Note: The date of this event has been moved to Wednesday, March 14 to avoid overlap with another restoration-related event. Learn about Save The Bay’s work vegetating and thereby restoring wildlife habitat at the Restoration Project's newly constructed habitat transition zone slopes (also called “horizontal levees”). Jessie Olson, Habitat Restoration Director, will speak.
At this free virtual talk, Dr. Nathan Van Schmidt, Science Director at the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory, will discuss the challenges of bird conservation, after birds displaced by development and human presence on beaches and former Central Valley wetlands have come to depend on man-made ponds in the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project lands.
Find out more and register here.
We have canceled the April Lunch and Learn. Please join us for the May presentation by Save The Bay on its work vegetating and restoring upland transition zones (also called horizontal levees)!
Scientist Nathan Van Schmidt of the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory (SFBBO) talks about his research on the challenges facing waterbirds of the Pacific Flyway within the Restoration Project.
Learn about water quality issues, such as low dissolved oxygen, that can arise in the complex environment of Lower South Bay sloughs and the Restoration Project’s gated and culverted pond habitats, as Ariella Chelsky of the San Francisco Estuary Institute discusses her research.
Learn the latest about one of the Restoration Project’s most charismatic megafauna, the threatened Western Snowy Plover, from Maddy Schwarz of the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory (SFBBO). Snowy plovers nest and raise their chicks on stretches of dry ponds, where their eggs and young are vulnerable to predators from the ground and above.
Dr. Levi S. Lewis, Director of the UC Davis Otolith Geochemistry and Fish Ecology Laboratory, discusses studies of South Bay fish and fish habitats, highlighting key findings regarding their status and trends, and how these results have informed the development of bay-wide fish monitoring under the Wetlands Regional Monitoring Program.
Drew Kerr of the Invasive Spartina Project discussed how managing invasive plants as tidal marshes develop and mature provides a critical foundation for successfully establishing diverse Restoration Project marsh plant communities.
Learn how restoration ecologists have helped Don Edwards Refuge maximize the amount of soil it obtains to build habitat and levees while ensuring that soil has low contaminant levels so wildlife and wetlands are protected. Gavin Archbald of H. T. Harvey & Associates discusses his work implementing and refining the regulator-required Refuge plan for sampling soil pollutants and managing which soils are clean enough to place onsite.
The Restoration Project launches its 2024-25 Brown Bag Science Speaker Series with a presentation on the latest research by Kevin Buffington of USGS on the potential sea level rise threat to South Bay tidal marshes and restoration sites.
Dr. Nathan Van Schmidt, Director of Waterbird Science at the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory, will give a virtual presentation on the Restoration Project's dilemma of needing to offer habitat for species that have accidentally ended up in San Francisco Bay after their habitat elsewhere was degraded. The event is hosted by the Golden Gate Bird Alliance.
More info and access here.
The presentation description:
Join San Jose State University Professor Dr. Costanza Rampini for a discussion on whose values and voices are prioritized in climate change solutions. Dr. Rampini, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Studies, will inquire into who will benefit, who will lose, and who will be left out as different countries, regions, cities, and communities try to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and implement strategies to cope with the impacts of climate change.
Learn the latest about the life and times of our local burrowing owls from our own first Lead Scientist, Dr. Lynne Trulio of San Jose State University, at this free online lecture hosted by the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory (SFBBO).
Register here.
More than 70 members of the Stakeholder Forum and the public participated in this periodic public meeting to inform and dialogue about the Restoration Project's latest construction work and science.
The event began with a half-hour pre-meeting mixer for casual conversation. The formal portion of the meeting took place from 9:30 a.m. to Noon, ending with an optional open house to allow time for remaining questions and comments.
Wilson's and Red-necked Phalaropes are tiny but charismatic shorebirds that rely on saline lakes like Mono Lake and Owens Lake as their most critical gas stations on their epic migration to South America. Saline lakes are threatened worldwide by water diversion and climate change, and presumably phalaropes are threatened along with them.
As part of its Adaptive Management Plan, the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project tracks habitat evolution and change in South San Francisco Bay, with particular focus on changes to marsh vegetation and mudflat acreages.
Shorebirds are an exciting yet vexing group for birders to identify. At this free virtual event, Jon Dunn and Lara Tseng will discuss sandpipers: not only their identification, but also plumages, structure, molts, behavior, status and distribution. They will also talk about how to look at and study shorebirds – doing so requires some memorization but more importantly patience, love, and understanding of the many varied species in these families.
Amie MacDonald at the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory's Birdy Hour Speaker Series discusses the latest technological approach to tracking bird migration.