Oh to behold a restoration in progress, out on SF Bay with calm waters, winter light and heavy clouds! Thanks to the USFWS San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge and Audubon CA, a few people who helped support the completion of the Sonoma Creek Enhancement and Sears Point Wetland Restoration projects were fortunate enough to get to see these projects by boat last week. The skies filled with dazzling murmurations of shorebirds, the waters were loaded with diving ducks and dabblers of all types, and the islands of land provided refuge habitat, just as intended, for birds and other wildlife, including a few of the biggest harbor seals JV Coordinator Beth Huning says she has ever seen. It was hard to imagine the land had ever been dry or cut off from the Bay, and so encouraging to see the Bay in this phase of restoration. A huge shout out to the many who came together to make these two significant projects happen and for the legacy this is and shall be forever more for San Francisco Bay … from the engineers, to the scientists, the contractors, project managers, volunteers and more – THANK YOU!
While we are on the topic of breaches and restoration in progress, we thought you might also want to know about the story in the latest issue of Bay Nature Magazine on the progress happening out at Cullinan Ranch. Written by Paul McHugh who was out on the newly restored site in his cedar-strip canoe with Point Blue Conservation Science field biologist Megan Elrod, the piece takes you on a journey offering an array of great photos and tons of information about what you are likely to see out there as well as how and where to navigate around the site, especially by boat. Read the article and then make a trip out there to see it for yourself if you can!
Our chance to fill you in on some of what we have been up to since our last Bulletin.
TheConservation Delivery Committee met on December 10, in coordination with the Bair Island Breach ceremony. You can find notes from the meeting here. If you’d like to join or hear about upcoming meetings please contact Sandra Scoggin.
Our SFBJV Implementation Plan, Restoring the Estuary, originally published in 2001, is ready for an update. A planning team consisting of JV management board members and SFBJV staff have started meeting to discuss content and framework as well as establish a process and timeline for its completion. We expect to involve many of our partners along the way and this may include you! Stay tuned!
This National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Grant Program seeks to develop community capacity to sustain local natural resources for future generations by providing modest financial assistance to diverse local partnerships focused on improving water quality, watersheds and the species and habitats they support.
The Alameda Fish & Game Commission encourages applications relating to activities that protect and conserve fish and wildlife, including improvement of fish and wildlife habitat, public education about fish and wildlife conservation, and scientific fish & wildlife research in Alameda County for these funds.
By February 18, 2016
Grants and Partnerships to Restore Wildlife Habitat
$760,000 of funding is still available for this grant program and the RFP has been extended until February 18. A Q&A session will be held at 1:30 pm on Jan. 12, 2016 for those interested. More information about this grant can be found on ourwebsite or theirs.
The NAWCA program provides matching grants to wetlands conservation projects in the United States, Canada, and Mexico and requires coordination well in advance of the due date with SFBJV Coordinator Beth Huning.
Ongoing Grants
Many of our funding source links have no deadlines, are cyclical or ongoing, please visit ourgrants pagefor more information.
