SAVING NATIVE SPECIES
$1.2M sought to restore eelgrass damaged by vessels
The Richardson's Bay Regional Agency and its conservation partners have applied for a $1.2 million grant to facilitate eelgrass restoration.
The plan calls for work on 15 acres of eelgrass beds over the next three years. It would designate $200,000 for the development of the restoration plan; $400,000 for educational outreach; and $600,000 for underwater restoration and the development of flow-through bay water tanks for eelgrass cultivation and maturation.
Aside from the bay agency, the organizations involved in the initiative include the Richardson Bay Audubon Center and Sanctuary in Tiburon, San Francisco State University and the environmental consultant Merkel and Associates.
Rebecca Schwartz Lesberg, president of Coastal Policy Solutions, an environmental consulting firm, said the grant proposal was submitted last week to the National Coastal Resilience Fund of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
“Now that the RBRA has established and is implementing its eelgrass protection zone we have an opportunity to engage in active restoration and restore what we've lost here,” she said. “If we don't act soon, we jeopardize the future of the wildlife that relies on this place.”
The RBRA and other agencies have pointed to a phenomenon called “anchor scour,” which has damaged about 90 acres of underwater eelgrass in the bay. Vessels that drop anchors into the bay floor are said to create patches in the vegetation that damage the greater environment and contribute to coastal erosion.
In August, the RBRA board approved a settlement that requires the removal of illegal vessels anchored in the bay within five years or face enforcement action by the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. The RBRA enforces a 72-hour anchorage rule that has incurred the ire of the boat-dwelling residents known as anchor-outs.
The agency has since developed plans to construct a temporary 15-vessel mooring field outside of the eelgrass protection zone for a select group of mariners to live for about three years before all permanent residents are banned.
Steve McGrath, interim executive director of the RBRA, said it is “hard to overstate the importance of the eelgrass habitat to Richardson Bay.”
“It is vital to sustaining a healthy environment for birds, herrings, crabs and countless other species who are native to the area,” he said. “This grant can help with plans to restore and protect eelgrass, while demonstrating how public and private entities can work together to safeguard our natural resources.”
Schwartz Lesberg said the work is essential and would have to be funded, whether the agencies succeed in securing the grant or not. She said the restoration is critical for coastal communities to adapt to climate change.
The vegetative mass acts as “natural infrastructure” by holding sediment together and reducing wave energy, she said. It also acts as a “carbon sink” and reduces ocean acidification, which harms certain kinds of wildlife.
Katharyn Boyer, interim executive director of the Estuary and Ocean Science Center at San Francisco State University, said the pilot program would further explore the most effective way to restore the eelgrass. She said the anchor scars vary in size, shape, depth, longevity and even organic composition.
“What we don't know is whether each of the scars will have to be restored in the same way,” Boyer said.
The scientists plan to explore whether active transplanting of eelgrass or natural growth will be a more effective method. At some anchor scars, they will plant eelgrass sources with varying genetic traits to study their growth and interaction with the surrounding environment. The studies will inform a future, large restoration project in Richardson Bay.
Casey Arndt of the Richardson Bay Audubon Center and Sanctuary said the grant would partially fund the Audubon Youth Leader program and the Audubon Community Conservation Fellows. Students would assist with eelgrass restoration and supplement the work that conservation fellows do. The funds would also support the construction of bayside aquatic tanks where eelgrass would be grown and then possibly reintroduced into the anchor scar areas.
“Eelgrass, in a lot of ways, is a hard thing for people to get excited about,” Arndt said. “Our hope is that by bringing people out to the physical restoration site and seeing eelgrass growing at the center, we hope the conservation puzzle will make a lot more sense.”
Community outreach will be focused on Marin City youths to encourage their participation, the grant application said. Audubon also plans to facilitate a post-college internship for people of color or first-generation college graduates.
Jeff Jacob Chase, an anchor-out, called the eelgrass restoration a “tiny part” of the ecosystem. He said the perpetual focus on supposed detrimental impacts of the anchorouts was a way to demonize them and enforce their displacement.
“In this kind of work, we win a few battles and lose a few. The money from Fish and Wildlife, $1.2 million for eelgrass, seems like it's looking for a radioactive needle in a burning haystack,” he said. “This issue, it's not going to be solved by removing the water protectors from this bay.”
The Richardson's Bay Regional Agency is an authority of Mill Valley, Belvedere, Tiburon and the county.