Abundant with birds, fish, and small animals, the wetlands acreage will be preserved as a wildlife habitat managed by the Department of Fish and Game. The land, straddling Napa, Sonoma and Solano counties in the north end of San Pablo Bay, includes 12 salt ponds, 52 miles of levees, and many miles of rivers and tidal sloughs. Previously owned by Cargill, Inc., the property is home to more than 150 wildlife species, including 20 that are listed as threatened, endangered, or rare. Among them are the endangered California clapper rail, half of whose only known habitat is in the marsh, the peregrine falcon, bald eagle, California brown pelican, Suisun shrew, and winter-run salmon.
Governor Pete Wilson formally announced purchase of the property May 13 in a ceremony at the site with Secretary for Resources Douglas P. Wheeler and other state officials.
"We're not simply preserving these lands," Wilson said. "We intend to re store them and return them to the condition in which they existed for thousands of years before they were diked and drained."
Only 10 percent of California's historic wetlands remain, or about 450,000 of the original five million wetland acres. The remainder has been converted to industrial, agricultural and commercial or residential uses. Governor Wilson's wetlands wetlands policy calls for increasing the state's holdings by 30-50 percent by the year 2010.