Around and onto San Francisco Bay

Access is better . . . new parks and trails, new ways to get out on the water But the bay is still a treasure with an uncertain future Dipping a paddle, dropping a fishing line, dining at dockside, walking grassy headlands, or watching a working waterfront-a hundred delightful involvements can draw you to the waters of San Francisco Bay. A great recreational amenity for the nine counties that share its 350mile shoreline, this bay is technically an estuary-a bay-like enclosure where fresh and salt water come together. As such, it's of great significance environmentally as well-a treasure to be shared, but one that must also be guarded.

Battles to "save" the bay have ranged over decades. The subject has been a concern for Sunset since the 1960s, when the watchdog Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) was formedwith our publisher, Melvin B. Lane, as its first chairman.

Here, we offer an updated review of developments; we also help you take advantage of all the new ways to enjoy bay access (see pages 86 and 87 for a thumbnail guide). Fall is a good time to get out and experience the pleasures for yourself. If weather is normal, skies will be scrubbed clean by intermittent storms, while daytime temperatures linger around 700. And it's the year's best season for bird-watching, as winter migrators cram the wetlands.

What's been accomplished lately?

Some things have increased. Access has improved greatly New parks and trails fringe the shore. There are more ways to get out onto the water: by canoe, ocean kayak, and windsurfer, as well as by more conventional craft.

This year has seen some key developments. Legislation to create a 300-mile bay-girdling hiking and bicycling trail has been passed, and several sections are already open (see map on page 87). A voterapproved bond issue provides $25 million for a new East Bay shorefront state park, $13 million for regional parks, and $10 million for wetlands.

Golden Gate National Recreation Area has just unveiled a plan that will eventually open the entire island of Alcatraz to the public. And the 1987 federal Clean Water Act reauthorization declared the bay "an estuary of national importance"; the Environmental Protection Agency recently obtained $1.3 million for further study of water quality.

Into the bay's marshland habitats-for fall birding, hiking, fishing

November is one of the best months to get out to see one of the bay's most vital elements its marshlands. Marshes provide support to much estuary life. And in fall, they are alive with huge numbers of migratory birds.

In the north bay, you can see canvasback ducks; this area is their largest wintering spot on the coast. Around the southbay, look for striking red-billed Caspian terns. Anywhere, look for hooded mergansers, black-crowned night herons, and marbled murrelets, among many other species.

The National Audubon Society estimates that some 1.2 million birds use bay marshes each winter. And higher fall and winter tides bring birds closer to shore, making them (including the endangered clapper rail) easier to spot. Best time for close-up observation is right after a high tide begins to ebb; then, birds are nearer to viewers on shore.

Marshes are a key element of the estuary ecosystem. They serve as nursery and food producer. They contain more than 30 main plant species-cord grass, salt grass, and pickleweed are the most evident ones-that trap nutrients and reoxygenate the water. Equally important, marshes serve as a filtration system, sifting out pollutants.

There are more than a dozen marshes to visit; when you go, dress warmly, bring a bird guide and binoculars, wear old shoes, and stay on marked paths. In the north bay, Martinez Regional Shoreline, at the end of Martinez' Ferry Street, has 3 miles of trails tbrough a hundred-acre marsh along Carquinez Strait (also ball fields, picnic areas, a fishing pier). In the central east bay, try Hayward Regional Shoreline, at the end of W. Winton Avenue, in Hayward. You can hike some 2 miles of trails in this 500-acre marsh, one of the largest to be restored in the West. In the south bay, the 2 3,000-acre San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, in Newark, has a visitor center and 15 miles of trails (see page 86).

While loss of wildlife habitat is a critical issue, some species are doing well. Numbers of harbor seals and sea lions are stable; you can easily spot them off Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, around the southern beaches of Angel Island, in Richardson Bay, and in Newark Slough (part of San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge). Sea lions have been hard hit recently by random shootings.

How healthy is the bay now?

In some ways, the bay is cleaner today than in past decades. The number of municipal sewage outfalls has been drastically reduced, and treatment has been improved. Some 600 million gallons of treated waste water enter the bay daily, a third more than two decades ago, but it contains only a fifth as much organic pollution as was typical in the '60s. Bay filling has stopped, and there's even been a net increase in tidal marshland.