This grant funds the Solano Land Trust (SLT) to conduct community engagement and prepare final designs and engineering plans, an adaptive management plan, and permit applications, for the restoration of 80 acres of tidal wetland, 8 acres of wetland-upland transition zone, and 1 acre of seasonal wetland, and related public access trails and amenities, at Goat Island Marsh in Solano County.
The project will plan for the restoration of tidal wetlands in the San Francisco Bay through the breach of an existing levee at Goat Island Marsh that will increase ecological connectivity and enable fish and wildlife to migrate into new habitat areas. The project will also complete designs for a wetland-upland ecotone that allows habitats to migrate upland as sea level rises and 0.4 miles of public trail that will include public access amenities such as a boardwalk that meets outdoor accessibility standards and a viewing platform.
oat Island is a diked marsh at Rush Ranch Open Space in Suisun Marsh that has the potential to provide habitat for numerous species, including listed and special status species, and establish important natural communities. Currently, the diked marsh at Rush Ranch is considered a recurring, expensive maintenance problem due to the repeated broken and patched levees, inlet and outlet structures in disrepair, and weed problems hindering trail access. This project will plan the breach of a levee along Suisun Slough and restore historic tidal wetland habitat that will require far less costly maintenance than the current diked marsh.
