Map of the San Francisco Estuary

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's (USFWS) San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge manages wildlife at a number of salt ponds that the Cargill Corporation currently operates for salt production. A number of these ponds probably will be purchased by the USFWS. With acquisition, the USFWS will be responsible for maintenance or restoration of thousands of hectares of wetlands, an extremely complex...

The San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Bay-Delta) region is a highly urbanized and contaminated estuary with a valuable commercial and recreational fishery (Nichlos et al., 1986; SFEI, 2004). Many fish and birds in the San Francisco Estuary exhibit high levels of contaminants (metals and organic pollutants), which have been shown to affect their behavior and reproductive success...