Yosemite Slough Restoration Project: Wetland Design for an Urban Watershed

摘要

The Yosemite Slough wetland restoration project is the centerpiece of a plan to create a 34-acre nature park in Candlestick Point State Recreation Area (Candlestick Point SRA) on the shoreline of San Francisco Bay. The restoration design provides public access to the shoreline with enhanced wetlands and wildlife habitat, bird nesting islands, transitional and upland areas as buffers for sensitive habitats, interpretive trails, and an environmental education center. The central challenge of this project lies in creating a viable wetland habitat and recreational park in an area where chemically impacted fill has been placed. In the Site vicinity, the fill is over 20 feet deep and extends well beyond the park boundaries. It is cost-prohibitive to remove all chemically impacted fill in the wetland restoration area and not feasible to do so given that the surrounding fill areas would remain chemically affected. The team's objective was to develop a cost- effective strategy to create wetlands habitat, while mitigating potential risks to human health and the environment. The team developed a design that more than doubles the area of tidally influenced wetlands. Remedial investigations and feasibility studies at the Site began in 2002. Phased construction is expected to begin in 2007.