What about Bay wetlands? First of all, many people think most of the Bay's historic tidal wetlands lay buried underneath freeways and high-rise buildings. Eighty percent lost? Ninety percent lost? The good news is that the facts are vastly different. A technical report on San Francisco Bay wetlands (by Zenter and Zenter, a wetlands planning and restoration consulting firm) shows that only about 18% has been lost as a result of urban use.

In 1850 (the earliest good records) there were about 195,000 acres of historic tidal marsh in and around San Francisco Bay. Today, 134,000 remain as wetlands (about 70%): 35,000 acres are tidal marsh, 35,000 more acres are salt ponds, 60,000 acres are non-tidal marsh and about 4,000 acres are wetlands within farmlands. Farming takes up another 23,000 acres, and the last 36,000 has indeed gone over to urban use.

From 1961 to 1981, an additional 717 acres have been allowed to be filled within historic wetlands. This is a half percent (0.5%). Towards the end of this period it was about six acres per year. And the situation actually gets better; This was "mitigated" by the restoration of over 6,000 acres, and the creation of 330 acres of new wetlands.

These days, conversion to urban use requires developers to create or convert about twice as much as is lost, so now wetlands are growing in the Bay. Finally, Cargill Salt Company sold the majority of its salt ponds to the state several years ago...the largest addition west of the Rocky Mountains. Add to this several large grants from Cargill over the years, and the picture is pretty good.

All in all, we have to say federal and sate agencies have done a pretty good job of protecting our wetlands and offsetting losses.

What does this mean to the Westpoint Harbor?

Native Americans harvested salt along the Bay long before the 1849 gold rush. The first commercial salt activity started in 1856 and, over the next 150 years many dozens of salt outfits were consolidated into Leslie Salt, which was subsequently bought by Cargill. Today about a million tons of salt per year come from solar evaporation of seawater along the Bay, using over 35,000 acres of ponds. This "salt farming" is a five-year cycle and involves concentrating, crystallizing and harvesting the salt from pond to pond. You may have noticed the multi-colored ponds as you fly in to SFO. This is due to the various organisms that thrive in different levels of salinity. After the salt is harvested, the residual material is called bittern and collected in storage ponds. This is where Westpoint Marina comes in.

In the west San Francisco Bay "Pond 10" was a bittern pond immediately adjacent to Westpoint Slough, at the end of the Seaport Boulevard. Because of the concentration of chemicals, bittern ponds are sterile and support no life. This bittern is made up of chemicals both in crystal form and a concentrated liquid on the surface (although in the summer it may be completely dry). As such, it provides few of the functions of wetlands or Bay surface. Moreover, it represented something of a liability in that if the levee ever broke, bittern would spill into the Bay.

As part of the Westpoint Harbor project, Cargill removed the bittern from this site. When completed the Westpoint Harbor basin added 26.6 acres of new base surface. In addition, the volume of water flushing in and out the marina basin is substantial, which helped rejuvenate Westpoint Slough.

I mentioned "bay surface": Few people realize that bay surface controls our local climate... it's the reason San Francisco can be 60 degrees, Redwood City can be 75, and San Jose can be 90! San Francisco and the central California coast are largely influenced by the cold current that comes down from Alaska. It causes our coastal fog and cool coastal weather. But the Bay is shallow and dark. It absorbs sunlight and creates the warmth we enjoy in the Bay area. (This warm air rises, drawing cool air over the coastal mountains, and thus gives us the characteristic fog that looms over the hills like a blanket on summer days).

One other observation: BCDC (Bay Conservation and Development Commission)is a state agency whose job is to contribute to the overall protection, enjoyment, and economic use of the San Francisco Bay. It's a bit of a conflict--how to stimulate quality facilities so the public can reach the shorelines and the Bay, and yet protect them.

Complicating matters is the US Army Corps of Engineers, a federal agency charged with keeping navigable waterways open. That means dredging, including the Redwood City Channel and Port, which is one of San Francisco Bay's four deep-water facilities. Most of the dredge spoils are dumped off Alcatraz Island. This too is important work.

So we have a federal and state agency, both with valuable but conflicting goals: The Corps needs to dredge, and BCDC hates to see dredging.

Fortunately, Westpoint Harbor was conceived as an "inland" project. It does not extend into navigable waters at all, so there are no dredge materials to get rid of. The site was planned so the boat basin produced just enough material for the uplands portion of the marina. This may not be the most efficient method from a developer's perspective, but it is the most environmentally thoughtful. And of course it provides public access and adds to Bay surface and water volume.

Finally, Westpoint Marina is near Greco Island, a wonderful wildlife refuge sheltering an array of wildlife, including some endangered species. One of the facets of Westpoint Marina is to provide walkways, viewing areas, and benches so people can see, but not travel to Greco Island.

This is why The Friends of Redwood City, the California Boaters Association, the Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Port of Redwood City have been supportive of Westpoint Harbor. In fact, although it took twelve years to assemble the permits required, there was no opposition to the project.