Hundreds of years ago, birds flying above the San Francisco Bay Area saw a Bay below them ringed by tidal marshes. Today, the Bay is ringed by buildings or colorful salt production ponds.​​​ Over the past 150 years, approximately 90 percent of historic tidal marsh has been eliminated in the San Francisco Bay through human activities, reducing waterbird habitat. ​

In 2003, state and federal agencies along with several private foundations purchased more than 15,000 acres of salt production evaporation ponds and in 2008, a collaboration of agencies and organizations started the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project, a 50 year endeavor to restore the ponds into a mix of tidal marsh and managed wetland ponds to support diverse species. ​

Share Data Regionally – We contribute our data to the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project, a 50-year project to restore tidal marsh habitat and manage salt pond habitat around the Bay. Since 2005, SFBBO biologists have conducted surveys of the waterbirds that use managed ponds around the Bay (as well as water quality) that are associated with the Project. These surveys covered 82 ponds extending across the Alviso, Newark, Mowry, Ravenswood, and Hayward Eden Landing Ecological Reserve complexes. These data guide the restoration efforts of the project and enable our partners to maintain ponds that support the needs of multiple local species. SFBBO reports the pond survey data regularly to managers at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. They use the data to maintain target numbers for particular waterbird guilds, like Eared Grebes and phalarope.