Habitats Program

Led by Senior Ecologist David Thomson and Ecologist Aidona Kakouros, the Habitats Program is a science-based program that works to determine feasible methods to restore and manage a rare and valuable habitat - the upland transition zone, or the ecotone, between a tidal marsh and upland habitats. A transition zone dominated by high-quality native vegetation provides high-tide refugia and cover for endangered species like California Clapper Rail and Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse. SFBBO’s first Habitats Program project will be restoration and vegetation management of 13 acres of transitional habitat in Pond A6 in Alviso.

Pond A6, the former home to 24,000 breeding California Gulls, was breached in December 2010 to initiate the restoration of tidal habitats. This project will be the largest attempt in the Bay Area to restore and manage a transitional habitat. Keep an eye out for more information about the Habitats Program in the Spring 2012 issue of the Bay Bird Review newsletter, or visit Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge’s Environmental Education Center in Alviso to see the upland transitional zone restoration David and Aidona have been working on there.