STATE OF THE ESTUARY 2002 SCIENCE & STRATEGIES FOR RESTORATION San Francisco Bay Sacramento- San Joaquin River Delta Estuary San Francisco Estuary Project & CALFED OPENING REMARKS his Report describes the migrating along the Pacific Flyway tive state-federal effort, of which currentT state of the San Francisco pass through the Bay and Delta. Many U.S. EPA is a part, to balance Bay-Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta government, business, environmental efforts to provide water supplies Estuary's environment -- waters, and community interests now agree and restore the ecosystem in the wetlands, wildlife, watersheds and that beneficial use of the Estuary's Bay-Delta watershed. the aquatic ecosystem. It also high- resources cannot be sustained without lights new restoration research, large-scale environmental restora- explores outstanding science ques- tion. tions, and offers management cues for those working to protect This 2002 State of the Estuary Report, California's water supplies and and its Posterbook appendix, summa- endangered species. rize restoration and rehabilita- tion recommendations drawn San Francisco Bay and the Delta from the 48 presentations and CONTENTS combine to form the West Coast's 132 posters of the October largest estuary, where fresh water 2001 State of the Estuary from the Sacramento and San Conference and on related Joaquin rivers and watersheds flows research. The report also pro- Executive Summary . 2 out through the Bay and into the vides some vital statistics about STATE OF THE ESTUARY Pacific Ocean. In early the 1800s, the changes in the Estuary's fish Bay covered almost 700 square miles and wildlife populations, pol- Vital Statistics . 5 and the Delta's rivers swirled through lution levels and flows over the a vast Byzantine network of 80 atoll- past three years, since the 1999 RESTORATION like islands and hundreds of miles of State of the Estuary report was pub- braided channels and marshes. Back lished. Watershed . 17 then, almost a million fish passed through the Estuary each year and 69 The report and conference River-Delta . 25 million acre-feet of water crashed are all part of the San Francisco down from mountain headwaters Estuary Project's ongoing Suisun Bay . 35 toward the sea. But in 1848 the Gold efforts to implement its Rush began and hydraulic mining Comprehensive Conservation and Bay . 53 plugged the rivers and bays with more Management Plan (CCMP) for the than one billion cubic yards of sedi- Bay and Delta and to educate BIG PICTURE . 73 ments. Over time, farmers and city and involve the public in pro- builders filled up more than 750 tecting and restoring the BIBLIOGRAPHY . 77 square miles of tidal marsh and engi- Estuary. The S.F. Estuary Project's CCMP is a consensus neers built dams to block and store To find the page number of a specific paper or author, the rush of water from the mountains plan developed cooperatively by see the conference bibliography. into the Estuary, and massive pumps over 100 government, private and canals to convey this water to and community interests over a thirsty cities and farms throughout five-year period and completed the state. in 1993. The project is one of 28 such projects working to protect the Today's Estuary encompasses water quality, natural resources and roughly 1,600 square miles, drains economic vitality of estuaries across more than 40% of the state (60,000 the nation under the U.S. square miles and 47% of the state's Environmental Protection Agency's total runoff), provides drinking water National Estuary Program, which to 20 million Californians (two- was established in 1987 through thirds of the state's population) and Section 320 of the amended Clean irrigates 4.5 million acres of farm- Water Act. Since its creation in land. The Estuary also enables the 1987, the Project has held five State nation's fourth largest metropolitan of the Estuary Conferences and region to pursue diverse activities, provided numerous publications including shipping, fishing, recre- and forums on topics concerning ation and commerce. Finally, the the Bay-Delta environment. In Estuary hosts a rich diversity of flora 2001, CALFED joined the Estuary and fauna. Two-thirds of the state's Project as a major sponsor of the salmon and nearly half the birds conference. CALFED is a coopera- 1 STATE OF THE ESTUARY EXECUTIVE accompanied by a recognition that Californians practicing a minimal SUMMARY "the objectives of any group or level of conservation managed to interest will not be achieved simply shave 10-14% off peak demand lev- (Reprint of an October 2001 by voicing unyielding denials of the els. "The regulators need to watch article in ESTUARY newsletter) objectives of others." Nichols closed the generators," he cautioned. by mentioning a number of chal- Eight hundred people lounged in lenges for the future, among them Shaving demand might also help the red seats of the Palace of Fine predicting what would be the with the global warming problem, Arts auditorium in San Francisco regional effects of local construction which the U.S. Geological Survey's this October to hear 48 experts or restoration projects; judging how Mike Dettinger described as just one present the newest research, the best non-lethal contamination levels in part of the region's long history of maps, the latest technologies, and the Estuary's invertebrates and fish climatic variability. As a result of the hottest debates over the affect the fish, wildlife, and humans warming, Dettinger predicted resources, health and restoration of who eat them; and overcoming the "fresher winters and saltier sum- the S.F. Bay-Delta Estuary. "reticence of our institutions to take mers," for the Bay, and less than a whole system approach." 25% of current snowpack levels in some areas by mid-century. "In the past 1,000 years, there have been much drier centuries with 100 year "When I first started thirty years ago, we’d pull in 80 tons droughts and extreme flood periods. These old trends, superimposed by a day of garbage. People used the Bay as a dump. global warming impacts, promise Over the last 10 years, it’s gotten much cleaner." that major hydroclimatic changes threaten the Estuary in the near future," he said. ERIC CARLSON Another threat will be earth- Retired Army Corps Debris Boat Captain quakes, said Mary Lou Zoback, also of the Geological Survey. Zoback spoke of a 60-70% chance of a First up at the podium was Further talks on urban challenges major earthquake shaking the Richard Katz, a member of the State followed, with Tom Schueler of region's bridges and levees before Water Resources Control Board, Chesapeake Bay's Center for 2030, but more ominously of the who hammered at the theme of good Watershed Protection reminding lis- likely return to the days before 1906 science leading to good policy. His teners that "the greatest threat to when the region experienced a mag- homework for the audience was to estuaries continues to be the con- nitude six quake every four years. stop just talking to each other in sci- version of natural spaces to car "The stress shadow of the 1906 ence speak and to get out and edu- habitat." He said research shows a quake created a docile environment cate "newbies" in the state assembly decline in sensitive species at about in the Bay Area," she said. "Future about how this ecosystem we are try- 30% impervious cover, a decline of quakes will be larger, closer together ing to save provides drinking water food variety and abundance at about and more costly." In terms of the to 20 million Californians and 15% and a rise in chronic coliform Estuary, they might not only wipe affects jobs and the economy. After (fecal) contamination at less than out some levees, but also release a the dose of political realism came a 10%. lot of old contaminants buried in little history from author Malcolm the soft Bay mud, she added. Margolin, who commented on how The water-energy connection was After lunch, the Point Reyes Bird impressive the knowledge level of then made by Peter Gleick of the Observatory's Nils Warnock spoke environmentalists attending such Pacific Institute - every acre foot of about factors affecting bird life in conferences had become. "Thirty- water we use costs about 2-3,000 the Bay today, among them habitat five years ago carrying a picket sign kilowatts of power, he said. "The changes (conversion of salt ponds to and having a flimsy poetic idea was more water we save, the more energy tidal marsh), proposed airport run- enough, but today's activists have we save," he said. Gleick debunked a ways, the spread of invasive cordgrass extraordinary scientific, political, number of popular "myths," among and contaminants. Some of the economic, and technological them that there are water and energy contaminants come from the birds' expertise," he said. shortages. He attributed both these problems not to a lack of the food - invertebrates, zooplankton A coming of age also figured in resource, but to a shortage of and fish - whose status was surveyed the subsequent speech by the U.S. "intelligent management." He by Cal Fish & Game's Kathy Heib. Geological Survey's Fred Nichols, added that there were no rolling Heib said a long-term shift from a who noted that progress made in black outs in the summer of 2001 warm to a cool ocean climate has such things as reducing the impacts not because, as the TV ads would benefited some species, like chinook of raw sewage and learning about the have us believe, we've quickly built salmon and English sole, but not Estuary's natural processes has been new power plants but because others.