Restoration of the Cullinan Ranch to Tidal Salt Marsh
This was initiated as a cooperative project among the NBS, the San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge, and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California at Davis. Funding was obtained from the FWS Bay and Estuaries Program and the USEPA to conduct the biological and contaminants work of the project. The Shell Oil Spill Litigation Trust provided funding for digital orthophotography of the study area and hydrodynamic modeling of the restoration. The objectives of this project were to use GIS as a tool to archive ecological information on the study area, model various restoration scenarios, project the progress of restoration through time, and spatially analyze and assess actual physical and ecological changes as they eventually occur. A unique sedimentation model was developed as part of a Ph.D. project at the University of California to accurately project sediment deposition and water flow in the study area. Georeferenced samples of bird, plant, and invertebrate densities were taken based on a coordinate grid to spatially represent these ecological characteristics of the study area in the GIS. This project was the first in the San Francisco Bay area to incorporate GIS into restoration with comprehensive determinations of existing project features to compare with future results projected in computer models. The final report is being written as an Environmental Assessment for the Refuge.
