Actions

The San Francisco Bay/Delta is an integral part of the Pacific Flyway, and for decades, the region has been performing bird species monitoring that has greatly informed management actions. At the heart of this report are actions that restoration practitioners, public agencies, scientists, policy makers, and others can take to improve ecosystem health, decrease threats to bird populations, and increase our understanding of species needs. Through adaptive management, these actions are also opportunities to learn and refine our approaches over time toward achieving greater and more lasting impact. Specifically, continued monitoring efforts can further our understanding of habitat connectivity, migratory corridors, and breeding areas throughout the SF Bay, which will help advance Flyway-wide conservation efforts year-round. This set of over 30 science-based actions reflects the region’s strong collaborative ethos, where working together, we know we can ensure birds, other wildlife, and people can thrive in relationship to our natural environment, both now and into the future.

Click on the panels below to find actions for each habitat

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Tidal Marsh

Planning, Management, and Restoration

  • Use sea level rise modeling tools to better understand the impacts on, and threats to, tidal marsh habitat due to climate change, and prioritize suitable areas for preservation and restoration of marsh habitat.
  • Promote tidal restoration in high-priority areas like the Petaluma and Napa River systems and South San Francisco Bay, which are better able to cope with rising sea levels.
  • Promote tidal restoration in areas connected to uplands that allow marshes to move upslope as sea levels rise (Refer to the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission’s Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan and San Francisco Estuary Institute’s Baylands Resilience Metrics Mapbook)
  • Use clean sediment inputs to accelerate marsh accretion and offset marsh drowning from sea level rise and storm wave scouring (use this resource to identify areas).
  • Restore native vegetation refugia on marsh edges, levee slopes, and gradual upland transitions to provide cover from predators for birds and small mammals during extreme tide events.
  • Work with city and county planning departments to consider alternatives to development on existing or potential future tidal marsh, diked baylands, and uplands with future marsh potential. (Refer to the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission’s Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan and San Francisco Estuary Institute’s Baylands Resilience Metrics Mapbook)
  • To address the threat of elevated predation on marsh birds:
    • Manage introduced predators such as red foxes and feral cats, especially in areas with high concentrations of marsh birds.
    • Educate the public about the impact of cats on bird populations and remove feral cat feeding stations.
    • Eliminate and secure food waste in parks, residential areas, businesses, and other sources near the Bay to reduce predator activity  (like raccoons, skunks, and ravens) associated with urban areas.
  • Monitor and control introduced invasive plants early – when costs are lower or when a direct threat to marsh birds is likely – to reduce habitat degradation and protect the quality of foraging and nesting areas.

Scientists

  • Monitor marsh bird population sizes and trends in abundance to detect early signs of decline in time to implement actions for reversal.
  • Share research and monitoring findings among conservation professionals and the public.
  • Advance predictive modeling of future habitat conditions and bird response to restoration and management actions to improve best practices and inform future actions.

Tidal Flat

Planning, Management, and Restoration

  • Plan for mudflat creation and sustainability by conducting physical modeling exercises and assessing those results over time to ensure current and future coastal defense (e.g., levees, rip-rap, and seawalls), salt pond restoration, and development does not reduce mudflats.
  • Control non-native plants that colonize mudflats (e.g., hybrid Spartina)
  • Remove non-essential barriers such as dams, culverts, levees, and other structures that inhibit natural flow and the settling of sediment to mudflats.
  • Conserve and protect Bay edge habitats to facilitate the movement of tidal flats upslope as sea levels rise.
  • Reduce human-caused disturbance (e.g., hiking, dog walking, boating) in areas where shorebirds feed and roost in high densities (e.g., Napa River tidal flats, San Leandro Bay, and Hayward southward of southern San Francisco Bay).
    • Work with city planners to incorporate features that minimize disturbance when implementing new public access points on the Bay edge.

Scientists

  • Quantify the habitat features of tidal flats that are important for birds and determine how other shallow water habitats can be restored or managed to support migrating shorebirds.
  • Support the Pacific Flyway Shorebird Survey:
    • Volunteer to count shorebirds
    • Facilitate land access for surveyors
  • Conduct research to improve our ability to predict how sea level rise and reduced sediment supply will impact tidal flat habitats and develop strategies to safeguard areas where tidal flats can migrate inland.

Subtidal

Planning, Management, and Restoration

  • Maintain diverse habitat features, such as roosting islands, foraging berms, optimal salinity, and depths, may further improve managed pond habitats for dabbling ducks and some diving duck species, including Ruddy Ducks.
  • Increase prey on hard surfaces (like breakwaters and piers), reduce disturbance, and enhance subtidal and intertidal habitats to improve conditions for diving ducks, such as Scaup and Scoter, which have declined in open bay habitat within SF Bay.
  • Minimize disturbance in key foraging areas from recreation and ferry boats, especially in the following areas: the northern end of San Pablo Bay, near eelgrass beds, and within the central part of SF Bay from the Bay Bridge to the San Mateo Bridge.
  • Implement the Subtidal Habitat Goals Report recommendations for the restoration, protection, and science needed to protect this habitat type.

Scientists

  • Continue long-term monitoring of intertidal and subtidal habitat, as well as salt pond complexes undergoing active restoration. This will enable identification of key features that can be included in habitat protection and restoration designs to provide suitable habitat for waterfowl, as well as thresholds beyond which these species can no longer use these habitats.
  • Study prey density and waterfowl feeding behavior to determine high-quality habitats in need of protection or enhancement (e.g., eelgrass, creek mouths, ponds, shoals).
  • Advance new, and improve existing, survey methods to improve accuracy, cost-effectiveness, and surveyor safety.
  • Evaluate the effects of human disturbance on foraging and roosting birds.

Non-Tidal Wetlands & Waters

Planning, Management, and Restoration

  • Increase nearby high-quality upland nesting habitat, such as grasslands, and summer-flooded freshwater brood-rearing wetlands to help increase duckling survival and waterfowl recruitment.
  • Improve specific vegetation types, density, and height to increase nest success and recruitment for breeding waterfowl, because nest survival limits duck population growth.
  • Promote public-private partnerships, like state incentive programs, to aid upland and wetland conservation on private lands for breeding waterfowl.
  • Create and manage island nesting habitat within managed ponds for breeding and roosting shorebirds and terns, and include low vegetation on some islands to create cover for chicks.
  • Build additional nesting islands to provide habitat for breeding populations of American Avocets and Black-necked Stilts, especially in the Alviso and Moffett pond complexes.
    • Fun Fact: Recent increases in Forster’s Tern nest abundance are closely linked to their colonization of newly constructed and managed islands in two Don Edwards SF Bay National Wildlife Refuge ponds.
  • Maintain and enhance island nesting habitat to improve availability, and employ social attraction efforts (decoys, broadcast calls) to help establish new colonies of nesting terns.is effective for establishing bird colonies on managed islands.
  • Manage the California gull population (by inhibiting gull population growth or reducing gull access to trash at local landfills, etc.) to help minimize gull predation on American Avocet and Forster’s Tern chicks.
  • Construct new nesting islands for breeding shorebirds and terns by using three to five small to medium-sized (<0.2 ha) islands per pond that are linear or elongated in shape (not rounded), contain patches of short vegetation, and are placed away from pond levees.
  • Manage for a mix of pond conditions with depths ranging from 2 to 5 cm, salinities from 120 to 200 ppt, and minimal vegetation in the ponds and on levees for optimum wintering shorebird use.

Scientists

  • Monitor changes in abundance and reproductive success of breeding, migrating, and wintering waterbirds over time to identify concerning declines and assess the response to restoration and management efforts.
  • Determine relationships between breeding habitat and population growth metrics, such as nest success, to identify management levers and strategies.
  • Determine management strategies for the increasing population of predatory gulls which prey on chicks and eggs of other locally breeding waterbirds.
  • Assess and track the changes in methylmercury concentrations in nesting Forster’s Terns, American Avocets, and Black-necked Stilts as pond management and tidal restoration proceeds.