Eventually the restored marsh should resemble this neighboring marsh.

Diverse wetland habitat will be restored to 950 acres that had been diked and drained in the late 1800s -- as were most of the Bay's wetlands -- in order to grow tomatoes and other crops. The dike will be breached, creating two channels, each more than 200 feet wide, to allow tides to flood the land again. But first, levees will be constructed around the inland perimeter of the restoration site to protect nearby properties from tidal flooding. The area is subsided. To create seasonal wetlands and a perimeter wildlife corridor, up to 10.6 million cubic yards of material from Bay dredging projects will be used to raise site elevations. These materials are likely to come from the Port of Oakland's channel deepening projects, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' maintenance operations, and other projects, and will be screened for environmental acceptability.

The tides will complete the transformation by bringing in more sediment. The use of dredged materials will also reduce the time needed for natural sedimentation in tidal areas to reach elevations required for colonization by marsh plants. The net result will be a landscape that gradually slopes from uplands to the Bay, much as the historic shoreline did. Site construction is expected to be completed by 2007.

The project will restore one of the largest contiguous tidal marshes in the Bay Area. Plants and animals are expected to colonize the growing mudflats as the tides cut a dense network of channels. Tidal areas will provide habitat for Bay fish species, including young endangered salmon making their journey to the ocean. The reclusive and endangered California clapper rail will nest in the cordgrass growing along marsh channels, while the pickleweed in the high marsh will become home to the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse. A variety of shorebirds and waterfowl will also use the wetlands.

The rest of Hamilton Field is already being developed into a residential and mixed-use community. Although the public will not be allowed into the sensitive habitat areas of the marsh, the Bay Trail will traverse the southern levee of the site, and an overlook of the entire wetlands area is proposed for nearby Reservoir Hill.

The project will implement part of the Hamilton Base Reuse Plan developed by local citizens and advance the objectives of the San Francisco Bay Plan, the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan, CALFED, and the Regional Habitat Goals Project. It will also advance the regional goal of reducing the amount of dredged sediment disposed of into the Bay.

Staff of the California Coastal Conservancy and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission serve as joint managers of the project and, along with a group of over 200 interested citizens and agency representatives, are now working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to complete feasibility studies and environmental review. Meanwhile, the Army is cleaning up contaminants on the site. It is expected that construction will begin in 2000 and take six years to complete.

Steve Goldbeck is program director for dredging management and governmental affairs at the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commisson. Terri Nevins is a project manager at the Coastal Conservancy who is working on the Hamilton Field Project.