San Franscisco Estuary Project - CCMP

The Estuary
A Significant Natural Resource
San Francisco Bay and the Delta combine to form the West Coast's largest estuary. The Estuary conveys the waters of thc Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers to the Pacific Ocean. It encompasses roughly l,600 square miles, drains over 40 percent of the state (60,000 square miles), and contains about five million acre-feet of water at mean tide.

The Estuary watershed provides drinking water to twenty million Californians and irrigates 4.5 million acres of farmland. The Estuary also hosts a rich diversity of aquatic life. Each year, two-thirds of the state's salmon pass through thc Bay and Delta, as do nearly half of the waterfowl and shorebirds migrating along the Pacific Flyway. In addition, Estuary waters enable the nation's fourth-largest metropolitan region to pursue many activities, including shipping, fishing, recreation, and commerce.

The San Francisco Estuary Project
A Cooperative Approach to Environmentally Sound Management
Growing public concern for the health of the Bay and Delta led the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) to establish the San Francisco Estuary Project (SFEP or Project) in 1987. The Project, part of the U.S. EPA's National Estuary Program, is a five-year cooperative effort to promote more effective management of the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary and to restore and maintain the Estuary's water quality and natural resources. The Project is jointly sponsored by the U.S. EPA and the State of California. It is financed by federal appropriations under the Clean Water Act and matching funds from the state and local entities.

Managing a resource as important and complex as the Estuary is a challenging task. The compelling need for environmental protection must be weighed against competing uses of Estuary waters and resources. To address this challellge, thc Projcct brought together over one hundred representatives from the private and public sectors, including government, industry, business and environmental interests, as well as elected officials from all twelve Bay-Delta counties. After five years, the Project's cooperative public-private partnership has reachcd its goal of developing a Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) for the Estuary.

The Plan
A Blueprint for Estuary Conservation and Restoration
The CCMP presents a blueprint to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of thc Bay and Delta. It seeks to achieve high standards of water quality; to maintain an appropriate indigenous population of fish, shellfish, and wildlife; to support recreational activities; and to protect the beneficial uses of the Estuary.

For the purposes of the CCMP, restoration implies improving the health of the Estuary. Rather than attempting to completely restore the Estuary to its historical state, the CCMP strives to maintain, protect, and enhance the ecological integrity of the Estuary within the given urban context. The CCMP attempts to regain as much of the altered or destroyed wetlands as possible, to establish the highest restoration or target goals, to ensure continuance of beneficial uses, and to generally provide a sustainable ecosystem.

To develop the CCMP, the Project's Management Conference identified five critical program areas of environmental concern: I) decline of biological resources; 2) pollutants; 3) freshwater diversions and altered flow regime; 4) dredging and waterway modification; and 5) intensified land use. Subcommittees then produced status and trends reports that summarized the current state of the Estuary's resources. Next, the subcommittees prepared recommendations that became the basis for a CCMP Action Plan. The Management Committee reviewed a working draft of the Plan in November, 1991. The Management Committee then met frequently during the first seven months of l992. Through facilitated, consensus-building discussions, the Management Committee developed a Draft CCMP, which was released for public comment in August of l992. Finally, the Management Committee incorporated public comments on the Draft CCMP and finalized the CCMP. The Management Committee unanimously adopted the final CCMP at its March 31, 1993, meeting.

The CCMP sets forth this vision for the Estuary:
"We, the people of California and the San Francisco Bay-Delta region, believe the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary is an international treasure and that our ongoing stewardship is critical to its preservation, restoration, and enhancement. Acknowledging the importance of the Estuary to our environmental and economic well-being, we pledge to achieve and maintain an ecologically diverse and productive natural estuarine system."

The mission statements that guided the development of the CCMP are to:

Restore and protect a diverse, balanced, and healthy population of fish, invertebrates, wildlife, plants, and their habitats, focusing on indigenous species.
Assure that the beneficial uses of the Bay and Delta are protected.
Improve water quality, where possible, by eliminating and preventing pollution at its source, while minimizing the discharge of pollutants from point and nonpoint sourccs and remediating existing pollution.
Manage dredging and waterway remodifications to minimize adverse environmental impacts.
Effectively manage and coordinate land and water use to achieve the goals of the Estuary Project.
Increase public knowledge about the Estuary ecosystem and public involvement in the restoration and protection the health of the Estuary.
Increase our scientific understanding of the Estuary and use that knowledge to better manage the Estuary.
Develop and expand non-regulatory programs, such as public-private partnerships and market incentives in conjunction with regulatory programs, to achieve the goals of the Project.
Preserve and restore wetlands to provide habitat for wildlife, improve water quality, and protect against flooding.
Assure an adequate freshwater flow as one of the essential components to restore and maintain a clean, healthy, and diverse Estuary.

Adoption of the Plan
Governor and Administrator Approval
After the Management Committee approved the CCMP, it was sent to the Project's Sponsoring Agency Committee (SAC) for review. The SAC forwarded the Plan to the Governor of California and the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Governor Wilson concurred on thc CCMP on November 17, 1993. Administrator Browner approved the CCMP on Decembcr 9, 1993. Formal implementation of the Plan may now commence.

CCMP Program Areas
In the sections that follow this Executive Summary, you will find program areas on Aquatic Resources, Wildlife, Wetlands Management, Water Use, Pollution Prevention and Reduction, Dredging and Waterway Modification, Land Use, Public Involvement and Education, and Research and Monitoring. Each program area includes the following elements:

A problem statement;
Discussion of the existing management structure;
Program area goals;
A recommended approach to the problem; and
The stated objectives and actions.

For purposes of this Executive Summary, the discussion of the existing management structure has been eliminated, and the list of actions abbreviated. Therefore, not all recommended actions for a particular program area will appear in this Summary.

Aquatic Resources
The Problem
Native flora and fauna in Estuary waters have declined precipitously in recent years. This is largely the result of human activities that modify waterways, impair water quality, alter freshwater flows, and introduce non-native species. For example, water development projects reduce Delta outflows and contribute to an increase in salinity levels in the lower reaches of the Estuary. The projects thereby eliminate low-salinity habitat necessary for certain estuarine-dependent species. Water diversion facilities can also trap and displace migrating fish.

As a result of these habitat modifications, the number of Chinook salmon returning to spawn in the Estuary's tributaries has declined by 70 percent from historical levels. Populations of striped bass, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento splittail, and California bay shrimp--all of which depend on the Estuary for reproduction and survival--are also in decline.

During the past century, at least one hundred species of non-native aquatic invertebrates have been introduced into the Estuary. This has also taken its toll on native species. For example, the Asian clam, Potamocorbula amurensis, has reached populations of up to 30,000 clams per square meter in some places. The clam is rapidly replacing native bottom-dwelling organisms and interfering with the aquatic food supply.

Recommended Approach:
The Aquatic Resources section of the CCMP Action Plan seeks to build on cooperative efforts already underway among government agencies, non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, and water consumers to improve the management of aquatic resources in the Estuary. This section recommends development of a comprehensive plan to manage estuarine aquatic resources, development of species-specific management plans to control or eliminate undesirable non-indigenous species, and adoption of standards for salinity and flow that will increase the probability of successful I reproduction and survival of important living resources.

Goals

Stem and reverse the decline in the health and abundance of estuarine biota (indigenous and desirable non-indigenous), with an emphsis on natural production.
Restore healthy estuarine habitat conditions to the Bay-Delta, taking into consideration all beneficial uses of Bay-Delta resources.
Ensure the survival and recovery of listed and candidate threatened and endangered species, as well as other species in decline.
Optimally manage the fish and wildlife resources of the Estuary to achieve the purpose of these goals.

Actions
Actions to achieve water quality, flows, and management goals include such measures as:

Designing, installing, and effectivcly operating fish screens or othcr protective devices at diversions associated with fish mortality;
Protecting and restoring shaded riverine aquatic habitats;
Identifying alternative water quality and flow standards, water management measures, operational changes, habitat improvements, and facilities to improve protection of estuarine resources;
Adopting and implementing measures to control discharges of ship ballast water within the Estuary or adjacent waters;
Prohibiting the intentional introduction of exotic species into thc Estuary and its watershed;
Providing necessary instream flows and temperatures in tributaries to the Delta to benefit anadromous fish;
Identifying and protecting remnant stream habitats containing indigenous and endemic fishes by establishing Aquatic Diversity Management Areas;
Implementing thc Upper Sacramento River Management Plan; and
Developing and implementing a San Joaquin River management plan.

Wildlife
The Problem
Many of the Estuary's wildlife species are in long-term decline, succumbing to urban growth, pollution, water development, disease, predation, loss of habitat, and othcr factors. In particular, developmcnt over the past 140 years has drastically reduced and fragmented the Estuary's native wildlife habitats, forcing wildlife to concentrate in small, isolated areas. Primarily as a result of habitat loss, at least seven insect specics, one reptile species, three bird species, and five mammal species have become extinct in the Estuary region.

The environmental changes associated with human activitics and regional population growth continue to have an enormous impact on the Estuary's wildlife. Total waterfowl numbers in the Estuary dropped from a record high of 1.3 million in 1977 to a low of 109,000 in 1982. Populations of dabbling ducks and geese are at all-time lows. Meanwhile, growing numbers of red fox (a non-native species) continue to prey on many shorebird populations, including the endangered California clapper rail. Unlike the fox, however, many small native mammals and carnivores can now find little food and habitat in the Estuary's fast-developing counties.

As a result of these declines, federal and state governments have designated over 130 species of fish, insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, and plants in the Estuary as deserving of special protection or monitoring.

Recommended Approach:
Many of the problems associated with the decline in abundance and diversity of the Estuary's wildlife are interrelated. This section of the CCMP Action Plan can only be effective when coupled with other actions identified throughout the CCMP. Recommended actions in other sections, such as increasing and protecting critical habitat, increasing biodiversity, decrcasing harmful pollutants, and managing freshwater flows through thc Estuary, will collectivcly help restore populations of Bay-Delta wildlife.

Goals

Stem and reverse the decline of estuarine plants and aninials and the habitats on which they depend.
Ensure the survival and recovery of listed and candidate threatened and endangered species, as well as special status species.
Optimally manage and monitor the wildlife resources of the Estuary.

Actions
Actions designed to achieve wildlife protection goals include:

Preserving, creating, restoring, and managing large and contiguous expanses of tidal salt marsh and necessary adjacent uplands;
Completing the expansion of the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge and its satellite refuges;
Restoring tidal marshes in San Francisco Bay;
Identifying and converting/restoring non-wetland areas to wetland- or riparian-oriented wildlife habitat;
Enhancing the biodiversity within all publicly owned or managed wetlands and other wildlife habitats as appropriate;
Completing and implementing a wildlife habitat restoration and management plan for the Estuary;
Implementing, predator control programs;
Updating and, where necessary, preparing recovery plans for all listed wildlife species; and
Monitoring the status of all candidate species and listing them if warranted.

Wetlands
The Problem
In 1850, the Estuary's tidal marshes covered 545,371 acres. By 1985, they had dwindled to approximately 45,000 acres, largely to urban and agricultural development. These losses have reduced the Estuary's capacity to support sustainable populations of fish and wildlife and to provide the other benefits associated with wetlands. Of the thirty-two wildlife species whose populations are currently declining, twenty-three are associated pimarily with wetlands. Although wetlands degradation and conversion have slowed substantially since the 1970s, wetland losses continue. Unless substantial efforts are made to avoid future losses and increase wetland acreage and values, the health of the Estuarv will continue to deteriorate.

Recommended Approach:
The Wetlands Management Program seeks to improve wetlands regulation and management for all ecological wetlands, consistent with the general welfare of the state and with respect to private property rights, by identifying ways for state, federal, and local agencies to work together more effectively. This section intends to expand efforts to acquire, enhance, restore, and create wetlands, as well as improve existing regulatory mechanisms.

The actions recommended here establish clear, non-duplicative goals and policies for wetlands protection and restoration and encourage private initiatives to protect wetlands. This section also recommends that the state govemment develop a comprehensive wetlands protection program that recognizes the Bay-Delta Estuary as a resource of statewide significance and relies on local wetlands protection programs.

Goals

Protect and manage existing wetlands.
Restore and enhance the ecological productivity and habitat values of wetlands.
Expedite a significant increase in the quantity and quality of wetlands.
Educate the public about the values of wetlands resources.

Actions
Actions within the Wetlands Management area include:

Preparing a Regional Wetlands Management Plan;
Encouraging geographically focused cooperative efforts to protect wetlands;
Establishing a comprehensive state wetlands program for thc Estuary;
Increasing enforcement efforts to curtail illegal wetlands alteration and ensure compliance with permit conditions;
Developing and adopting uniform compensatory mitigation policies;
Expanding wetlands acquisition programs; and
Identifying and converting/restoring non-wetlands areas to wetlands- or riparian-oriented wildlife habitat.

Water Use
The Problem
Northern California rivers and streams carry two-thirds of the state's available fresh water. However, water diversions at more than seven thousand locations for purposes such as agriculture, flood control, and drinking water storage reduce the annual volume of fresh water entering San Francisco Bay by more than one-half in some years. The resulting changes in the Estuary's natural flow patterns (often referred to as altered flow regime) affect the Estuary's circulation and water quality, as well as habitat conditions for wildlife, production of phytoplankton and zooplankton, and the survival of eggs and young of marly fish species. Constrution of currently planned local water development projects and completion of the State Water Project will likely increase annual diversions from the Estuary's water supply by at least 1.1 million acrefeet. With demand for the Estuary's limited freshwater supply increasing on all sides, California is now strugglillg to manage competing demands and protect the health of the estuarine ecosystem.

Recommended Approach:
This section of the CCMP strongly encouragcs conservation of existing water supplies. Agricultural, urban, and industrial water users should develop and implement aggressive water conservation measures statewide. By providing funding for research and pilot projects, government can foster further conservation of water used for agriculture. This section encourages more efficient use of existing water supplies, combilled with development of new supplies, by promoting use of rcclaimed water to reduce: 1) cxisting diversions of fresh water; 2) demand for increased diversions; and 3) existing discharge of wastewater directly into the Estuary. Legal and regulatory methods to achieve such reductions could include pricing incentives and water-marketing arrangements.

The development of new storage and conveyance facilities, coupled with more efficient use of existing supplies, can help reduce the problems associated with water diversion in the Estuary watershed. Methods of augmenting water supplies include, but are not limited to, reclamation, conservation, water transfers, water-marketing agreements, and conjunctive use of groundwater. (Conjunctive use refers to the coordinated management of groundwater and surface water supplies that results in more efficicnt use of both water sources.)

Goal

Develop and implement aggressive water management measures to increase freshwater availability to the Estuary.

Actions
Water Use actions include:

Encouraging publicly owned treatment works, municipalitics, and water districts to complete water reclamation and reuse feasibility studies;
Ensuring that state water quality standards and Basin Plans encourage water reclamation and reuse;
Working to develop a mechanism to ensure implementation of efficient agricultural water management practices;
esearching new methods of agricultural water conservation;
Evaluating and adopting mechanisms to manage groundwater to protect the long-term integrity of groundwater basins;
Creating the legal and regulatory framework for voluntary water-marketing agreements among agricultural, urban, and environmental interests; and
Encouraging the state to continue to negotiate with the federal government regarding the possible transfer of ownership or operational control of the Central Valley Project to a non-federal entity.

Pollution Prevention and Reduction
The Problem
The marked reduction in conventional pollutants entering the Estuary over the past forty years has largely eliminated the most obvious symptoms of water pollution, such as odors, algal blooms, and low oxygen levels. But other pollutants, such as trace elements, organochlorines and other synthetic pesticides, and petrochemical hydrocarbons, continue to be of major concern.

Each year, an estimated five to forty thousand tons of at least sixty-five pollutants enter the Estuary from urban and agricultural runoff, municipal wastewater treatment plants, industrial facilities, dredging, chemical spills, and atmospheric deposition. The pollutants reach highest concentrations in harbors, marinas, and industrial waterways and at effluent discharge sites. High pollutant levels have produced toxic effects in the Estuary's fish, shellfish, bird, and mammal species. Studies indicate that certain pollutants are reducing reproductive success in the starry flounder and causing decreased embryo size and eggshell thickness in black-crowned night heron eggs.

These effects indicate that much of the Estuary is threatened or impaired by combinations of differcnt toxic pollutants. With urban land uses expected to expand, pollutant loading from all sources will increase substantially.

Recommended Approach:
Protection of estuarine species and human health requires that the pollutant problem be addressed in a comprehensive manner that includes: 1 ) pollution prevention; 2) control and reduction of pollutants that cannot be avoided; and a) remediation of existing contamination. This program proposes both the full implementation of existing regulations and, where necessary, the development of new initiatives to reduce pollution at its source. The pollution actions identify methods to integrate existing regulatory programs and enforce existing statutes more effectively. This area also recommends policy initiatives for pollution prevention.

Goals

Promote mechanisms to prevent pollution at its source.
Where pollution prevention is not possible, control and reduce pollutants entering the Estuary.
Clean up toxic pollution throughout the Estuary.
Protect against toxic effects, including bioaccumulation and toxic sediment accumulation.

Actions
Actions designed to reduce, prevent, control, and alleviate pollution include:

Establishing specific goals for reducing the discharge of toxic pollution over time and discouraging reliance on toxic material;
Developing environmental audit procedures for all significant users and producers of toxic substances;
Reinforcing exsiting programs and developing new incentives to reduce selenium levels in agricultural drainage;
Developing a comprehensive strategy to reduce pesticides in the Estuary;
Pursuing a mass emissions strategy to both reduce pollutant discharges into the Estuary from point and nonpoint sources and to address the accumulation of pollutants in estuarine organisms and sediments;
Adopting water quality objectives that effectively protect estuarine species and human health;
Improving the management and control of urban runoff from public and private sources;
Developing control measures to reduce pollutant loadings from energy and transportation systems;
Establishing a model enviromnental compliance program at federal facilities;
Cleaning up contaminants presently affecting fish, wildlife, and their habitats; and
Expediting the clean up of toxic hot spots in estuarine sediments.

Dredging and Waterway Modification
The Problem
To maintain the navigability of the region's harbors, marinas, and shipping channels, dredgers remove over eight million cubic yards of sediment from the Estuary floor each year. Although critical to the Estuary's economic well-being, such extensive dredging and waterway modification activities have had significant environmental impacts. In the Bay and Delta waterway channelization, shoreline riprapping, urban development, and flood control projects have eliminated or degraded wetlands and riparian wildlife habitats, increased seasonal storm flows, and changed sediment movement and distribution in the estuarine ecosystem.

Environmental impacts associated with dredging and disposal of dredged material in the Bay include redistribution of toxic pollutants, burial of bottom-dwelling organisms, and resuspension of sediment particles, which causes turbidity and reduces fishing success in and around disposal sites. In the late 1980s, these kinds of environmental concerns and the accumulation of dredged sediments at the Alcatraz disposal site--a navigational hazard--brought disposal practices into question. State and federal agencies and concerned citizens then called for the developrnent of more environmentally sound dredging and disposal methods for the future.

Recommended Approach:
Much of the approach described here derives from the Long-Term Management Strategy (LTMS) for dredging and disposal, a regional effort begun in 1989 by thirty different government agencies, enviromnental organizations, development interests, ports, and fishing organizations. The LTMS seeks to develop technically feasible, economically prudent, and environmentally acceptable long-range ways to meet the region's dredging and disposal needs over the next fifty years. The effort sprang directly from SFEP's cooperative discussions and research on dredging and waterway modification in 1988 and 1989.

The LTMS will evaluate all potential disposal options, including ocean sites, in-Bay sites, and upland altermatives, such as reuse of dredged material for wetlands creation or other projects. By supporting this broad-based effort, this section of the CCMP seeks to provide the framework for developing connections among many issues facing the Estuary, including improvement of waterway modification practices, sediment management, and ecosystem protection and enhancement.

Goals

Adopt a sediment management strategy for dredging and waterway modification.
Manage modification of waterways to avoid or offset the adverse impacts of dredging, flood control, channelization and shoreline development and protection projects.
Eliminate unnecessary dredging activities.
Maximize the use of dredged material as a resource.
Conduct dredging activities in an environmentally sound fashion.

Actions
Actions to achieve the goals in this area include:

Conducting studies on sediment dynamics aimed at defining accretion (the addition of soil to land by gradual, natural deposits) and erosion processes in marsh and mudflat areas;
Developing and setting sediment quality objectives;
Identifying dredged material reuse/nonaquatic disposal opportunities and constraints;
Developing regulatory land use procedures to promote reuse of dredged material for wetlands restoration/creation and other benificial uses; and
Implementing waterway modification policies that protect shoreline areas from detrimental flooding and erosion while maintaining natural resource values.

Land Use
The Problem
With over one million new inhabitants expected during the next two decades, population growth and land use change in the twelve-county Estuary area will continue to increase pollutants, alter wetland and stream habitats, and otherwise adversely affect the Estuary's health. Because state planning laws do not require Estuary protection, local government land decisions rarely consider impacts on this regional resource.

Recommended Approach:
This section of the CCMP seeks to enhance the Estuary, while ensuring economic development to meet vital housing, transportation and other needs. It focuses on using existing local land use decision-making mechanisms to protect wetlands and stream environments and reduce pollutants and runoff.

Goals

Establish and implement land use and transportation patterns and practices that protect, enhance, and restore the Estuary's open waters, adjacent wetlands, adjacent essential uplands habitat, and tributary waterways.
Coordinate and improve planning, regulatory, and development programs of local, regional, state, and federal agencies to improve the health of the Estuary.
Adopt and utilize land use policies that provide incentives for more active participation by the private sector in cooperative efforts that protect and improve the Estuary.

Actions
Actions to achieve land use goals include:

Integrating protection of the Estuary with other state land use-related initiatives; Adopting policies and plans to promote compact, contiguous development; Developing and implementing guidelines for site planning and best management practices; Education the public about how human actions impact the Estuary; Creating economic incentives that encourage local governments to implement measures to protect and enhance the Estuary; and Investigating and creating market-based incentives that promote more active private sector participation in cooperative efforts to protect and restore the Estuary.

Public Involvement and Education
The Problem
Public involvement will be essential for effective implementation of the CCMP. Public involvement will make the difference between general concern and informed action, and between complacency and directed public will. Without a united and organized public constituency able to monitor the ongoing management of the Estuary, achievement of the CCMP's goals, objectives, and individual actions cannot be assured. Only when it comes to understand and embrace the CCMP will the public be able to promote, support, use, enforce, and watchdog the Plan through the critical years of its implementation.

Recommended Approach:
This section of the CCMP provides for a strong public involvement program enabling educated and motivated volunteers to invest in sustainillg and restoring the Estuary. In a time of severe budget constraints in both government and the private sector, the public's skills, energy, and enthusiasm can serve as low-cost alternative resources to solve many of the Estuary's problems. Through actions rccommended in this section, the public can also provide informed activism, trained and vigilant monitoring, and other support vital to the CCMP.

Goals

Build public understanding of the value of the Estuary's natural resources and the need to restore, protect, and maintain a healthy Estuary for future generations.
Increase public involvement in the ongoing stewardship of the Estuarv.

Actions
Actions designed to encourage CCMP education, advocacy, and citizen involvement include:

Building awareness, interest, and support of the CCMP's goals and action plans by the general public and decision-makers;
Providing and encouraging opportunities for direct citizen involvement in CCMP implementation;
Seeking, encouraging, and actively supporting environmental projects and programs that are consistent with CCMP goals and objectives;
Developing, promoting, and supporting multicultural understanding of and involvement in Estuary issues;
Developing and promoting necessary public education tools;
Holding a State of the Estuary Conference at least every other year; and
Providing opportunities for hands-on citizen action in Estuary restoration activities.

Research and Monitoring
The Problem
Environmental decision-makers and managers need continuous access to timely scientific research to refine existing strategies and formulate new methods for protecting the Estuary's resources. Effective use of research results requires strong alliances among managers, scientists, educators, and the public. In addition, new institutional arrangements are necessary to broaden existing environmental research and monitoring programs for the Estuary.

Recommended Approach:
A new institutional arrangement is necessary to implement a coordinated research and monitoring program conerned with the broadest range of issues facing the Estuary. The central recommendation of this section is the establishment of a San Francisco Estuarine Institute* to assist in gathering, analyzing, and disseminating information on all environmental issues of concern to the Estuary. This specifically includes oversight of a Research Enhancement Program and the Regional Monitoring Strategy, which are currently under development.
*According to its by-laws adopted in May,1994, the San Francisco Estuarine Institute has changed its name to the San Francisco Estuary Institute.

Goal

Improve the scientific basis for managing natural resources within the Estuary through an effective monitoring and research program.

Actions
Recommended Research and Monitoring actions include:

Establishing a San Francisco Estuarine Institute for coordination of research and monitoring;
Providing a long-term administrative home for the Research Enhancement Program; and
Developing and implementing the Regional Monitoring Strategy, which will integrate and expand upon existing efforts and will eventually be part of the comprehensive Regional Monitoring Program.

Implementation of the CCMP
Thc development of this Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan is only the first step towards achieving and maintaining an ecologically diverse and productive estuarine system. In order to achieve the goals and the vision described in the CCMP, its recommended actions must be implemented. Further, implementation of the recommended actions will require strong public support, adequate funding, and the cooperation of multiple parties.

Effective implementation will require close coordination among the variety of public, local, state, and federal organizations that havc responsibility for managing the Estuary. Therefore, the Management Committee has proposed an implementation structure under which an Executive Council will have primary responsibility for implementing the CCMP. An Implemention Committee will coordinate implementation activities under the broad policy direction of the Executive Council. Thc lmplementation Committee will convene subcommittees and working groups as necessary.

Thc Science/Technical Review Committee, through the San Francisco Estuarine Institute, will ensure that the CCMP's Research and Monitoring Program is carried out and will provide technical support for implementation activities.

Friends of the San Francisco Estuary will implement the CCMP's Public Involvement and Education Program and will provide a public review and involvement function for CCMP implementation.

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Appendices
References| Glossary| Clean Water Act| Gaps in Knowledge| San Francisco Estuary Project Staff

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