Did you know that Wetlands are critical to our natural water cycle?

 

Did you know that only 2% of original marsh habitats remain?

 

Did you know that Wetlands, the second largest storers of carbon in the world, provide a buffer against global climate change?

 

Cagwin & Dorward has made a considerable donation to The Bay Institute.  The Bay Institute is dedicated to restoring & preserving the Bay Area Wetlands, which are not only home to many species of wildlife, but they are vital to the natural cycle of water.  Read below for more details about this interesting topic.

 

San Francisco Bay Area & Wetlands
Did you know that The San Francisco Bay-Delta is the largest sea-inlet system on the west coasts of both North and South America?

 

Encompassing 1,600 square miles, it ranges from the salty waters of San Francisco Bay to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and contains over 90 percent of California's remaining coastal wetlands.  Bay marshes are home to more than one million shorebirds and waterfowl, and millions of others use it as a migratory destination.  The system supports 750 species of fish, animals, and birds. Unfortunately, 18 of those species are endangered.

 

In the late 1800s/early 1900s the Delta was diked, and channeled, and converted into agricultural islands. Today, only 2 percent of the original marsh habitat remains.

 

Also San Francisco Bay is the largest harbor on the U.S. Pacific Coast, with more than 67,000,000 tons of cargo passing annually through the Golden Gate. Unfortunately, much of this cargo is crude oil, making spills and other industrial accidents a constant threat to fish and wildlife.

 

Why protect & restore the wetlands?

Wetlands help filter pollutants and soil runoff from upstream sources, which help keep rivers, bays, and oceans downstream clean. Healthy wetlands help mitigate the negative effects that human and farm waste, and some byproducts of industrial pollution, have on our Nation's water. Wetlands help control inland flooding and prevent wave erosion along shorelines. They function as natural sponges that trap and slowly release surface water, rain, snow melt, groundwater and flood waters.

 

Wetlands are important to natural cycles involving water, nitrogen, and sulfur. Their plants and rich soil may provide one buffer against global climate change, by storing carbon instead of releasing it into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.

 

Wetlands provide many functions that are valued by people.

 

These functions and their values include:

Function	Value
surface water storage	flood control
shoreline stabilization	wave damage protection/shoreline erosion control
stream flow maintenance	maintaining aquatic habitat and aesthetic appreciation opportunities
groundwater recharge	replenish water supplies
sediment removal and nutrient cycling	water quality protection
supporting aquatic productivity	fishing, shell fishing and waterfowl hunting
production of trees	timber harvest
production of herbaceous growth	livestock grazing and haying
provision of plant and wildlife habitat	hunting, trapping, plant/wildlife/nature photography, nature observation, and aesthetics

Destruction of wetlands eliminates or severely minimizes these functions and values. The Bay Institute The Bay Institute was founded in 1981. These Bay-advocates view the entire Bay-Delta ecosystem as a single, interdependent watershed. This watershed includes the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin Rivers as well as their tributaries, Suisun Marsh, San Pablo Bay , and San Francisco Bay . Nearly 50% of the surface water in California starts as rain or snow that falls in this area and 50% of that is diverted for use on farms, in homes, and in factories. The Bay Institute uses a combination of scientific research, political advocacy, and public education to work toward the environmental restoration of the entire watershed which drains into San Francisco Bay. Sources http://www.bay.org/about_the_bay.htm http://www.bay.org/organization_info.htm http://www.fws.gov/northeast/Wetlands/ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1995b. America 's wetlands: Our vital link between land and water. Office of Water, Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds. EPA843-K-95-001. Julia Butterfly Hill's book "One Makes The Difference"

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