Yes on Measure AA for a Clean and Healthy Bay today announced that The Nature Conservancy (TNC), a leading international conservation nonprofit, has donated $375,000 to the Campaign for a Clean and Health Bay, making it the largest contribution yet for the first-ever, region-wide campaign to protect and restore the San Francisco Bay (press release).
“The Nature Conservancy has a long legacy of conservation action in and around San Francisco Bay, dating from the 1960s right up to the present,” said Jay Ziegler, The Nature Conservancy Director of External Affairs. “Our support for Measure AA reflects the importance of this measure as a model for regional conservation here and across California.”
The June 2016 measure proposes a $12 per year parcel tax that would raise $500 million over 20 years to fund critical conservation and flood protection projects, including the restoration of 15,000 acres of wetlands and creation of 25 miles of new Bay Trails.
“We are grateful for The Nature Conservancy’s generous donation, making it the largest contribution yet towards the Campaign for a Clean and Healthy Bay,” said Save the Bay’s Executive Director, David Lewis. “The Nature Conservancy, through its activism and charitable works, has been a consistent leader in land and water conservation in the San Francisco Bay Area, and its major donation to Measure AA will help advance this unprecedented opportunity to protect and restore the future of the Bay’s ecosystem. We are happy to have them with us on this critical effort,” said Lewis.
In the 1960s, the Conservancy’s early California conservation efforts led to acquisition of lands around the Marin Headlands that had been proposed for development, but were instead preserved and are now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. In the 1970s, TNC began purchasing salt marsh habitat that is now incorporated in the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Today, TNC is actively involved in conservation efforts around the Bay, from Marin to Mt. Hamilton, to protect wildlife habitat and open space that are integral to the Bay Area’s uniquely good quality of life.
The donation comes days after Senator Dianne Feinstein was announced as the Honorary Co-chair of the Campaign for a Clean and Healthy Bay.
The San Francisco Bay is challenged by trash, toxins and sea-level rise among other threats. For the Bay to be healthy and sustainable, it ultimately needs 100,000 acres of wetlands to filter pollution from its waters and increase habitat for fish, birds and other wildlife that make up its rich and diverse ecosystem. These wetlands will also allow for further expansion of public access to the shoreline, and protect low-lying communities and critical infrastructure from the increased risk of flooding due to extreme weather and rising seas brought about by climate change.
Each year, rising seas swamp more and more of the shoreline, leaving less wetlands to restore and making restoration of those that remain more expensive to complete. The recently completed Baylands Ecosystem Habitat Goals Update, a report that represents the consensus of scientists who study the San Francisco Bay, concluded that only 20 to 30 years remain for restoration that had previously been planned to take place over a period of 50 years.
Right now, the Bay has only 44,000 acres of tidal wetlands, and while more than 30,000 shoreline acres have been preserved from development and are awaiting restoration, lack of funding has slowed progress. Yes on Measure AA will generate sorely needed funding for the restoration of San Francisco Bay wetlands, benefiting the people, wildlife, and economy of Bay Area communities. This local funding will also help the region leverage the additional state and federal funding necessary to finish the job.
“Measure AA will provide funds for an integrated response to climate change that protects habitat around the Bay and enhances flood protection for people,” says Ziegler. “In its work around the Bay, The Nature Conservancy has partnered with public agencies, local activists, and land owners around the Bay to conserve ecological hotspots on the verge of development. Through these actions, today these lands and waters are part of the Bay Area’s renowned urban parklands.”
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