South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project — Converting 15,100 Acres of Industrial Salt Ponds to Tidal Wetlands (California, USA)

The South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project aims to restore 15,100 acres of former industrial salt ponds in South San Francisco Bay to a mosaic of tidal wetlands and other habitats, and to buffer South Bay cities from high tides and sea-level rise. It is run by a partnership including the California State Coastal Conservancy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Wildlife and Santa Clara Valley Water District, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also listed among partners.
Progress reported by the Restoration Authority and partners: over 3,300 acres have been opened to tides (a December 2023 breach of the 300-acre Pond R4 in the Ravenswood complex was the most recent milestone), and a separate summary cites over 3,000 acres restored to tidal marsh plus over 700 acres adapted to managed habitats. These figures measure different things (opened versus restored versus managed), and sources differ on the original acreage (15,100 versus 'over 16,000'). Phase 2 work is funded in part by Measure AA, a regional parcel tax expected to raise about $500 million over 20 years across the Bay.
The project runs an adaptive-management programme with a Phase 2 science synthesis. We found no published carbon-stock, flood-damage or species-population results in the sources consulted, so the entry is scored cautiously: it demonstrates durable multi-agency governance and dedicated public funding, while measured ecosystem outcomes remain largely to be shown.

Read the full analysis: https://www.southbayrestoration.org/