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Project Description: The Aramburu Island Ecological Enhancement Project (Project) is located on and adjacent to Aramburu Island in Richardson Bay, Marin County, California. The 17-acre island was originally part of Strawberry Spit, which was constructed in the late 1950s and early 1960s by the deposition of navigational dredging spoils and upland fill in the open waters of Richardson Bay. This island is currently owned by the Marin County Department of Parks and Open Space and is managed as a wildlife preserve. The island currently provides moderate habitat value to native migratory birds and wildlife due to dominance by invasive, non-native vegetation, lack of habitat diversity, and a progressively eroding eastern shoreline. The Project purposes are to (1) increase the stability of the eroding eastern shoreline, (2) enhance and create aquatic, wetland and terrestrial habitats to support a range of target species and natural communities, and (3) provide a platform for ecosystem adaptation to sea level rise, allowing for gradual dynamic transitions. The renovated landscape of Aramburu Island will provide a suite of new habitats emulating historic ecosystem structure in Richardson Bay, including sand and gravel beaches, high tidal marsh gradients, native seasonal wetlands , and lowland grasslands. The shoreline enhancement elements of the project were constructed in the fall of 2011. The wetland and terrestrial enhancement elements on the island terrace will be constructed in the summer of 2012. Wetlands and Water Resources is involved in all stages of this project including background data collection and site assessment, development of the restoration plan for the island, securing permits and CEQA approval, final engineering design, construction oversight, and post-construction monitoring. |
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Project Duration 2008 - Present Client Audubon California Project Status Phase II Construction 2012 Downloads Links
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Project Description: This project proposes to restore 70 acres of tidal marsh on diked managed wetlands in Suisun Marsh, Solano County, California. Description of Services: WWR works collaboratively with the client to plan all aspects of this restoration, including carrying out pre-construction sediment supplies evaluations, identifying site elevations and tide heights, supporting hydrodynamic modeling, supporting design and permitting, installing Sediment Elevation Tables for post-restoration sedimentation monitoring, and reviewing and drafting portions of the restoration plan.
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Project Duration 2005 - Present Client Dept. of Water Resources Project Status Monitoring Downloads Links
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Project Description: Areas within the Lower Tubbs Island and Lower Tolay Creek marshlands experience decreased tidal circulation and extended ponding that results in reduced vigor of marsh vegetation, reduced habitat functions for sensitive marsh species, and mosquito production problems. The goal of this project is to reduce mosquito production and improve habitat conditions for target tidal marsh-dependent species by improving tidal circulation within these problem areas. Description of Services Provided: WWR is responsible for developing an Enhancement Plan to remove or breach through drainage barriers such as internal levees and to excavate new, and channels to improve tidal connectivity. WWR is also responsible for developing a Monitoring Plan aimed at evaluation the outcome of the enhancement effort. This project involves focused topographic data collection, identification of problem areas, defining needs for hydrologic modification, channel breach and culvert sizing, calculation of excavation volumes, feasibility review, and developing a regulatory approval compliance strategy.
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Project Duration 2008 - 2011 Client Audubon California Dept. of Water Resources Downloads
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Project Description: This project involved the planning, design, plans and specifications, bid management, construction oversight, permitting, and monitoring of a 320-acre seasonal wetland enhancement project in northern San Francisco Bay on diked agricultural baylands. WWR carried out background studies including: wetland delineation, hydrology, topography, and soils. The WWR design utilized an innovative shallow groundwater management strategy. Project construction took place in fall 2003. WWR is currently implementing a five-year monitoring program. This project involved field investigations including installation and monitoring of shallow groundwater piezometers, installation of surface water level monitoring stations, installation of rainfall gauges, extensive topographic mapping through aerial photogrammetry and ground-based total station instruments, botanical surveys in support of wetland delineation, and wildlife surveys in support of permits. We used Geographic Information System (GIS) tools to support project design and alternatives evaluation and to evaluate watershed water supply contributions. A) Design Ponding, from Topographic Map B) Actual Ponding, First Season |
Project Duration 1999-2009 Client Sonoma Land Trust Downloads
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Project Description: This project involved a broad range of physical and biological monitoring of a 45-acre tidal marsh restoration project on a subsided diked bayland on the Petaluma River over a five-year period. Hydrogeomorphic and biological processes controlling evolution to a tidal marsh via natural sedimentation, documenting site changes. Funding came from the Sonoma Land Trust, US Fish and Wildlife Service, CA Sea Grant Program, SF Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, and USGS. Data collection included high-frequency time series measurements of water level, temperature, suspended sediment concentrations, and velocity; topographic surveys; vegetation surveys; and avian surveys. Remotely sensed data collection included low-altitude stereographic aerial imagery at 6-month to 1-year intervals used to generate high-resolution DEMs and channel planform maps. We analyzed tidal inundation, sediment flux, and effects of the February 1998 El Niño storms. These data allowed several determinations of hydrogeomorphic and biological processes influencing tidal marsh restoration evolution. We identified important effects of pilot channels and small internal berms, determined that most sediment supply occurs during monthly higher spring tides, determined that desiccation strongly influences site elevations at certain evolutionary stages, and identified appropriate data collection frequency intervals for determining project evolution.
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Project Duration 1996-2008 Client Multiple Downloads
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Project Description: This project developed a conceptual model of ecosystem processes and functions and habitat enhancement alternatives for Pilarcitos Lagoon at Half Moon Bay State Beach. Our work focused on assessing the hydrologic, geomorphic and ecological drivers on lagoon ecology associated with coastal, fluvial, and human processes and influences, all as they relate to lagoon habitat availability for steelhead, effects on western snowy plover that nest on these coastal beach habitats, and other special-status species that utilize the lagoon-beach-stream complex. Project involved working closely with an interagency and private landowner stakeholder group.
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Project Duration 2009 - 2010 Client San Mateo County Resource Conservation District Downloads |
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Project Description: This 2,300-acre project site will incorporate tidal marsh restoration (960 ac), diked marsh restoration (380 ac), and riparian, vernal pool, seasonal marsh, and grassland management on the remaining hillslopes and gulches of the project site (960 ac). The site is one of the most unique properties in the San Francisco Bay Area, an undeveloped parcel extending from the bay margins to around +400 ft msl. Key design elements include new flood control levees, tidal marsh levee breaches, tidal channel network, water control structures for diked marsh, integration of land management with cattle grazing, and public access. Project phases include site investigations to determine restoration and management opportunities and constraints, preparation of Conceptual (2005) and Preliminary (2006) Restoration Plans, environmental compliance and permitting (2006-2007), construction plans and specifications preparation (2007), construction management (2007-2008), and post-construction monitoring (2008+). 2005 budget is $2 million for planning, with anticipated budgets for all subsequent activities, excluding construction costs, on the order of $3-4 million. Wetlands and Water Resources is the project technical lead, overseeing restoration design and stewardship plan development, all working closely with Sonoma Land Trust staff.
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Project Duration 2004 - Present Client Sonoma Land Trust Project Status Final Design Downloads Links
Outstanding CCMP Implementation Project Award Winner - 2005 |
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Project Description: This project proposes to enhance a 450-acre tidal marsh on the west bank of Sonoma Creek south of Highway 37 in Sonoma County, California. Enhancement will consist of constructing large tidal sloughs into regions of the marsh that exhibit prolonged submergence that kills emergent vegetation essential for the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse and that supports mosquito production. Description of Services Provided: WWR will collect baseline topographic information, identify areas of poor drainage, design tidal sloughs, conduct hydrodynamic modeling of the slough network to evaluate functionality and geometry, prepare an enhancement plan, and prepare a monitoring plan.
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Project Duration 2006 - Present Client Marin-Sonoma Mosquito Abatement District Project Status Restoration Planning Downloads |
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Project Description: This project restored tidal marsh habitat and provided public access in Corte Madera, Marin County, California. Description of Services Provided: Wetland delineation, biological resource assessment, topographic mapping, restoration plan preparation, engineering design, permitting, and construction management.
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Project Duration 1999 - 2009 Client Marin Audubon Society Project Status Monitoring Downloads Links
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Project Description: The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are developing a project to convert diked, subsided Delta islands to freshwater wetlands. This change in land use will stop ongoing subsidence and, over time, reverse past subsidence. Such subsidence reversal also can reduce the risk of Delta levee failures by reducing hydrostatic pressure on levees and it can reduce the effects of levee failures by decreasing the volume of water flooding breached islands. This project will also demonstrate the potential of freshwater wetlands to sequester atmospheric carbon via wetland plant photosynthesis and net retention of carbon within the wetlands. These wetlands will also provide some wildlife function, particularly for birds and also for reptiles and amphibians. These outcomes should generate significant economic and societal benefits. WWR along with its partners USGS and DWR will collaboratively be responsible for site selection, implementation planning, regulatory compliance, studies preparation, construction monitoring and implementation of initial demonstration. The team will also conduct initial evaluations of demonstration wetland performance, optimization assessments and transferability.
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Project Duration 2007 - 2008 Client US Geological Survey Department of Water Resources Downloads
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