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Half Moon Bay Review By Emily Wilson The Pescadero Marsh, which is the largest coastal estuary between San Francisco Bay and Elkhorn Slough in Monterey County and home to a
number of threatened and endangered species, will be the subject of a forum on Thursday at the Miramar Lodge Conference Center in Half Moon Bay. Lennie Roberts, the legislative advocate for the Committee for
Green Foothills, the group that is hosting the forum, wants people to understand the environmental significance of the marsh while trying to address the problems of flooding, which happens several times a year,
closing Pescadero Road and waterlogging farm fields and homes. There was a similar situation in Napa, Roberts said, and she thinks that hearing from Napa County Supervisor Mike Rippey, a panelist at the forum, about
what that county did will be useful. "There is a lot of controversy over the marsh with the flooding issues," Roberts said. "The broader reason to do this is that this is not a unique situation where
you have a flood plain. "In Napa County," Roberts said, "they have a serious flooding problem in whole downtown of Napa and they arrived at a much more environmental solution. They were going to
concrete the river, but voters turned it down twice, and in the end they came up with a plan that provides for a more natural flood plain. The same principals apply and we thought this would be a wonderful thing
for people to hear about." San Mateo County Supervisor Rich Gordon will moderate the forum, which will run from 7 to 9 p.m. in the South Conference Room. Pacifica resident Mike Vasey, a conservation
biologist at San Francisco State University, said that his role as a panelist is to talk about some of the species in the habitat around the marsh. "Ultimately, one of the desires here is for everybody to
recognize the significance of Pescadero Marsh in a broader context," he said. "Some of these habitats have been severely impacted by land-use practices, not just by people who live there but by people up
and down the coast." The marsh has 235 species of birds, 380 species of plants and is home to five species on the endangered list, according to California State Parks' Joanne Kerbavaz who will be at the forum.
"State parks' mission is to protect biological diversity, preserve state's most important natural and cultural resources, and provide opportunities for high-quality outdoor recreation," Kerbavaz said.
"As we see it, the marsh is the perfect place to fulfill all the parts of our mission." All the species the marsh holds were much more in evidence when she moved to Pescadero in 1989, said Maeva Neale, the
chair of the Pescadero Municipal Advisory Council (PMAC). "The part that distresses me most about the marsh is the north pond which never has anything in it," Neale said. "When we moved here 13 years
ago there used to be dozens of species in there and now it never has any." Neale said that she will present PMAC's position at the forum on what to do for the marsh. That entails a series of 10 steps
including removing a beaver dam and willow trees and trying to restore the former configuration of the marsh. Roberts said although money is tight in the county budget, she hopes that the county will take the lead on
what to do about the marsh. One thing Roberts does not want to happen - as some people advocate - is to dredge or widen the creek. "Prior studies say if you dredge the creek it's going to fill back in
again," she said. "Once you do something like that you're sort of committed to constantly doing it." Vasey thinks that the marsh is still in good shape and that it can be kept that way. "One
reason the marsh is so significant is that the habitats surrounding the marsh are still relatively intact," he said. "We're looking for a sustainable ecological system that works for people. Meeting both
the needs of nature and humans is not incompatible. It can be done." |
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