Request for Info/Ideas: South Bay Salt Pond Restoration

From: Tim Frederick (tbf3@yahoo.com-DeleteThis.com)
Date: Mon Apr 05 2004 - 13:02:06 PDT

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Message-ID: <20040405200206.17455.qmail@web13807.mail.yahoo.com-DeleteThis.com>
Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 13:02:06 -0700 (PDT)
From: Tim Frederick <tbf3@yahoo.com-DeleteThis.com>
Reply-To: timf@alum.mit.edu-DeleteThis.com
Subject: Request for Info/Ideas: South Bay Salt Pond Restoration
To: wind_talk@opus.labs.agilent.com-DeleteThis.com

To all Bay Area Windsurfers and Kiteboarders:

The planning phase of the restoration of the South Bay Salt Ponds is
underway. At this stage the project is soliciting input from community
stakeholders for the formulation of the plans.

More information in the Restoration Project can be found at
www.southbayrestoration.org. Maps of the lands under review can be
found at www.southbayrestoration.org/Maps.html. Briefly, we're talking
about the Eden Landing shoreline south of the San Mateo Bridge, the
West Bay area just north of the Dumbarton Bridge, and the Alviso ponds
north of Moffett Field.

There is a small chance that there might be an opportunity to create
new windsurfing/kiteboarding access points to the South Bay. There are
several obstacles:

- The lands will be managed by the California Dept. of Fish and Game
and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Both of these organizations
manage their lands for wildlife first and for wildlife-focused
recreation (hiking, birding, hunting/fishing, etc.) second. Providing
access for windsurfing/kiteboarding is very low on their list of
priorities. Boarding on the salt ponds themselves is absolutely not an
option.
- Close-in vehicular access to open water will be very limited, but not
out of the question. Many of the levees have roads on their tops that
are traditionally used for maintenance. There is the possibility that
one of these could be opened and maintained to allow access to the Bay
for kayakers, sailors, and in-vehicle wildlife viewing.
- This is the South Bay, where \223water\224 is a loose term depending on the
tides and location. Many areas that look blue on a map are actually
dry or mud at low tide.
- Funds will be tight for the near future. Financing the building of
any new ramps and beaches will take creativity. Multi-use ideas are
the best bet.

This is a large area (25 sq mi). I alone don't have enough knowledge
of the shoreline to know where new launches might be. I'm looking for
ideas.

- Do you know of areas adjacent to the salt ponds that hold promise for
new windsurfing/kiteboarding launches?

- Do you have access to a boat that can be used to investigate
potential options?

I coordinated with Peter Thorner and the SFBA to represent windsurfing
and kiteboarding interests in this process. I'll continue to stay
involved if we can identify target access points that promise good
sailing. However, keep in mind that any new site should be exceptional
in order to justify the effort it will take to push for formal access.
It may not make sense to push for mediocre access in an area that will
be frequently be unusable due to tidal conditions.

Please respond to this on this forum or directly to me at
tbf3(at)yahoo.com.

Thanks,
Tim Frederick

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