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Report Card: "B" for Better

How many acres of wetlands have we restored since 1999? What progress have we made on controlling exotic species? These and other questions relating to Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) priorities are addressed in the S.F. Estuary Project's third Bay-Delta Environmental Report Card, released to coincide with the State of the Estuary Conference (see Now On-Line).

Saving and restoring Bay-Delta wetlands continues to be the top priority of those championing the CCMP's vision, and the news is relatively good, according to the report. Acquisitions of fields, creekbanks, islands, floodplains and other former, current and future wetlands have tripled since the last reporting period, with at least 33,042 acres secured and protected. Restoration and enhancement work continued at a steady pace, with 11,420 acres and 1,320 linear feet of completed projects. Plans for 19 habitat projects will improve an additional 25,502 acres and 36,020 linear feet.

Regional interests have also steamed ahead with plans, partnerships and fundraising to implement the Baylands Ecosystem Habitat Goals, a 1999 report providing a scientific rationale for what kinds of wetlands are needed to restore the Bay ecosystem and where they should be. Though no regulatory-based regional wetlands management plan has been developed, in 2001 26 agencies, organizations and private companies signed on to the S.F. Bay Joint Venture's Goals-based implementation strategy, Restoring the Estuary. And while CALFED poured dollars into ecosystem projects and planning, the S.F. Bay Commission updated the wetlands and wildlife section of its Bay Plan, a regional wetlands monitoring program was launched, and the S.F. Estuary Project, ABAG and local agencies created a Joint Aquatic Resource Permit Application Center to provide improved wetland protection and regional coordination while streamlining the permitting process for wetland-related projects.

Exotic species control also got a big boost recently, with the 1999 enactment of a new state law(AB 703) requiring mid-ocean ballast water exchange for all ships coming into California from more than 200 miles offshore. More research is also being done on on-board ballast treatment technologies, and active invasive species control programs are underway for Atlantic cordgrass, purple loosestrife, water hyacinth, giant reed and the mitten crab.

With regard to other CCMP priorities, watershed management activities - aimed at reducing runoff and protecting stream environments and wetlands - grew in San Jose, the Santa Clara Basin, Oakland and Sacramento. Programs to reduce pollution from urban and agricultural runoff burgeoned, with regulatory "Total Maximum Daily Loads" in place or underway for copper, nickel, mercury and PCBs in the Bay region, and for selenium, mercury, pesticides, boron and other contaminants in the Central Valley.

The S.F. Bay Regional Board began working on tougher new and redevelopment requirements to prevent runoff and erosion in 2001, while the Brake Pad Partnership focused on reducing copper in brake pads, California's Zero Emissions Vehicle Program put several thousand electric vehicles on Bay Area highways - helping reduce pollution from energy and transportation systems - and the Estuary Project organized 10-12 erosion control workshops per year and distributed 82,000 maps to boaters encouraging use of shoreline sewage pump outs. In the Central Valley, the Regional Board began reevaluating a ten-year-old waiver exempting irrigation return flows and runoff from waste discharge requirements and shepherded one of the first discharge requirements ever imposed on agriculture (the Grasslands Bypass Channel project to reduce selenium-tainted runoff) into a second phase.

On the science front, fostering coordination among the myriad research and monitoring efforts continued be an uphill battle, but all programs continued to work at it through CALFED, SFEI, IEP and a newly founded Bay Delta Science Consortium.

Last but not least, CALFED's 2000 Record of Decision included requirements for a maximum allowable ratio of export rates to water inflow rates, and for the location and duration of the "x2" salinity standard, both moves advancing the CCMP priority aimed at promulgating baseline inflow standards. Likewise, the San Joaquin River Agreement of 2000 is experimenting with inflow and export rates to optimize flows for needy fish. Other flows for fish and the environment are now coming from the CVPIA's "B2" water and CALFED's fledgling Environmental Water Account.

Overall, the report card shows encouraging advances on several fronts, particularly wetlands and exotic species control, but indicates that CCMP implementation still has plenty of room for improvement.

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