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Volunteers prepare the soil for planting natives.
Photo by Jude Stalker
Look closely: This historic map of the South Bay shows a network of meandering sloughs.
Beginning around 1960, citizen activists began a movement to protect and restore the Estuary. It was gradually realized that the Estuary had been so dramatically altered that lack of knowledge about its original form and function was an impediment to restoration success. A number of projects were initiated in the 1990s to assess the “historic ecology” of the Estuary. Not only did the information developed by these projects provide a more accurate picture of how the Estuary ecosystem functioned in its natural state, but in many cases it provided templates that could guide contemporary restoration work. For instance, the locations of historic channels in tidal marshes that had long since been destroyed were discovered on historic maps. In part as a result of historic ecology studies of the Estuary, restoration efforts are expanding, and success is improving.
To download a podcast of an interview with an amazing citizen activist in the South Bay, go to http://yourwetlands.org/podcast/?p=212
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