Save The Bay is the oldest and largest non-profit organization working exclusively to celebrate, protect and restore the San Francisco Bay. Save The Bay was established in 1961 and does policy work, education and restoration around the Bay.
These are the goals of this presentation
This is a satellite image of the Bay. Some people think the Bay looks like a mermaid (head is San Pablo Bay; body is the Central Bay; tail is the South Bay; hair flows into the Delta). Can you find your school on this map? Can you find where your field trip will be?
Can take guesses from group…
The Bay is fairly shallow, esp. along shorelines Average depth is 12 - 14 ft
Deepest part is under GG ~ 350 ft. That is about how tall the Golden Gate spires are, so if you imagine turning them upside down, they would just touch the bottom of the Bay. Why is the Bay so deep here? It is a narrow exit/entrance and the water coming in and going out of bay carves a deeper channel. In some parts of the Bay, the bottom of the Bay is dredged to make it deep enough for ship traffic.
This will lead into introduction of the terms WATERSHED, ESTUARY, BRACKISH, WETLAND
Looking at this map can you see two major areas where water flows into the Bay? Fresh water comes into the Bay by precipitation and also through the Delta. Salt water comes into the Bay from the Pacific Ocean…
… and Fresh water comes in from the rivers, creeks, streams which are a part of the SF Bay watershed Pics are: Alameda Creek, Coyote Creek, and San Joaquin River
SF Bay watershed covers 40% of the state of CA. Includes the entire Central Valley & its two major rivers—Sacramento and San Joaquin.
The fresh water from the creeks, rivers, and streams, and the salt water from the ocean meet and mix in the SF Bay making BRACKISH water. The two types of water are able to mix together because the Bay is almost entirely enclosed, or surrounded by land. This is what makes the Bay an ESTUARY. SF Bay is the largest estuary on the west coast of North America.
Estuaries are very biologically productive—able to support a wide range of wildlife. Estuaries are among the most productive and diverse ecosystems on the planet. In fact, estuaries contain more life per square inch than the Amazon rainforest! The native peoples who settled in the SF Bay area as early as 6,000 years ago were able to feed themselves quite easily from the bounty of the rich estuary and Bay wetlands. Even today, the Bay still supports a great amount of wildlife. A large amount of this life can be found nursing, feeding, resting and nesting along the Bay’s shores where there are WETLANDS.
In the SF Bay, the wetlands along the shore (where the land meets the water) are known as TIDAL MARSHES.
Historic view of amount of wetlands in the Bay. Before the Gold Rush and big population boom in CA, anywhere the land was flat along the shores of the Bay = wetlands.
This represents what the Bay shoreline looks like currently and what has happened to the former wetland habitats. 90% of the Bay’s wetlands are gone. The Bay has shrunk by 1/3.
Bay fill/ development Farms & grazing (primarily in North Bay) Salt ponds (primarily in South Bay) Pollution/trash
Three main functions of a wetland: Water filtration—trapping physical trash (as seen here) and filtering out chemical pollutants as well. Nursery, nesting, resting grounds for wildlife Flood control—wetlands act as sponges… Image of flood is SF in February 2004.
This is an overview image of Arrowhead Marsh – part of the Martin Luther King Regional Shoreline. We will be canoeing near the marsh that is in the center of this picture.
This is a well-used park with miles of trails, picnic areas, fishing docks, and public boat launches. It is an important stopover for birds migrating on the Pacific Flyway, and is home to 2 endangered species—Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse and California Clapper Rail.
The following slides are examples of the kinds of life we can find out in the Bay’s wetlands. We won’t see everything shown here, but will be able to see a number of the plants and birds.
(clockwise starting from the upper left) Alkali heath, coyote bush, salt grass, gumplant, pickleweed
(clockwise starting from the upper left) Snowy egret, long-billed curlews, brown pelican, great blue heron, red-tailed hawk, great egret
(clockwise from upper left) Orange-striped anemones, pile worm, olympia oysters, acorn barnacles, cancer crab, bay mussels, amphipod
(clockwise from upper left) Leopard shark, anchovy, rainbow trout, bat ray
The SMHM is endemic to SF Bay—only can be found in SF Bay. Clapper Rail can be found in Monterey Bay and Morro Bay, but largest populations are in SF Bay.
You will be coming out to do Save The Bay’s Canoes In Sloughs program.
In San Francisco Bay, a slough is a slow-moving channel of water created by the tide that winds through a marsh.
Here is the order of the day for your field trip.
Meet your leaders
Taking the canoes to the launch
Save The Bay’s Warning System: Because Save The Bay takes safety so seriously, we operate on a 1 warning system. If anyone in the group breaks any of the rules, we give the entire group a warning. If anyone breaks another rule, we end the trip and come in early. We usually don’t have to resort to this system, but have had to use it a few times in the past, so please do a good job of following the rules!
Learning to paddle
Explore the wetlands by canoe.
Eating lunch in the canoes. Please try to bring a waste-free lunch.
Each canoe has an educational kit in it. In the educational kit we keep resources you can use like the bird guide this participant is looking at.
Identify some of the plants that live in the wetlands (cordgrass).
Test the quality of the water in the Bay. Here a student is checking the amount of dissolved oxygen in the waters of the Bay. Water quality testing is an important way to determine the health of the Bay.
At the end of the day, we rely on your help to put the gear away. These participants are doing an awesome job!
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