands Campaign in partnership with Marin Baylands Advocates. Sites 1 and 2 were acquired prior to the initiation of the Campaign.

MAS is the proud recipient of the following grants that will help further our restoration goals:

$1,000 from Patagonia to help with maintenance of the native plants at Triangle Marsh

$32,000 from the Forrest Lattner Foundation to fund planting of native vegetation at our tidal marsh restoration Bahia project.

$2,500 from the San Francisco Bay Joint Venture to fund guidelines for restoration and maintenance of high-tide refuge habitat on uplands adjacent to a tidal marsh. These guidelines will benefit not only Marin Audubon's projects but other tidal marsh restoration projects that have a goal of providing habitat for the endangered Clapper Rails. The guidelines will be prepared by Peter Baye, Ph.D.

We are very grateful to these funders for help in successfully completing our projects.

The map below shows MAS properties numbered in black, and MAS restorations numbered in light blue.

Mas-owned Properties

1. SAN RAFAEL TIDELANDS - This property consists of two underwater lots totaling 34 acres. It was donated to MAS in 1978 and is located just off the Jean and John Starkweather Shoreline Park near the Spinnaker Wetland.

2. CORTE MADERA MARSH SITE - This site was purchased by MAS on a tax default sale in 1999. It is located at the end of Harbor Drive in Corte Madera, is approximately one acre and consists of uplands and tidal marshes of San Clemente Creek. Donations from our members were the primary source of funds.

3. TRIANGLE MARSH - This 31-acre property, acquired in 1999, is located on Paradise Drive across from the Ring Mountain Nature Preserve in Corte Madera. It consists of ancient tidal marsh (habitat for the endangered California Clapper Rail), intertidal baylands (habitat for migratory waterfowl and shorebirds), and uplands, some of which were created by the placement of fill when Paradise Drive was constructed. MAS is currently restoring portions of the upland to tidal marsh. About 80% of the restoration is completed. Construction is on hold until September to avoid the Clapper Rail nesting season. The consulting firm of Wetlands and Water Resources prepared the design, and the construction contractor is Cooper Crane and Rigging.

Funding for the purchase came from a variety of sources including the State Coastal Conservancy, Marin County Open Space District (MCOSD), North American Wetlands Conservation Council (NAWCA), The J. M. Long Foundation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s San Francisco Bay Program, Marin County Wildlife and Fisheries Advisory Committee, the San Francisco Bay Keeper, an anonymous-major donor and other donors to the Marin Baylands Fund at the Marin Community Foundation. Funding for the restoration planning has been provided by the Marin Community Foundation, San Quentin Prison as mitigation for impacts of the shoreline stabilization project at the prison, and Caltrans as mitigation for impacts to Corte Madera Creek for the HOV lane.

4. ATHERTON AVENUE BAYLAND - This 84-acre former tidal marsh was purchased in 2000 with funds from the Coastal Conservancy, the MCOSD, and donors to the Marin Baylands Fund at the Marin Community Foundation. An enhancement plan is being prepared by Wetlands and Water Resources with funding from Mission Valley Properties, and the Regional Water Quality Control Board.

5. OLIVE AVENUE BAYLAND - This 19-acre property was purchased by MAS in 2002 with funding from the MCOSD and the California Coastal Conservancy, with assistance from donors to the Marin Baylands Fund at the Marin Community Foundation. Funding from Towell Brothers will be used to remove fill and restore a creek and seasonal wetlands. The biological consulting firm of Wetlands and Water Resources has worked on a design to enhance seasonal wetlands.

6. FRYER TRUST BAYLAND - This 60-acre property was donated to Marin Audubon by the Fryer Trust in 2003. A grant has recently been approved by the Wetlands Reserve Program to enhance this property as well as site 4 (see above) as seasonal wetlands.

Properties # 3, 4, and 5 are located along the watershed of Simmons Slough, a major tributary of Novato Creek. Most of the rest of the lands along this slough are in public ownership which enhances the value of all of the lands as habitat. Our vision is to establish the SIMMONS SLOUGH WILDLIFE CORRIDOR consisting of all or most of the wetlands and adjacent uplands associated with the watershed. Mission Valley Properties, the Marin County Wildlife and Fisheries Advisory Committee, the Marin Community Foundation, and the Regional Water Quality Control Board assisted with funding for restoration of these properties. The biological consulting firm of Wetlands and Water Resources has worked on a design to enhance seasonal wetlands.

MAS recently received a Wetlands Reserve grant for parcels 5 and 6 above. The funding will be used to refine and implement the wetland enhancement design.

MAS wishes to purchase two additional parcels in the watershed.

7. BAHIA - This 632-acre property was purchased by MAS in January of 2003, with funds from the MCOSD, State Coastal Conservancy, Wildlife Conservation Board, CALFED, Marin Community Foundation, Caltrans, Sierra Club, Marin Conservation League, Forrest Lattner Foundation, and private, small foundation donors to the Marin Baylands Fund at the Marin Community Foundation. Since the purchase, title to 361.7 acres of diked bayland has been given to the Wildlife Conservation Board (an agency purchases habitats for the California Department of Fish and Game), and 208 acres of oak woodland to the MCOSD. More on Bahia here.

MAS has retained ownership of approximately 61 acres consisting of the 1+ acre former-RV parking lot at the end of Bahia Drive, and 60 acres of upland and filled peninsulas that were created 40+ years ago to provide building lots for houses.

The grant MAS received from CALFED included $1.4 million to restore tidal marsh on the Bahia lands on property now owned by the California Department of Fish and Game now owns. MAS has hired the hydrologic engineering firm of PWA to prepare the design for this area and the planning is in progress. Others on the design team are the Point Reyes Bird Observatory, Peter Baye, Plant Ecologist, and Watershed Nursery.

Bahia is the only known location where Blue Oak-dominated woodland is located adjacent to salt marsh. The lands the MCOSD own abut their Rush Creek/Cemetery marsh Preserve. They are in the process of moving the trail uphill, further away from the marsh.

8. PETALUMA MARSH - This 180-acre property consists of approximately 80 acres of existing tidal marsh and 100 acres of diked historic tidal marsh. The property was purchased from Waste Management Inc. (owners of Redwood Landfill) with funds from CALFED and Caltrans. The Caltrans funds were mitigation for impacts to tidal marsh resulting from the earthquake retrofitting of the bridge over Sonoma Creek. The Caltrans funds are being managed by the Coastal Conservancy.

The design plan was prepared by PWA, consultants in hydrology, and is being implemented by Cooper Crane and Rigging.

June 2005 Petaluma Marsh Update: We have been busy trying to address the repairing of the levee breach and are planning to start as soon as possible. During the summer, Marin/Sonoma Mosquito Abatement District will be managing the level of the water impounded within the site we will restore to tidal action (this is a different area than that which breached) and we plan to breach the outer levee this coming fall. The water is impounded to encourage the growth of wetland plants and to jump start the tidal marsh when we breach the dikes in the fall.

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MAS Restoration / Enhancement Projects

The Marin Audubon Society (MAS) began to implement wetland habitat restoration and enhancement projects in the mid-1980s. Since that time we have successfully completed the following projects on properties owned by other entities: the City of San Rafael, County of Marin, the California Department of Fish and Game, and the MCOSD. In the early 1980s, we also assisted two government agencies with enhancement: the City of Larkspur that worked on enhancing with Remillard Pond, and the Southern Marin Sanitation Agency that enhanceds pond along the Tiburon bike path.

The map below shows MAS properties numbered in black, and MAS restorations numbered in light blue.

1. SMITH RANCH ROAD POND ENHANCEMENT - MAS removed water hyacinth, a highly invasive exotic plant, which was invading this fresh water pond along Marsh Preserve. The MCOSD is in the process of moving g Smith Ranch Road in San Rafael. The pond is owned by the City of San Rafael. Funding from the City of San Rafael, Marin Audubon and the Marian County Wildlife and Fisheries Advisory Committee enabled MAS to hire a harvester and operator to remove the invasive plants. All of the plants were successfully removed in the Spring of 1987, after MAS volunteers labored for about nine months pulling plants out by hand.

2. REDWOOD HIGH SCHOOL MARSH ENHANCEMENT PROJECT In 1986, MAS received grants from the Coastal Conservancy and the Marin Community Foundation that enabled us to develop and implement a plan to enhance this 11-acre diked salt marsh. The wetland is owned by the Tamalpias Unified School District and is adjacent to Redwood High School. The enhancement involved deepening and widening channels in the marsh to improve circulation and fish habitat, installing a tide gate and culvert to improve water circulation, removing invasive non-native plants, planting native plants on the adjacent upland, and installing fencing around the site to discourage people and dogs from entering the habitat. The project construction was followed by five years of monitoring.

3. CORTE MADERA ECOLOGICAL RESERVE RESTORATION PROJECT - One acre of filled land was restored to tidal action and a refuge island for endangered California Clapper Rail and Black Rail, a candidate species for listing, was created at the Ecological Reserve in 1990. The Reserve is owned by the California Department of Fish and Game. Funds were provided by two dischargers who violated water quality criteria, and t6he Regional Water Quality Control Board’s Administrative Civil Liability program. A five-year monitoring program followed construction. Some marsh plants colonized within six months, cordgrass took almost five years.

4. GALLINAS CREEK RESTORATION (Phase One) - This restoration was completed in three phases, each with different funding. Phase One was implemented in 1992 with Administrative Civil Liability funds for sewage spills by nearby sanitary agencies, plus a grant from the Coastal Conservancy to develop the overall design plan. The site is owned by the State Lands Commission and was leased by the Department of F and Game to allow this project to be implemented. The project restored two and one-half acres of filled land to tidal marsh, and enhanced approximately one-third acre of seasonal wetlands and uplands. This first phase included removal of fill, excavation of channels, and breaching a levee to restore about one-half acre of filled land to tidal marsh. The Marin Community Foundation provided funding for development of the overall plan.

5. GALLINAS CREEK RESTORATION (Phase Two) - This phase was implemented in 1992 with Administrative Civil Liability funding from another sewage spill. Approximately 500 cubic yards of fill was excavated and about one-quarter acre restored to tidal action.

6. GALLINAS CREEK RESTORATION (Phase Three) - The third and final phase of this project was completed in January 1997 with funding from the Marin Community Foundation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service San Francisco Bay Program, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

7. MILL VALLEY RESTORATION PROJECT - Administrative Civil Liability funds for sewage spills in the Richardson Bay area funded this project that was implemented in 1993. Part of an old railroad levee and a collapsed culvert were removed to restore an area of tidal marsh, isolate a section of levee for a high tide refuge island for shorebirds, and improve circulation to the adjacent tidal marsh in Mill Valley marshes owned by the Marin County Open Space District.

8. DAVIDSON MIDDLE SCHOOL ENHANCEMENT - Administrative Civil Liability funds from a spill in San Rafael provided funding to (1) develop and distribute brochures to local businesses on proper handling of industrial toxic substances, and (2) implement an enhancement project for a creek that flows through the Davidson Middle School grounds. The enhancement involved purchasing and planting the native plants along the creek banks. The project was a joint effort with the Friends of Corte Madera Creek Watershed. Students from Davidson’s Environmental Club helped with the planting.

9. REDWOOD HIGH SCHOOL MARSH MOSQUITO ABATEMENT CHANNEL - This project took place at the same marsh as the Redwood High School Marsh {Project 2 above). It was implemented in response to vegetation damage caused by the Marin/Sonoma Mosquito Abatement District’s driving equipment through the marsh to spray bacillus therengensus, which left track damage in the marsh. MAS widened and deepened several existing channels and the Mosquito Abatement District created small channels to drain several low areas that were ponding and producing mosquitos. The project was implemented in 1995 and was followed by three years of monitoring.

10. BOTHIN MARSH FENCING - Using Administrative Civil Liability funds again, MAS hired a contractor to install fencing to prevent renters of an adjacent property from moving debris onto the wetlands and adjacent uplands of Bothin Marsh.

11. RUSH CREEK/CEMETERY MARSH ENHANCEMENT PROJECT - MAS obtained Administrative Civil Liability funds from two sources, and grants from the Marin County Department of Public Works and the MCOSD, the State Coastal Conservancy, the Wildlife Conservation Board, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service San Francisco Bay Program, NAWCA, and the Marin Community Foundation to successfully complete this project. The project consisted of excavating channels to improve circulation within the two marshes and replacing several tide gates. Construction was completed in 1999. The 230-acre Rush Creek marsh is owned by the California Department of Fish and Game and the 50-acre Cemetery Marsh is owned by the MCOSD. Both of these marshes are managed by the MCOSD as part of the Rush Creek Open Space Preserve.

12 - 13. Two restoration projects are currently being implemented on MAS-owned properties: see Triangle Marsh (2) and Petaluma Marsh (8) above.

Marin Audubon Society, Box 599, Mill Valley, California 94942-0599

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