NATURAL RESOURCES Asset Profile: Habitats & Wildlife
NATURAL RESOURCES Asset Profile: Habitats & Wildlife Marin County is known and treasured for its IMPACTS AT-A-GLANCE: SCENARIO 6 beaches, estuaries, wetlands, marshes, creeks, national and state park lands, and wildlife preserves. 6,500 acres of wetlands CA DFW Several natural resource assets on the Marin 5,500 acres of marshland USFWS shoreline could be vulnerable to sea level rise and State Lands 5+ Narrow Beaches storms, however; it is important to note that a Commission significant portion of the shoreline is developed or 568+ acres of Eelgrass County of Marin bordered by development in some way. This Local development and human activitvity has reduced the Ridgeway rail municipalities natural resilience of the baylands by constricting Soft salty bird's-beak Marin Audubon habitat, fragmenting habitat, altering sediment White-rayed pentachaeta Society 36 supply, and cutting off wildlife corridors. Salt-marsh harvest National Audubon Simultaneously, urbanization stresses wildlife with mouse Society pollution, invasive species, food web disturbances, Tidewater goby Nature 37 and close proximity to people and pets. Natural And more… Conservancy habitats tend to be resilient to storms, however, some storms may be stonrg enough to cause large changes in landscape and worse, permanant inundation could shift habitats from one type to another in the same location, for example marsh to mudflats.38 Sea-level rise would cause fundamental changes in the bay and bayland habitats.39 The following are natural resources and wildlife habitat vulnerabilities to sea level rise: • Where space exists, sea level rise may push shoreline beaches and marshes inland, and shift existing tidal areas to standing water and/or flood inland areas with saltwater.
[Show full text]