Workshop on salt pond restoration issues Workshop on salt pond restoration issues (September 29, 2004)

The public is invited to weigh in on how to restore some 25 square miles of salt ponds ringing San Francisco Bay at a series of workshops this month and next.

The future of the ponds in Menlo Park and Alviso will be the subject of a workshop Thursday, September 30, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., at the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant, 700 Los Estero Road, in San Jose.

A meeting to discuss restoration of the entire area will be held Wednesday, October 27, from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Coyote Point Museum in San Mateo.

Workshops will explore ways to restore salt ponds that enhance wildlife and education while providing flood control. Options range from restoring long-diked salt ponds to tidal action, to managing them as ponds.

Meanwhile, the ponds adjacent to the Dumbarton Bridge are still being managed by Cargill Salt Co. until the salinity can be reduced so they don't poison the Bay, according to Tracy Grubbs, public outreach coordinator for the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project. Only when the salinity is down, can they be transferred to the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, she said.

For information, call Austin McInerny at 510-981-1124, or visit www.southbayrestoration.org.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.