Photo by Verne Nelson.

STATE OF THE ESTUARY

Come hear the latest scientific findings about the health of NEWS at the 10th Biennial State of the Estuary estuaryBay-Delta News and Views from the San Francisco Estuary Partnership | Volume 20, No. 4 | AUGUST 2011 Conference on Tuesday and Wednesday, September 20-21, 2011, at the downtown Oakland Marriott (City Center BART Station). The State of San Francisco Bay 2011 RETURN OF THE NATIVES report will be released at the conference, s shorebirds and waterfowl have begun using newly modified salt ponds in the South Bay, with a summary presentation given on the so have fish. The first year of monitoring by the UC Davis Fisheries Research Team led by first day by lead author Andy Gunther from AJim Hobbs detected a high diversity of fish species in the ponds, with a strong preponder- the Center for Ecosystem Management ance of natives. and Restoration. Topics range from salt Hobbs’ team monitored fish populations in the Eden Landing, Alviso, Ravenswood, and Bair pond restoration to pollution solutions Island areas, including restoration ponds like Ravenswood’s SF2 and flooded “island ponds” like to watershed health, green streets, and Alviso’s A19, A20, and A21, from July through December 2010. Shallow sloughs and intertidal sustainable communities. creeklets were also surveyed. Sampling diverse habitats requires using a variety of trawls and Other featured speakers include: traps, as well as hook-and-line angling at pond outlets. An impressive 98% of all fish caught • Phil Isenberg, Delta Stewardship by trawling the sloughs were native spe- Council cies. Of 30 species, three-spined stickle- • Fran Spivy-Weber, State Water backs accounted for more than half (1,678 Resources Control Board of over 3,300) of the captures, followed in abundance by northern anchovy (549), top- • Jerry Meral, Natural smelt (392), staghorn sculpin (253), arrow Resources Agency goby (142), and longfin smelt (61.) “That’s • Peter Gleick, Pacific Institute comparable to the open Bay,” Hobbs explains. “Environmental conditions in To see the full program and register, go the South Bay are a little saltier. Most Leopard shark by Matthew Field, taken at Monterey Bay to http://sfestuary.org/soe2011/ invasive fish species are more freshwater Aquarium. A gala precedes the conference the tolerant, and are more common in the North evening of September 19 at the Aquarium Bay.” The presence of small fish like sticklebacks and anchovies is good news for cormorants and of the Bay in San Francisco and is included other fish-eating birds. with registration. The assemblage varied seasonally, with more sticklebacks, anchovies, sculpins, and gobies in summer and more smelt, herring, shad, and silversides in winter. “The anchovies came in late Early bird deadline for registration: summer and fall and spawned,” says Hobbs. The Pacific herring followed: “We’re now seeing August 26, 2011 young herring all over the South Bay.” He credits “good freshwater outflow and ocean productivity conditions” for the herring’s success. Premier sponsors: Hobbs also found that larger predators, notably leopard sharks and bat rays, are foraging at San Francisco Estuary Partnership and the outlets of the “island” ponds like A19. Like human anglers, the sharks wait for smaller fish California State Coastal Conservancy exiting the ponds as the tide recedes. “We caught at least half a dozen sharks and rays per hour,” Contact: Karen McDowell he recalls. (510) 622-2398 One result that caught his attention was the relative abundance of longfin smelt Spirinchus( thaleichthys), a species involved in the Pelagic Organism Decline (“POD”) phenomenon: “Longfin smelt abundance has collapsed in the pelagic ecosystem of the North Bay and Delta. They had been intermittently collected in the South Bay during various surveys, but there hadn’t been inside enough studies using appropriate gear this far up into the sloughs. We caught quite a few up 2 Linchpin Land continued on page 12 4 Salt Ponds to Shorebird Heaven www.sfestuary.org 6 Leaving the Little Fish birdwatch Conservation Conaway’s Colony LINCHPIN LAND IN limbo property,” explains county attorney Phil Pogledich. The eminent domain suit was Yolo County is archetypal farm country. settled in 2006, and CPG kept the land. “The farmers and ranchers as stewards have In October 2010, in a move that would done a remarkable job in leaving lots of bio- have implications for future owners of the diversity,” says Maria Wong, who has been ranch, Yolo County adopted a moratorium on formulating the county’s Habitat Conserva- habitat projects intended to mitigate for out- tion Plan/Natural Community Conservation of-county environmental impacts. “We had Plan. “The landscape is stable. We’re not seen an increase in the number of mitiga- growing houses.” tion and conservation banks established in The 17,000-acre Conaway Ranch, Yolo’s the county, mitigating for habitat impacts largest contiguous farm operation, lies outside the county,” says Pogledich. Tricolored blackbird. Photo by Bob Lewis. between the cities of Davis and Woodland Last year, politically-powerful Sacra- and the Sacramento River, in the river’s mento-based developer Angelo Tsako- One of several sensitive species inhab- floodplain. About two-thirds of the ranch poulos, who was fined by the US EPA for iting the Conaway Ranch is the tricolored lies within the Yolo Bypass, a system that a Clean Water Act violation and is seen blackbird (Agelaius tricolor), a California protects Sacramento and other areas from by enviros as a promoter of urban sprawl, near-endemic (there are small populations flooding by allowing the river’s high flows to bought a majority interest in the property in Baja California, Oregon, and Washing- overflow into fields and seasonal wetlands, and reopened negotiations with the county ton State, and a single colony in Nevada). through a system of weirs. on water sales and other issues. As part of This bird, a close relative of the wide- About half of the ranch is planted in rice. the agreement, the county created a loop- spread red-winged blackbird, was once Four thousand acres produce16 row crops, hole in its moratorium on mitigation banks, incredibly abundant. Johnson Neff, writ- from alfalfa to wheat. The ranch’s wetlands exempting three proposed conservation ing in the 1930s, estimated the statewide attract waterfowl, and its working fields are easements on the Conaway property. The population as two to three million. habitat for such sensitive species as the largest piece was a 4,000-acre section of Tricolors, named from the male’s black, tricolored blackbird (see sidebar), Swain- the ranch proposed for sale to the state to white, and crimson plumage, once nested son’s hawk, and giant garter snake. It’s in be restored as seasonal floodplain habitat in huge colonies in freshwater wetlands the spotlight now as potentially a key piece in the Yolo Bypass in connection with the throughout the Central Valley and coastal of the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), BDCP. Two other parcels of a thousand central and southern California. Many are its future contested by developers, county acres each were proposed as conservation itinerant breeders, raising one brood at a officials, and environmentalists. easements for the Swainson’s hawk and San Joaquin Valley location, then moving Benjamin Franklin Conaway, who made giant garter snake. The apparent presump- north en masse for second and possibly his fortune in Southern California oil, bought tion was that all three parcels would be third attempts in the Sacramento Valley. the ranch from a Yolo County dairyman in used to mitigate for out-of-county impacts, That was before the development of 1915. The property has passed through mul- although the agreement did not spell this rural California. More recent estimates tiple hands. At the have ranged from 150-260,000 from turn of the century, 2000-2005 to 400,000 in 2008 to 259,000 it was owned by this year. Biologists who study the tricolor, National Energy like Robert Meese of UC Davis, believe and Gas Trans- numbers are continuing to fall. The Depart- mission. When a ment of Fish and Game has designated group of out-of- the tricolor a Species of Special Concern. county develop- Petitions for federal and state endangered ers—the Conaway listing were declined in 2005 and 2006. Preservation Group Meese points to the usual suspects: (CPG)—showed the loss of wetlands to agriculture and interest in 2004, urbanization, exacerbated by water the county made diversions. The replacement of crops a counterbid for like alfalfa and sunflower with vineyards it, but the owner and orchards has eliminated additional refused to sell to a suitable foraging habitat. Until 1985, it public entity. “The was legal to shoot tricolored blackbirds developers bought as agricultural pests. Some Sacramento it, and the county went to court to continued on side page 3 try to obtain the Adult gartersnake, Yolo County. © Gary Nafis.

2 | ESTUARY NEWS | AUGUST 2011 birdwatch (continued from side page 2) Citizens’ Alliance for Regional Valley rice growers still do so; enforce- Economic Stability, a newly ment is spotty. organized group. “We were Tricolors are also falling victim to a surprised that the county entered kind of attractive nuisance. They’ve been into an agreement which was so adaptable enough to switch from cattails one-sided in favor of Conaway and bulrushes to other nesting substrates, Ranch. Rice farming is a multi- including introduced species such as million-dollar business in Yolo Himalayan blackberries, mustard, milk County and provides substantial thistles, giant reeds, and—unfortunately fiscal benefits to the county. The for them—the triticale that’s grown to feed fiscal benefits from this agree- cattle. Growers have been harvesting the ment are minimal compared triticale before the birds complete their with what the county stands to nesting cycle, killing thousands of eggs lose.” She says Farm Bureau and and nestlings. The federal program that Photo by Randy Smith. Courtesy of Friends of the Swainson’s Hawk. Yolo Landowners’ Association provided financial compensation to delay members share CARES’ concerns the harvest has been defunded although out. The supervisors approved the new about the impact on rice farming, Meese says that source has been replaced agreement in February by a 3-2 vote. but they have taken no public position on by others. Supervisor Jim Provenza, who voted the agreement. Neither have local Audubon The latest threat, at least for the San against the agreement, has other worries and Sierra Club chapters, although individual Joaquin Valley population, is predation by about the ranch’s future. “The significance members have lined up on both sides. Bob cattle egrets. “Prior to 2006, cattle egrets of Conaway Ranch is that it’s exactly Schneider, senior policy director of the were not known to prey on tricolored where the water would go in lowering the Tuleyome conservancy, and Chad Roberts, blackbird eggs or nestlings, but in that Fremont Weir to inundate the Yolo Bypass. Yolo Audubon conservation chair, publicly year they went into a colony in Tulare It appears that part is really the linchpin of supported the agreement last December, County and basically wiped it out,” says the BDCP going forward. You wouldn’t be praising “commitments from the Conaway Meese. “Three colonies were lost last able to do the BDCP without it. We want Ranch landowners about farming and habitat year, and another this year. No young were a solution that minimizes the impact on restoration or enhancement that can serve as produced by any of these colonies.” agriculture, flooding, and the Yolo Wildlife a beginning to resolving questions about the Tricolors have been doing well at the Area. The most recent iteration of BDCP conservation use of the Yolo Bypass.” Conaway Ranch, though. Meese has has a lot more water than we can handle Provenza says a shift in the political tracked a colony there since 2005. Two and still preserve rice growing. If lowering terrain may ultimately favor a positive years ago, it produced 28,500 young, the the Fremont Weir put too much water in resolution. “The county is in the process of highest number known from any colony in the Bypass too late in the year, it would be negotiating a Memorandum of Understand- the state. The colony was smaller but still catastrophic to our interests.” ing with the state,” he says. “I’m much more productive in 2010. Conaway, Meese has The Fremont Weir, a linear concrete optimistic now than when I voted on Con- written, “may serve as a model for tricol- structure, has been the repeated scene of away that an agreement can be reached on ored blackbird conservation on private, salmon and sturgeon strandings. In addition the BDCP that balances all the interests and productive farmland.” to BDCP, notching the weir was recom- protects Yolo County as a result of commit- The birds’ tendency to form a new mended in the NOAA Fisheries biological ments made by the Brown administration.” colony the year after a fire or similar opinion on California water operations and Beyond what was specified in the disturbance event suggests an effective its recovery plan for salmon. The Yolo Basin agreement with the county, Tsakopoulos’ management strategy. “Mike Hall, the Foundation is pushing a Westside Option long-term plans for the property are unclear. wildlife manager at Conaway, burned alternative to the Fremont modification that There have been no rumors of plans for about a third of the cattails last fall at my would use managed flows across private residential or commercial development or suggestion, and they came back thick and lands to move juvenile Chinook salmon from conversion from other agricultural uses lush this spring,” Meese says. the Sacramento River into the Bypass. The to vineyards. Nieberg speculates that the The new ranch ownership, says Meese, foundation’s preliminary study was funded hawk and snake easements will be used “is planning to make enhancements to by Southern California’s Metropolitan Water for mitigation banking. Maria Wong says the existing pond and to manage a much District. Provenza thinks the Westside Option a Conaway easement might satisfy some larger area with tricolors as the focal spe- might be acceptable, perhaps as part of a of the HCP’s obligations, but would not cies.” He has recommended working with hybrid plan. be an urgent priority unless threatened nearby farmers to enhance foraging op- In the meantime, some enviros are by development or crop pattern changes. portunities by planting unsprayed alfalfa, fretting over the county’s agreement with Bob Thomas, who manages the Conaway which attracts the insects the blackbirds Tsakopoulos. “We don’t think it’s a good Preservation Group, did not respond to an feed on and is also good foraging habitat deal at all,” says Pam Nieberg with the interview request. JE for Swainson’s hawks. JE

AUGUST 2011 | ESTUARY NEWS | 3 handson Restoration STRAW Roots Flourish Salt Ponds to Shorebird Heaven to 50%,” Bourgeois adds. “We need results from the adaptive management program to Students and Teachers Restoring a The most ambitious restoration effort in refine that decision. We’re not moving past Watershed—STRAW—is a major pres- California history, the conversion of the South fifty-fifty until we have the science to allow ence on the Bay Area restoration scene, Bay’s salt ponds into tidal marsh, is about to us to. Some want us to move really fast and with projects in four North Bay counties move into a new phase. “We’re getting ready some think we’re moving too fast.” that enlist 3,000 volunteers every year. As to wrap up Phase 1,” says project manager Adaptive management involves, among STRAW’s director Laurette Rogers recalls, John Bourgeois. “After a series of stake- other things, coping with the 45,000 Cali- it all started with an obscure but imperiled holder meetings to solicit input, we recently fornia gulls that nest on islands and levees species, the California freshwater shrimp decided what the Phase 2 projects are going among the ponds. Last December pond A6, (Syncaris pacifica). “In 1992, my fourth to be.” The project, he explains, is moving one of the Alviso ponds, was breached, flood- grade class at Brookside School wanted to carefully to ensure that habitat restoration ing a former gull nesting colony. The concern do something for an endangered species,” doesn’t conflict with flood control priorities in is that displaced gulls will add to the preda- she says. “We chose the federal- and a part of the Bay that is particularly vulner- tion pressure on shorebirds like American state-listed shrimp in the Stemple Creek able to the effects of rising sea levels. avocets, black-necked stilts, and endangered watershed near the Marin-Sonoma Bourgeois has been involved in the South western snowy plovers. “We banded about a county line.” The shrimp, one of the few Bay project since the beginning, originally thousand gulls there,” says Bourgeois. “Some invertebrates protected by the California with a consulting biology firm. He succeeded are going to other existing colonies at Mowry Endangered Species Act, is found only in Steve Ritchie as project manager in 2009. and Newark.” “It’s the best-case scenario,” a handful of Marin, Sonoma, and Napa The restoration area includes the Department says Cheryl Strong of the US Fish and coastal lowland streams, where it clings of Fish and Game reserve at Eden Landing Wildlife Service. “They didn’t colonize new to submerged willow and alder roots and and the Alviso and Ravenswood sections of areas.” “We’re targeting areas like SF2, A22, feeds on floating detritus. It has suffered the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge. and Eden Landing where we don’t want them from predation by introduced fish, con- Bourgeois also collaborates with the US to show up,” Bourgeois adds. “The Refuge has taminated agricultural runoff, and erosion Army Corps of Engineers, the San Francisco a proactive management plan and is prepared from overgrazing. When ranchers granted Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, to do harassment to keep them out.” access to private land, Rogers’ students and local agencies like the Santa Clara Valley Other issues being addressed through pitched in to clean up the creek and plant Water District and the Alameda County Flood adaptive management include methylmercury new willows. Control District. generation and dissolved oxygen levels in STRAW stayed small for a while. “For “We established bookends of what the the ponds. “We’re working closely with the six years we did one or two projects a project could look like,” he explains. One Water Board on mercury,” Bourgeois notes. year with a couple of classes,” Rogers scenario calls for 90% of the area to be re- Pond A8, which was opened to the tides in continues. “It was the ranchers who asked stored to tidal marsh, with 10% remaining as June, will be a key test site. “As for dissolved us for more. We went from that to 30 or 35 managed ponds. The alternative is a fifty-fifty oxygen, we’ve tried to maximize the amount projects a year, not just in ranchland but split. “In Phase 2 we’re still trying to get up of turnover we get in these ponds, also work- in urban areas.” The group also expanded from riparian habitat projects to tideland transition zones, and developed partner- ships with resource conservation districts and other public agencies. Prunuske Chatham Inc., an environmental consulting firm, has been involved since the begin- ning. “It’s our collaborations, our many partners, that make it work,” Rogers adds. STRAW’s restoration director John Parodi describes their new role in bayland restoration: “We’ve worked with the San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge, plant- ing upland transition zone vegetation for six years. STRAW and refuge staff propa- gate the plants from seed sources on or near the refuge. The work is essential because historically the slow elevation

continued on side page 5 American avocets courting at the Palo Alto Baylands by Donald Dvorak.

4 | ESTUARY NEWS | AUGUST 2011 handson (continued from side 4) climb from mudflats to uplands provided critical habitat for a lot of species, includ- ing the endangered California clapper rail and salt marsh harvest mouse, during high tide events. That transition zone has often been reduced to just the sides of levees, covered with invasive plants. By rebuilding the transition zone habitat, we’re getting the refugia back for those species. It is critical to have this habitat in place as sea level rises.” Formerly sponsored by The Bay Insti- tute, STRAW recently became a project of PRBO Conservation Science. “They’re such leaders in monitoring restoration progress, climate change, and sea level rise,” says Parodi. “This will increase our potential for prioritizing how to work, where to work, and how to assess data effectively. We’ll be looking at our designs

Black-necked stilt with hatchlings by Donald Dvorak. more in terms of climate change to make our projects, and the wildlife that depend ing with baffles and aeration. The problem during its first winter; the ducks forage by day on them, more resilient against the is a lot better. The US Geological Survey is and use the islands as night roosts. Migra- uncertainty ahead.” studying larger and deeper ponds like A3W, tory shorebirds, including least sandpipers, Environmental education remains a where getting enough water turnover in all marbled godwits, willets, and semipalmated core principle. Most of STRAW’s volun- the little nooks and crannies is difficult.” plovers, foraged along its edges. Biologists teers (2,500 to 2,800 each year) are K-12 Ravenswood pond SF2 near the west will continue to monitor shorebird and water- students, augmented by adult summer end of the Dumbarton Bridge is an ongoing bird use to inform pond management and volunteer programs. STRAW provides experiment in habitat enhancement: “The future managed pond projects. a free three-day summer workshop for ponds were engineered to make salt, not as Looking back at Phase 1, Bourgeois says teachers. There’s also outreach to local wildlife habitat. We wanted to take a smaller the biggest and best surprise is the rapid rate communities. “Getting the community footprint and modify it specifically for wildlife of sedimentation in restored ponds: “The rate involved is an effective way to make species, trying to create as much nesting and has been much faster than projected, with projects sustainable,” Parodi explains. foraging habitat for shorebirds as we can. lots of marsh development. The South Bay is “Projects in high-traffic public areas can Based on similar work in the Central Valley, very sediment-rich. In light of sea level rise often be challenged by vandalism. These we built 30 islands in two different shapes, projections, we find we need to capitalize on projects need time to get established, half round and half linear. The whole back that as soon as we can.” and setbacks caused by vandalism can third of the pond is dry seasonal salt panne For the future, he sees “a lot of uncertain- compromise results. When local stake- for the plovers. Volunteers have spread oyster ties. Flood protection is one of our biggest holders play an active role in the project, shells to create camouflage for plover nest challenges. Pretty soon we’ll hit a point we experience a dramatic decrease in sites, and we built moats to exclude mam- where we can’t do any more restoration vandalism, which ultimately leads to a malian predators.” until we have real flood protection in place.” successful project.” Project staff thought it would take a Bourgeois says project managers are work- They’re in it for the long haul. “Our couple of years for the birds to discover SF2. ing with the Corps and local flood control projects are starting to link up in the “Last year it was a moonscape,” Bourgeois agencies to make sure these elements come greater Stemple Creek watershed,” says says. “We had hundreds of waterbirds together. He is also looking forward to seeing Rogers. “I’m proud of the fact that we’ve within two or three weeks of opening it up. more results from the project’s monitoring worked on that stream every year for This spring we had a pair of snowy plovers program in the coming years to better under- 18 years.” She’s says it’s difficult to tell nesting on each of four islands.” A hundred stand how the system is responding to these whether the freshwater shrimp population pairs of American avocets and a few pairs large-scale changes. has increased, but their range has clearly of black-necked stilts also nested. Strong CONTACT: [email protected] JE expanded: “They’ve moved downstream, says the pond, with areas of varying depth, holding onto the roots of willows that the Photos by Donald Dvorak, one of the attracted large numbers of both dabbling kids have planted.” JE winning photographers in the Estuary ducks (shoveler and pintail) and diving ducks Partnership’s 2011 Birds of San Francisco Bay (scaup, common goldeneye, and ruddy duck) calendar contest.

AUGUST 2011 | ESTUARY NEWS | 5 newscience Legislation PBDE Canaries? leaving the Little Fish the bill consists primarily of worries that the “wet fish” industry (meaning from ocean to The ubiquitous fire retardants called Although maybe not as obvious or well- can) will be shut down and that administra- polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) known, the smaller animals (and plants) tive costs to Fish and Game will increase, have long been suspected of affecting the lower in the food web are what help the both claims he disagrees with. According to health of humans and wildlife. Like PCBs, bigger, more charismatic fish, seabirds, and Fish and Game’s Dale Sweetnam, the agency PBDEs accumulate in body fat. They’ve mammals, many of which bring lots of tourist is analyzing the bill for the state and cannot been detected in the tissues of polar dollars into the state, to thrive. A new bill in- comment on it. He did say that the agency is bears, whales, and peregrine falcons, and troduced by Assemblymember Jared Huffman “satisfied with the intent of the Marine Life in human breast milk. Concentrations in (D-Marin) and making its way through the Management Act.” both people and wildlife in the Bay Area state legislature highlights the importance Despite support for the bill from enviros, are among the world’s highest (see “New of these “forage species” by requiring the fishing clubs, and even several fish markets, Worries,” ESTUARY NEWS, December Department of Fish and Game to take species the California Wetfish Producers Association 2009.) like sardines, herring, mackerel, squid, and and many others, including the California Now scientists from Baylor University anchovies (to name just a few) into account Association of Harbor Masters and Port have weighed in with evidence that early when developing new fishery management Captains, the San Francisco Bay Herring exposure to PBDEs can cause devel- plans. Geoff Shester, of the international Research Association, city of Monterey, and opmental malformations, behavioral marine conservation organization Oceana, the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s changes, and death in zebra fish, the lab AB 1299’s sponsor, says the goal is to move Associations, to name a few, strongly oppose rats of the fish world. Their report recently ecosystem-based—rather than single-spe- it. Says the Wetfish Producers Association’s appeared in the journal Environmental cies—management forward. Says Shester, Diane Pleschner-Steele, “Our concern is that Toxicology and Chemistry. “In many cases, the needs of the large fish they are looking to shut us down, if not today, The Baylor team tested six PBDE or the seabirds and mammals that prey on then tomorrow. The Marine Life Manage- mixtures, chosen for their environmental forage species are not taken into explicit ment Act already uses an ecosystem-based relevance, on zebra fish embryos. Those account—there’s no accounting system for approach, and we are already one of the most with the fewest bromine atoms were predators when deciding on how much of the precautionarily managed fishery groups in found to be the most toxic to the fish. The forage species we harvest.” the world. If you eliminate this fishery, you’ve two with the lowest bromination resulted Right now the state regulates its fisheries eliminated the heart and soul of California’s in a curved body axis and eventual death. through the Marine Life Management Act, fishing economy.” Pleschner-Steele says the Four of the six caused developmental which does not call out forage species explic- bill does not truly protect forage species anomalies, including pulmonary edema. itly enough, says Shester. “We’ve seen the because most of them range far beyond Five produced alterations in behavior, problems with the vagueness of the MLMA and California waters. She says her industry’s such as decreased swimming rates and how it’s been interpreted so far. So let’s clarify other concerns are that the bill is “not based hyperactivity. what forage species are, establish ecosystem- on objective science,” that the Department “Alterations in early behavior may based management, and require management of Fish and Game cannot afford to undertake potentially be due to disruption of thyroid actions to show how the role of the forage any additional “impossible analyses,” and hormones,” says Baylor’s Erica Bruce. species is accounted for,” says Shester. that the focus on a “narrow group of forage “Thyroid hormones play a vital role in the One such fishery—herring—is well- species comes at the expense of everything development of the cholinergic system known in San Francisco Bay. “You have a else in the ecosystem. When you look at and this study gives insight into biological world-class system, yet that fishery collapsed what’s in the forage pool—it’s an enormous interaction within a few hours of expo- a few years ago, probably due to multiple pool—a lot of what other organisms eat are sure. The observed hyperactivity may be causes,” says Shester. “We’re hoping to work not measured.” She adds, “This bill is not fair due to overstimulation of the cholinergic collaboratively with the herring industry. to the fishermen, especially if the ecosystem system.” Hyperactivity has also been re- Right now when deciding how much herring is also supposed to support people.” ported in PBDE-exposed mice, along with to catch it’s all about how many are out there. Steve Scheiblauer, the harbormaster in effects on learning and memory. What about looking at what the ocean condi- Monterey Bay, says his harbor is already Bruce sees the study as enabling more tions are doing? What are the main predators down to three resident vessels instead of sophisticated regulation of PBDEs: “While and how are they doing? Why aren’t those the 17 purse seine vessels it used to have. most PBDEs have either been banned or things part of the equation that determines He points to the 100 jobs the wharf itself phased out throughout the world, it may how much to catch? We can do that in a way supports, 400 jobs in processing, and many be more beneficial to identify congeners that maintains the industries.” hundreds of fish-related jobs, including of concern rather than replacing these Shester says the original bill has been restaurant workers and tourism-related jobs compounds with chemicals of unknown improved upon with input from various sport- in the area. He and Pleschner-Steele are biological interactions.” fishing clubs, industry, and fish markets (not especially worried about additional regula- CONTACT: [email protected]. JE to mention an extensive list of environmental tion of squid. “Monterey is synonymous with groups). He says most of the opposition to sardines but it really should also be synony-

6 | ESTUARY NEWS | AUGUST 2011 progressreport Looking Back To Move Forward

With a lean and not very “mean” staff of four, the San Francisco Bay Joint Venture, which turns 15 this year, has managed to acquire, enhance, and restore nearly 70,000 acres of seasonal and tidal wetlands and riparian habitat throughout San Francisco Bay and its watersheds, and along the San Mateo, Marin, and Sonoma county coasts. The Joint Venture, one of 18 estab- lished under the North American Wetlands Conservation Act with base operating funding from the annual Interior Appropri- ations Act, coordinates nearly 100 public and private agencies, conservation groups, and business interests to accomplish this work. Although proud of its on-the-ground projects, coordinator Beth Huning says, “Our biggest success is really our ability Pacific sardines. Courtesy Monterey Bay Aquarium. to coordinate and work collaboratively toward our collective goals of protection, mous with calamari/squid,” he says. Those when we have so many scientists working with restoration, and enhancement.” The Joint delicious ten-appendaged critters support us on this bill—every leading marine think tank Venture partnership is currently developing lots of restaurants in the area, but Scheib- and scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium an ambitious monitoring program by which lauer and Pleschner-Steele say their biomass think it’s a good idea. That’s like saying there’s it will evaluate its projects. is extremely difficult to quantify because the no science behind global climate change. “I think that now we’re kind of at creature is so enigmatic. “The squid popula- There is also really strong science behind the a transition and crossroads. We need tion is the poster child for the unknowable,” problem statement that these fisheries are to make certain that the projects are says Scheiblauer. “Each can carry up to 4,000 critically important and vulnerable. The solution functioning the way they were designed eggs. There are billions of these creatures is the forward-thinking framework in the bill.” and that the habitat is benefitting the along the coast—how would you ever do a Huffman says AB 1299 has been amended to species it was supposed to. We want to population count or a biomass estimate? It’s address any possible additional costs to Fish evaluate how well they integrate with almost impossible for that particular animal.” and Game. A July 12, 2011 open letter from other projects in the region, how well they Scheiblauer reinforces Pleschner-Steele’s 29 pre-eminent scientists (from UC Berkeley, provide connectivity,” says Huning. She is belief that existing regulations are adequate Davis, Santa Cruz, and Santa Barbara, Stanford, particularly concerned about ensuring that to protect market squid, citing weekend PRBO Conservation Science, Scripps Institute, wetlands connect with adjacent subtidal fishery closures, marine protected areas, and and many others) links the loss of Sacramento habitat and uplands. “The uplands will caps on catch. “We’ve fished 112,000 metric River fall-run Chinook salmon to lack of ocean allow some of these marshes to migrate tons of squid of before—that’s the cap. So food supply and suggests that “management landward as the climate changes and that amount has been fished in the past should recognize the critical role forage species also provide refugia—habitat that is not without harming the squid population,” he play and provide guidance on how to account hard-edged and provides a zone in which says. Scheiblauer and Pleschner-Steele also explicitly for the needs of predators when species can move.” point out that NOAA Fisheries is working on setting catch limits so that adequate prey are Implementing more projects is still a pri- a multi-year science-based process to create available for fish, birds, and mammals.” The ority, says Huning. But the monitoring and an ecosystem-based fishery management plan Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Aimee David says evaluation plan will be a key tool moving for the California current, including for forage the Aquarium “supports conservation of forage forward. “We want to ensure that we can species, making state legislation unneces- species low on the marine food chain” but has track net landscape change and to develop sary. All of his objections aside, Scheib- not taken a position on AB 1299. or use existing protocols to monitor how lauer says he believes the industry “would The bill heads for the senate appropria- species are doing under the changes that welcome working constructively with Oceana tions committee August 15 and then the sen- have taken place—areas that were diked and Huffman to fine-tune California’s policies ate floor; if approved, it could be on Governor off where more water has been brought in, on a scientific basis while partnering with the Brown’s desk by early September. riparian areas that have been planted, areas federal government.” CONTACT: [email protected]; that had been totally dry for 100 years that Huffman disagrees that the bill lacks sci- [email protected]; Andi.Liebenbaum@asm. now see tidal action again.” ence. “That’s a hard claim for them to support ca.gov (for Assemblymember Huffman) LOV CONTACT: [email protected] LOV

AUGUST 2011 | ESTUARY NEWS | 7 speciesspot Planning ClamDestiny FISH TO GET ASSIST? options we have considered presents a com- parable balance of environmental benefits, Nature, to Anyone with even a passing interest in costs, and risks, based on the preserve’s paraphrase the field ecology has likely heard of Stanford mission.” Removing the dam, they warned, eccentric but bril- Photo courtesy Noel University’s Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve. “would result in significant disruption to the liant biologist J.B.S. Burkhead, USGS. In this 1,189-acre slice of Peninsula hills Jasper Ridge mission” and reduce or elimi- Haldane, is not only near the campus, Paul Ehrlich carried out his nate bird and bat habitat at the reservoir’s stranger than we suppose. It’s stranger long-term studies of the Bay checkerspot but- south end, without guaranteeing the restora- than we can suppose. terfly; Deborah Gordon mapped the invasion tion of steelhead. Consider the Asian clam Corbicula of the Argentine ant and its consequences; The lake today is inhabited by non-native fluminea. Native to Asia, Africa, and Aus- and a whole team of researchers are tracking bullfrogs and sport fish, including bass, tralia, this freshwater bivalve is one of the ecosystem responses to climate change. crappie, sunfish, and catfish. “One of most successful invasive species in North Jasper Ridge seems an unlikely arena the Jasper Ridge people says it’s a perfect America. It was initially reported from the for environmental controversy. But one has example of a piece of Arkansas,” says mouth of the Columbia River in 1938 and arisen over the future of Searsville Lake. Stoecker. He’s concerned that species are had spread to the Delta, where it is now Formed in the 1890s when the Spring dispersing from the lake into the San Francis- the dominant mollusk, by 1945 and the Im- Valley Water Company built a dam below quito watershed, threatening the endangered perial Valley by 1952. It’s abundant in the the confluence of several tributaries within California red-legged frog. Chris Field, the San Joaquin River and even Lake Tahoe. In the watershed, the preserve’s faculty director, notes that the res- the Delta, concentrations of 2,000 young reservoir was subsequently acquired by ervoir is good habitat for aquatic birds, with clams per square meter are common. Stanford and leased for recreational use until one of the Peninsula’s highest concentrations. C. fluminea is prolific (with the highest 1975, when it became part of the preserve. He was not aware of any special-status spe- biomass production of any freshwater Some contend that the reservoir has value cies that used the lake. bivalve) and hardy (a living specimen was as habitat for birds, bats, and other species. Stoecker says that in 2001 his group mailed in an envelope from Pennsylvania Others, like Matt Stoecker, founder of Beyond arranged for a free dam removal feasibility to Washington State and back, with no ap- Searsville Dam, want the dam removed so study by the California Department of Water parent ill effects.) And it’s a pest, clogging steelhead trout can resume their historic Resources, and that the university rejected pipes, limiting pelagic food sources, and migratory journeys. the offer. Field was unable to confirm this, outcompeting native clams. Stoecker’s involvement dates to the and other Stanford sources have not respond- C. fluminea has a trick up its shell that mid-1990s. “I was at the base of the dam in ed. Stoecker contends that Stanford has may explain its success as a colonizer: a spring and saw 30-inch steelhead jumping at never actually studied the removal option. reproductive strategy called androgenesis, it, banging their heads against the concrete The latest round in the dispute involves otherwise known only in a few related wall and falling back into the pool at its Stanford’s proposed Habitat Conservation clam species, the Saharan cypress, foot,” he recalls. “There was no way for Plan and incidental take permit applica- and the little fire ant. The clam, like them to get back upstream.” After majoring tion, covering Jasper Ridge as well as other many mollusks, is hermaphroditic; each in biology at UC Santa Barbara, he moved university land. This January, the university individual has both male and female sex back to the Stanford area and became active notified the US Fish and Wildlife Service and organs. In a typical clam, sperm and eggs in the San Francisquito Creek Watershed NOAA Fisheries, the reviewing agencies for are broadcast, meet and go through the Council and its Steelhead Task Force, which the HCP, that they were removing all “Sears- usual recombinant dance, shuffling the identified Searsville Dam as the major obstacle ville activities” from the plan. “Stanford genetic deck with each generation. In to steelhead passage. Stoecker and his believes that removing these activities from fluminea, though, the maternal nuclear fellow creek advocates took on more than a the HCP, and addressing them through an chromosomes are discarded. The young dozen restoration projects in the watershed, independent Searsville-focused process, will are all clones of the male parent, although but the dam remained off limits. “It was provide NOAA Fisheries with the additional they inherit the female parent’s mitochon- always frustrating that Stanford would par- time and data that it needs to assess the drial DNA. Parthenogenetic (all-female) ticipate in other projects but always say they potential take of steelhead from Searsville- species—rotifers, whiptail lizards, Ama- weren’t going to address the dam,” he says. related activities,” wrote the university’s zon mollies, dandelions—have evolved “In 2007 we got tired of their foot-dragging Catherine Palter. fairly often. Androgenetic species can be and started Beyond Searsville Dam.” “They’re trying to get coverage for their counted on the fingers of one hand. That was the year that Stanford’s Jasper ‘Lake Water’ system, which includes the In theory, a self-cloning species would Ridge Advisory Committee released a posi- Searsville dam and reservoir, without ad- have a marked advantage over a relative tion statement on the lake. The committee dressing the impacts of Searsville,” Stoecker that reproduced the old-fashioned way. concluded that Searsville Lake “provides explains. “They’ve claimed the Searsville di- The catch is the loss of genetic variation, a number of important benefits to the version activities are separable from the dam. preserve” and that “none of the alternative We don’t fully understand their logic, or how continued on side page 9

8 | ESTUARY NEWS | AUGUST 2011 speciesspot (continued from side page 8) they think this meets the requirements of the on the table. Having a bunch of academics the raw material of evolution. No new Endangered Species Act.” In a letter to NOAA involved ensures that the issues get examined information comes in, and harmful muta- Fisheries and Fish and Wildlife, Beyond from lots of perspectives. I’m encouraged and tions accumulate. In the models created by Searsville Dam and American Rivers argued convinced that the university is trying to figure Carleton College biologists Mark McKone that “Searsville Dam and Reservoir and their out what’s the best solution, not the quickest and Stacey Halpern, androgenesis could activities are inseparable from and therefore or the most convenient.” become the only form of reproducing in must be considered a part of Stanford’s non- Whatever the outcome, Stoecker a population within 50 to 100 genera- potable ‘Lake Water’ system.” and his supporters, who include former tions. “If androgenetic individuals produce According to Jim Milbury of NOAA US Representative Pete McCloskey and very few or no eggs, this could lead to Fisheries, the change to the HCP would not Patagonia Inc. founder Yvon Chouinard, see extinction within that time frame,” says require federal concurrence: “It’s up to them broader issues at stake in the dispute. “The University of Texas–Austin biologist to decide what to submit with their permit dam’s impacts and its future have major Shannon Hedtke. request. They tell us what they want included implications for the health of the entire Does this mean that all those invasive in it. If they don’t want to put the lake into the San Francisco Bay ecoregion,” he says. populations of C. fluminea are doomed? No permit, they don’t have to.” But the university “The past and future of Searsville Dam are such luck. “Unfortunately, I don’t think that would not receive Endangered Species Act intimately tied to the health and survival of Corbicula is likely to go extinct in California permission for any take of steelhead and Bay wetlands and restoration efforts as the any time soon,” Hedtke continues. In its other protected species in the excluded area. dam prevents sediment from building up native Asian range, fluminea was able Stoecker sees Stanford’s recent formation wetlands in the face of sea level rise. The to beat the odds by occasionally captur- of a Searsville Committee as a more hopeful dam also limits the productivity of one of ing female genetic material from related development, an opportunity for a fresh per- the Bay’s last wild steelhead populations, Corbicula species, a process Hedtke has spective. The members, including Chris Field, which could be a key source population to reconstructed by analyzing mitochondrial are a mix of Stanford faculty (with expertise in help naturally recolonize other Bay streams DNA. That appears to be happening in water law, environmental history, and related as they are restored. San Francisquito Creek North America as well. Although consid- areas), and administrators. Field says studies has the potential to become a model for oth- ered a single species by some taxonomists, by faculty and consultants are planned. “We’re ers around the Bay to build from.” varieties called Form A and Form B may in looking at a couple of years to assess all the CONTACT: [email protected]; fact be distinct species—and they co-occur alternatives,” he adds. “All the options are [email protected]; [email protected] JE in some areas, notably Texas. According to USGS’s Jan Thompson, only Form A has been identified in Califor- nia so far. “It’s getting more complicated instead of less as the geneticists are doing more work,” she adds. Says Hedtke, “I wouldn’t be surprised if Form B eventually ended up also being established in Califor- nia. Indications in Texas are that their range is expanding. I’ve found them recently in places where 30 years ago there was only Form A reported.” Corbicula clams are subject to boom- and-bust cycles, says Hedtke. “Right after really heavy rain and flooding, I’ve had sites where I couldn’t find them anymore. But these local areas very quickly become reestablished by dispersal. After all, it only takes one clam to found a population, since they are capable of self-fertilizing their own eggs. The average number of offspring produced per breeding season has been estimated as 35,000. While most don’t make it to reproductive maturity, American Rivers’ Steve Rothert surveys Searsville Dam. Photo courtesy Matt Stoecker. that’s still a lot of clams.” CONTACT: [email protected]; [email protected] JE

AUGUST 2011 | ESTUARY NEWS | 9 supplyside Re-Use Deconstructing the Drought RARE in Richmond reverse osmosis before sending it to the boilers to supplement the potable water the Who were the winners and losers in In what will hopefully not be a rare event, refinery uses. A microfiltration process filters California’s recent three-year drought? an innovative new recycled water project is out suspended solids while reverse osmosis Impacts of the California Drought from 2007- now on-line in Richmond. Planned since 2004 tackles dissolved solids. Because boilers are 2009, a new report from the Pacific Institute, as a partnership among EBMUD, Chevron, “temperamental things” and require highly provides some counterintuitive answers. and the West County Wastewater District pure water, says Steere, the potable water “The data show actual impacts that (WCWD), project “RARE”—the Richmond used in high-pressure boilers also goes were significantly different from expecta- Advanced Recycled Expansion Water Project through reverse osmosis first. Steere says tions,” says Pacific Institute’s Peter Gleick, —became fully operational last summer, tak- Chevron has been using recycled water in its who co-authored the report. “The total value ing treated wastewater from WCWD, putting cooling towers since the mid-1990s. of California’s agricultural products actu- it through a high-purity treatment process, As far as future recycling projects, Steere ally broke records in all three years of the and producing 3.5 million gallons per day of explains that EBMUD’s potable water service drought. Overall, California farmers proved water for use in the giant refinery’s boilers. area covers 331 square miles while its themselves to be flexible and resilient.” “It’s the lowest of all low-hanging fruit when wastewater service area only encompasses Despite complaints that the agricul- you can have one customer use a huge amount 88 square miles. “That means we have to find tural sector was water-starved during the of recycled water on a 24/7 basis while mini- other sanitation agencies to partner with to do drought, California’s farmers and ranchers mizing construction impacts to the surrounding recycled water projects outside of EBMUD’s adapted by increasing groundwater use, community,” says EBMUD’s Lori Steere. wastewater service area.” Because Chevron is arranging for temporary water transfers, The project was built on site at the Rich- able to re-use the treatment plant’s water, she fallowing, and changing cropping patterns mond refinery, and puts secondary-treated adds, “There will be times when the WCWD and types. The sector grossed $38.4 bil- effluent from the WCWD’s North Richmond is discharging zero treated wastewater into lion in 2008, an all-time high, and $34.8 treatment plant through microfiltration and the Bay.” billion in 2009, the third highest year RARE Water Project Process Schematic on record. Trends toward reductions in West County Wastewater District farmed acreage slowed during the drought Secondary-Treated years, and yields remained high. Effluent Based on census and employment

data, the Pacific Institute report found North Richmond Water Chevron Cooling Towers no disproportionate loss in agricultural Reclamation Plant jobs in areas where water supplies were restricted. Actual job losses in the three- year period were worse in sales and 1 2 3 4 5 6 construction. Agriculture-related jobs in Reverse Microfiltration Osmosis (RO) the Central Valley rose by 2% from 2003 (MF) 3.5 mgd to 2009; construction jobs fell by 44%. Influent Inter-process Product Water Chevron Storage Storage Tank Storage Tank Boilers “These data show that unemployment Tank in the San Joaquin Valley is a long-term problem, not simply the result of the MF Backwash RO Reject To SF (to WCWD) (to Chevron) recent drought,” says lead author Juliet Bay Christian-Smith. “Hunger, homelessness, RARE Treatment Process

and other signs of poverty are real and mgd = million gallons per day happening, and they are happening in wet years and dry ones.” RARE Water Project Process Schematic, courtesy EBMUD. The environment took a major hit. Even CONTACT: [email protected] LOV if other factors may have been implicated, the report makes the case that the 2008 2010. Groundwater pumping by the Westlands and 2009 salmon fishery closures, which Water District alone increased nineteen-fold cost 1,800 jobs and $118.4 million in from 2006 to 2009. income, were drought-related. Decreased “A key conclusion,” says Gleick, “is that river flows led to the highest Bay-Delta we need to put in place strategies capable of salinity records since 1992. The San addressing the risks of inevitable longer and Joaquin Valley’s average groundwater more severe water shortfalls.” depletion rate doubled between 2006 and CONTACT: [email protected] JE

10 | ESTUARY NEWS | AUGUST 2011 Watershed online SWALES FOR STEELHEAD New Video Podcasts: www.sfestuary.org/podcast Over the past seven years, a half-mile stretch of Codornices Creek, which forms the boundary between Berkeley and Albany and has a Marsh Magic thriving population of steelhead trout, has been transformed from a straightened ditch to a sinuous, meandering stream with a floodplain and lush riparian The Estuary Partnership and Marin vegetation. More restoration projects will take place over the next few years. Audubon Society are working to enhance With polluted urban runoff a threat to the fish, Dan Dole, a blacksmith and private property seasonal and tidal wetlands at Bahia owner who lives and works next to the creek, decided do his part to catch pollution from his Marsh in Marin County, over a three-year rooftops and a large parking lot by slowing and filtering runoff before it reaches the creek. Dole, a period, by growing and planting 40,920 member of the Codornices Creek Watershed Council, hired a contractor to dig up 350 square feet native plants to help establish upland tran- of asphalt. With a grant from the Alameda Countywide Clean Water Program, the Estuary Partner- sition zones adjacent to the existing tidal ship hired Four Dimensions Landscaping to design and plant a bioswale with native sedges, wetlands. These plants will help create a rushes, shrubs, and trees this past winter. Over 90% of the plants have survived. The Partnership more ecologically complete and resilient also installed an interpretive sign explaining the project’s benefits to the creek. wetland habitat attractive to the federally- Says Dole, “I’m delighted to be capturing runoff from over 12,000 square feet of hard surface on listed, endangered California clapper rail my property.” The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Board’s Dale Hopkins, who is also a member of and salt marsh harvest mouse, and other the watershed council, says the group was “particularly happy to be able to put this swale in an area wildlife. The seasonal and tidal wetlands, near several creek restoration sites where it is also an educational resource for University Village (UC uplands, and transition zones will form an Berkeley’s student housing), youth soccer and baseball teams, and other visitors.” LOV integrated network of habitats.

Bahia Marsh. Photo by Chris Kay.

Picking Off Periwinkles

Littorina littorea is an exotic snail that has been introduced into San Francisco Bay. It is a small creature, so what harm can it do? Turns out it can have big im- pacts on native species.

Taming Mercury

Mercury has been called San Francisco Bay’s public enemy number one. It is the main pollutant driving concerns about eating fish from the Bay, and it is a prime suspect in harming the health of birds and wildlife in the Bay. Its most toxic form is methylmercury because that form “bioac- cumulates” in critters in higher and higher concentrations as it moves up the food chain. Learn about what scientists and Codornices Forge bioswale, before (above left) and after, with the Codornices Creek Watershed Council’s Dan resource managers are doing to control it. Dole. Photos by Lisa Owens Viani. Illustrations by Lisa Krieshok.

AUGUST 2011 | ESTUARY NEWS | 11 return service requested presorted

FIRST-CLASS MAIL U.S. Postage estuary NEWS Bay-Delta News and Views from the San Francisco Estuary Partnership P A I D Volume 20, No. 4 | AUGUST 2011 Editorial Office Oakland, CA PO Box 791 Permit No. 832 Oakland, CA 94604 [email protected] Estuary News Web Site www.sfestuary.org/pages/newsletter.php To subscribe or ask questions (510) 622-2304 Staff Managing Editor Lisa Owens Viani Associate Editor Joe Eaton Design Bobbi Sloan

ESTUARY NEWS is your news source on Bay-Delta water issues, estuarine restoration efforts, and the many programs, actions, voices, and viewpoints that contribute to implementation of the S.F. Estuary Partnership’s Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP). Views expressed may not always reflect those of Estuary Partnership staff, advisors, or CCMP committee members. ESTUARY NEWS is published bimonthly and is funded by the San Francisco Estuary Partnership.

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Return of the natives (continued from page 1)

Coyote Creek and in the island ponds. Dur- mudsucker (Gillichthys mirabilis.) Although Monitoring will continue on a monthly ing late fall, they’re coming back from the it currently has no conservation status, it’s a basis for the next four years. New ap- nearshore ocean and either turning right and sentinel species for the Bay’s much-reduced proaches will include a mark/recapture study going into the South Bay or left into the North pickleweed marsh habitat. “It’s the only of mudsuckers to determine population size Bay and Delta. I’ve looked at some of the fish species that lives intertidally in these and mortality and an analysis of fish otoliths data before and during the POD, and there’s a marshes,” he says. “It’s an important prey (ear bones) for heavy metal contaminants like correlation between their decline in the North species. It used to be used heavily as bait, mercury and copper. The researchers will also Bay and increase in the South Bay. If they but stopped showing up in bait shops in the look at the distribution and abundance of zoo- hang out until January and February in the 1980s. We’re trying to get an assessment of plankton and benthic fauna like the overbite South Bay, they’re not likely moving into the what its distribution formerly was like.” In clam (Corbula amurensis). North Bay to spawn.” much of its intertidal habitat in the Bay, the CONTACT: [email protected] JE Hobbs was also looking for a small mudsucker has been displaced by the non- unprepossessing goby called the longjaw native yellowfin goby.

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