The red and green colors of the salt ponds in South San Francisco Bay arebrilliant visual markers for astronauts. The STS-111 crew photographed the baysouth of the San Mateo bridge in June, 2002. This photograph is timely becausea large number of the salt ponds (more than 16,500 acres) that are owned byCargill, Inc. will be sold in September for wetlands restoration—a restorationproject second in size only to the Florida Everglades project. Roughboundaries of the areas to be restored are outlined on the image.
Over the past century, more than 80% of San Francisco Bay’s wetlands havebeen filled and developed or diked off for salt mining. San Francisco Bay hassupported salt mining since 1854. Cargill has operated most of the bay’scommercial salt ponds since 1978, and had already sold thousands of acres to theState of California and the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge. This newtransaction will increase San Francisco Bay’s existing tidal wetlands by 50%.The new wetlands, to be managed by the California Department of Fish and Gameand the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will join the Don Edwards NationalWildlife Refuge, and provide valuable habitat for birds, fish and otherwildlife. The wetlands will contribute to better water quality and flood controlin the bay, and open up more coastline for public enjoyment.
References & Resources
- Cargill Salt Ponds (PDF)
- Turning Salt Into Environmental Gold
- Salt Ponds on Way to Becoming Wetlands
- Historic Agreement Reached to Purchase San Francisco Bay Salt Ponds
Astronaut photograph STS111-376-3 was provided by the Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory at Johnson Space Center. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA-JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth
