The california coastal conservancy and east BAY regional park district (park district) will use these national coastal wetlands conservation grant funds to restore 159 acres in the western wetlands…

This $2.7 million project grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service under the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration program (CFDA 15.614) will support restoration and enhancement of 159 acres of coastal wetlands and riparian habitats at Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont, California. The California Coastal Conservancy and East Bay Regional Park District will directly restore and enhance over 14.5 acres of wetlands and 144.5 acres of grasslands, oak savanna, willow thickets and mixed riparian forests. Work will include soil grading, planting native vegetation, irrigation installation and educational signage. The project aims to improve habitat for wildlife and connectivity between natural areas while increasing biological diversity and resilience at this important ancestral homeland of the Ohlone people.

The california coastal conservancy and east BAY regional park district (park district) will use these national coastal wetlands conservation grant funds to restore 159 acres in the western wetlands and patterson slough natural units, subsets of a larger 207-acre project at coyote hills regional park. Coyote hills restoration and public access project (project) is in the east SAN francisco BAY area, in the city of fremont, along paseo padre parkway, in alameda county, california. The 159-acre site is owned and managed by the park district who will implement the project. The 29-acre western wetlands and 130-acre patterson slough natural unit are the focus of this grant-funded project. The project presents a rare opportunity to restore coastal wetlands and riparian habitats. In the process, the work will add biological diversity to the area, improve habitat connectivity, and restore scarce upland refugia and wintering habitat for waterfowl, shorebirds, and special status species. Currently, land cover at the site is predominantly open fields that are fallow and covered by a mix of invasive plants with small pockets of native plant communities. The project will restore and enhance freshwater and seasonal saline wetlands and mixed riparian habitat. The project will also ensure the overall resilience of reestablished habitats by monitoring soils, hydrology, and surface and groundwater chemistry to adaptively managing the land. The objectives of the project are: by december 2023, directly restore and enhance 14.5 acres of wetlands; directly restore and enhance 144.5 acres of grasslands, OAK savanna, willow sausal and mixed riparian forest, cottonwood-willow grove; and install educational interpretive panels that feature the native habitat, cultural significance, and history of the project site. Western wetlands unit is a 29-acre area containing a large, depressional wetland that ponds water during the winter rainy period and areas that are slightly saline and sodic (salt and sodium-affected). The proposed plan for this area includes, surface grading (~1-2 feet in depth), converting weedy areas to native grassland pasture, which will be grazed by herds of sheep and goats or mowed for fire prevention, and install irrigation for managed/timed flooding of depressional ponded areas in the late summer and fall months to provide a water source for wildlife. The patterson slough natural unit is the 130-acre area at the north end of the project site. The slough is a relic of a once more extensive riparian forest and braided channel system. Restoration and enhancement will include: topsoil grading, seeding, planting, soil amendment (compost addition), and temporary irrigation; several rounds of vegetation management to exhaust the topsoil's invasive seed bank' revegetation and enhancement work to establish areas of willow sausal or willow thicket, mixed riparian forest, oaks savanna, seasonal wetlands, and native grasslands; plant approximately 8,000 - 10,000 native trees and shrubs; and removal of a dilapidated building and the associated infrastructure. The earthwork at the site includes creating shallow depressions to establish seasonal wetlands-with either shallow excavations (~1-2 feet) below current grades/elevations or importing clean soil to cap over existing grades - to establish a more complex topography and support wetland creation. The grassland and OAK savanna areas considered too dry for riparian restoration will be mowed or grazed for fire management, weed control, and agriculture. Coyote hills regional park is the ancestral homeland of the ohlone people. The park and its programming play an important role in preserving and elevating this cultural history. Park staff have developed specific themes for all age groups, such as a cultural immersion program, in which park staff teach lessons about traditional ohlone village life using a reconstructed PIT house, sweat house, and shade structure.