Much like our own Sonoma Creek Marsh restoration project, our colleagues at Santa Clara Audubon Society are bringing back a formerly troubled area of San Francisco Bay.  They are one of several groups involved with the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project, the largest tidal wetland restoration project on the West Coast. The restoration is converting 15,100 acres of commercial salt ponds at the South end of San Francisco Bay to a mix of tidal marsh, mudflat and other wetland habitats. The San Jose Mercury News reports that a focal species has already arrived on the restoration site:

"We're ecstatic. It's a milestone," said biologist Rachel Tertes of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who on Sunday led a small private tour along the dusty levee of the pond, which is closed to the public.

"It happened so quickly," said Tertes, a member of the team at Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge that found both species only nine years after excavators breached the walls of the toxic pond, allowing natural tidal flows to resume.

The morning sun was just rising over the bay last July when Tertes and a team of wildlife surveyors were suddenly startled by the clattering sound of a pair of Clapper, now called Ridgway's, Rails.

"It was a duet. Male and female, dueling clatters," said Tertes. "It blew everyone's mind."

Read the rest of the article by clicking here.

To read more about the project, click here.