Monitoring nesting waterbirds for the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project—2024 breeding season

The San Francisco Bay supports thousands of breeding waterbirds annually and hosts large populations of American avocets (Recurvirostra americana), black-necked stilts (Himantopus mexicanus), and Forster's terns (Sterna forsteri).These three species have relied largely on former commercial salt ponds in south San Francisco Bay, which provide wetland foraging habitat and island nesting habitat.The South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project is in the process of restoring as much as 15,100 acres of these former salt ponds to tidal marsh and tidal mudflats.Although this restoration is expected to have numerous benefits, including providing habitat for tidal wetland-dependent species, improving water quality, buffering against storm surge, and protecting inland areas from sea level rise, the reduction in former salt-pond habitat and nesting islands may negatively affect breeding waterbirds.To address the reduction in former salt-pond habitat available to waterbirds, the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project will maintain some pond habitat for wildlife and provide enhancements such as the construction of new