An ongoing effort to restore one of the last undeveloped habitat areas in San Francisco Bay received a recent boost in the form of a TogetherGreen Innovation Grant. The $30,000 grant will support the efforts of the Richardson Bay Audubon Center & Sanctuary to improve habitat on 17-acre Aramburu Island for resident and migratory birds. “It wasn’t until the recent oil and sewage spills that we noticed just how many birds were coming to Aramburu Island for sanctuary,” said Brooke Langston, director of the Richardson Bay Audubon Center & Sanctuary. “Then we realized just how rare this kind of undeveloped habitat is in San Francisco Bay, and what a tremendous contribution we can make to the ecosystem by restoring it.”The Richardson Bay Audubon Center grant is one of 48 newly-announced TogetherGreen innovation grants awarded to Audubon organizations that demonstrated exceptional innovation in working with community groups on projects that will produce tangible benefits for environmental quality.

The goal of the Aramburu Island project is to create conditions on the island that favor native plants adapted to coastal habitats and that will discourage non-natives from taking root on the island. Restoration will halt coastal erosion currently devastating the island.

The Aramburu Island restoration will benefit a variety of native wildlife, including the San Pablo song sparrow, the salt marsh yellowthroat, shorebirds and terns, as well as mammals such as the harbor seal. Richardson Bay Audubon will work with Marin County and a corps of local volunteers to replace non-native plants with native ones and restore the beach with new sand, shells and gravel.

The Richardson Bay Audubon Center is hosting regular community meetings to share information about the restoration progress and solicit input from neighbors and project partners. In addition, education staff will integrate the various components of the project into its student curriculum, using the activities on Aramburu Island as a case study for wetland restoration and the ecology of coastal ecosystems.

The Bay area innovation grant is part of $1.1 million awarded by the TogetherGreen initiative this year. Audubon and Toyota launched the five-year TogetherGreen initiative in 2008 to fund conservation projects, train environmental leaders, and offer volunteer opportunities that significantly benefit the environment. Grantees were selected from scores of applicants across America. Funds were awarded to Audubon organizations that demonstrated exceptional innovation in working with other groups on projects that will produce tangible benefits for environmental quality.

“This is an important opportunity to expand wildlife habitat in the San Francisco Bay Area and we are pleased to provide continued support for this effort,” said TogetherGreen Project Manager Judy Braus.