Restoration Authority Awards $4 million for Invasive Spartina Removal
2/28/2025, SAN FRANCISCO - Today, the Governing Board of the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority authorized $4,000,000 in funding from the voter-approved Measure AA to the California Invasive Plant Council (Cal-IPC) for the continued eradication of invasive cordgrass and enhancement of critically important tidal marsh and mudflat habitat throughout the entire nine county San Francisco Estuary from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2027.
The project includes invasive Spartina monitoring and treatment, native tidal marsh revegetation, California Ridgway’s rail monitoring, construction of high tide island habitat for Ridgway’s rails, and workforce development in partnership with the regional San Francisco Estuary Invasive Spartina Project (ISP) led by the State Coastal Conservancy and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Pacific cordgrass (Spartina foliosa) is an important native species in the Estuary’s tidal marshes. Pacific cordgrass contributes to the base of the food chain in the Estuary and provides habitat where a variety of species forage, nest, and hide from predators. In the early 1970s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers introduced Atlantic cordgrass, Spartina alterniflora, for erosion control. This species subsequently hybridized with the native Pacific cordgrass, colonizing open mudflats, the mid and high marsh, and adjacent upland transition habitats. It also outcompetes other native vegetation, presenting a significant problem for the native marsh community of plants and wildlife.
In 2000 the State Coastal Conservancy and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service initiated the San Francisco Estuary Invasive Spartina Project. On October 2, 2020, the Authority authorized $4,000,000 to Cal-IPC to implement the Invasive Spartina Removal and Tidal Marsh Restoration project. The previous authorization consisted of two seasons of treatment and monitoring, the propagation and installation of 36,000 native marsh plants over two winters, three seasons of Ridgway’s rail call count surveys, and an updated 2012-2020 population estimate for the endangered Ridgway’s rail. The work of the previous authorization was completed in December of 2023.
With the support of the Authority and other funders, ISP partners have reduced the invasive Spartina in the San Francisco Estuary by 97% across the 70,000-acre project area, revegetated over 40 sites with approximately 620,000 native tidal marsh plants, and constructed and planted 82 high tide refuge islands to enhance critical native habitat. While the project has been very successful at reducing invasive Spartina, regional eradication is the goal due to the ability for the invasive to hybridize with the native cordgrass, which is a crucial plant for native tidal marsh restoration efforts.
