Newark Baylands Acquisition

The Authority authorized a grant of $25,000,000 to the Trust for Public Land (TPL) to acquire 430 acres of Newark Baylands (Area 4) (including Alameda County’s Assessor’s Parcel Nos. 537-0850-011-01, 537- 0850-007-02, 537-0850-011-04, 537-0801-002-06, and 537-0850-009) for the protection and restoration of habitat, public access, the potential creation of an interpretive visitor center, and to the extent compatible with those purposes: education, research, and Native American tribal cultural uses, along the shoreline of San Francisco Bay in Newark. 

The 430-acre property, part of a 559-acre area designated as “Area 4” in the City of Newark’s General Plan, is located along Mowry Slough in the western part of the City of Newark, adjacent to the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Acquisition of the property will protect approximately 249 acres of wetlands and open water and 181 acres of uplands that provide habitat for numerous migratory birds each year as well as the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse and other wildlife species.

The property is one of the few remaining undeveloped and unprotected sites along the South San Francisco Bay shoreline and it provides an opportunity for restoration of tidal marsh and marsh migration in response to sea level rise. Future restoration of tidal marsh would create new habitat for several threatened and endangered species including salt marsh harvest mouse and Ridgway’s rail and would help protect adjacent communities from flooding. Protection of the property also provides an opportunity to develop public access in a part of the Bay Area that has little publicly accessible open space and minimal access to the shoreline.

Upon close of escrow, TPL plans to convey the property to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), which manages the Refuge, for future restoration and long-term ownership and management.