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Muddy Wetlands Progress

Stronger planning, improved regulation and increased acquisition and restoration are the main thrust of 12 wetland management actions called for in the S.F. Estuary Project's 1993 Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP). A new review of CCMP Implementation Progress suggests that since the plan's creation, little progress has been made toward a centerpiece actioncreating a comprehensive, Estuarywide wetlands management plan - but essential elements of the planning process are moving ahead.

One element - the setting of goals for what types of wetlands are necessary where and in what quantities to maintain the ecosystem's health - is finally making headway after three years of false starts. This biological foundation for the regional wetlands management plan, known as the "ecosystem goals project," is due for completion by spring 1997. Another key planning element, the creation of geographically-focused, cooperative efforts to protect wetlands, has seen a substantial flowering in the North Bay (see opposite).

Although the political climate has shifted considerably since the CCMP called for stronger and smoother state wetlands protection policies and programs, both the state and the region have adopted no net loss policies since 1993, and a trial project for state assumption of federal 404 permitting is finally freeing itself from years of bureaucratic muckitymuck. But the CCMP's strong vision for improving the wetland regulatory system is far from realized.

CCMP actions calling for wetland acquisition and restoration efforts, while hampered by financial scarcity, made strides (see scorecard, corrections welcome) and necessity - the mother of improvisation - led to increased partnerships with private landowners to create conservation easements and habitat-improving land management practices. A rough accounting indicates that over 26,000 acres of wetlands have been acquired and over 28,000 restored (completed or in-progress) since 1993. Future acquisition and restoration efforts should be strengthened by the 1995 creation of the S.F. Bay Joint Venture (see opposite).

For a copy of the new CCMP progress review, available July 10, call (510)286-0780.

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