University Students Explore Tidal Marsh Ecology

By SFBBO Science Director Eric Lynch

​On February 6th, 2025, SFBBO's Habitat Conservation team partnered with Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful to host San Jose State University's Field Studies in Water Resource Management class at our restoration site near Mallard Slough and Pond A16 in Alviso. The students braved some wet, windy, and muddy conditions while adding 175 native plants to our restoration site. SFBBO staff and the students discussed some of the major conservation issues affecting San Francisco Bay's tidal marshes. 

Students also learned about the dual focus of this project which seeks to improve tidal marsh-upland transition zone habitat along Mallard Slough and pond-adjacent habitat along Pond A16. Both aspects of the project involve replacing invasive plants with local, native species.

Along Mallard Slough the goal is to create dense, year round vegetation to provide high-tide refugia for tidal marsh species, while the work adjacent to Pond A16 is designed to create a low-growing native plant community that will compete well with invasive plants while providing minimal cover for terrestrial predators of shorebirds and waterfowl.

The SJSU class was led by Dr. Costanza Rampini, who has regularly brought her classes to help participate in SFBBO habitat restoration over the years.

"The students and I had fun planting native species near Mallard Slough and Pond A16 in Alviso and we learned a lot," Dr. Rampini said. "It was also a great team bonding exercise, and despite the cold and rainy weather, my students were all smiles by the end of the day." 

This project is funded primarily through a grant from Valley Water, but has also received funding from Cargill and other SFBBO donors. We are very fortunate to have enjoyed the support of our partners at Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful for all of the volunteer events associated with this project.

Eric Lynch a science director at SFBBO who specializes in habitat restoration. He received his B.A. in English and American Literature at Harvard University in 2009 and an A.S. degree from West Valley College’s Park Management Program. In 2018, he left SFBBO to pursue a master’s degree at Sonoma State focused on raptor migration phenology at the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory, where he is a longtime volunteer, and later returned to his beloved South Bay to continue working to improve the relationship between humans and the environment through conservation, restoration, research, and outreach.