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Young Hands Rebuild Wetlands

Driftwood imported by winter flood waters and now clogging a Benicia marsh may soon be hauled away by school kids if the location is approved for the next and newly funded round of Friends of the S.F. Estuary public education efforts. This May, CalPIRG awarded Friends a sizable grant to continue to educate school kids and teachers about the Bay and Delta ecosystem and to give kids hands-on creek and wetland restoration experiences. The grant was one of 24 funded by Shell Oil's recent $2.2 million settlement over its illegal selenium discharges into the Bay.

Estuary education specialist Steve Cochrane says the two-year education program - which will involve at least 450 kids, 15 teachers and three restoration sites - helps to implement the CCMP (the S.F. Estuary Project's Comprehensive Conservation & Management Plan for the Bay and Delta). "Restoration and education are common themes throughout the CCMP," he says.

If the marsh at Benicia State Park becomes a program site, students, teachers and interested citizens will study this local natural habitat in depth, adopt it and carry out cleanup, weeding, planting and other restoration activities. Backing up their field work would be a 10-week study program using the Friends activity guide Estuarine Encounters.

According to Cochrane, two other project sites are under consideration - the Pinole/Hercules marshes and wetlands near the confluence of Adobe Creek and the Petaluma River. In choosing the sites, Cochrane looks for three things: a restoration need, friendly (public) landowners and a natural resource agent (such as a park official) available to supervise the technical aspects of environmental improvements.

The restoration thrust of Friends' five-year-old education program is responsive to demand, says Cochrane. "In past years, people supported environmental causes by sending money. Now the trend is to get out there and actually do something," he says.

Contact: Steve Cochrane (510)286-0775

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