Tidal Exchange newsletter of the elkhorn slough foundation
summer 2021
RAISING HESTER MARSH Elkhorn Slough has lost at least 50% of its tidal wetlands in the last 150 years due to human activity, primarily historic diking and draining for grazing and cultivation. Though Elkhorn Slough still features the most extensive salt marshes in California south of San Francisco Bay, without restoration its remaining marshes are projected to be lost within 50 years to sea level rise. Under the guidance of Tidal Wetland Program Director Monique Fountain, the
Elkhorn Slough Reserve is responding by raising the elevation of Hester Marsh on the southern shores of Elkhorn Slough. Looking across the site, it’s hard not to be impressed by the project's vast scope and scale — the most extensive high marsh landscape in the estuary, restored to an elevation that will allow it to naturally track sea level rise. (Continued
on page 5)
Hester Marsh showing Phase I marsh restoration complete and Phase II site, before restoration, submerged in foreground. Photo by Edmund Lowe.
