In the relatively small geographic scope of the San Francisco Bay Joint Venture, which comprises just nine counties but over 7 million people, land acquisition for wetland restoration has been a priority of the San Francisco Bay Joint Venture since its inception in 1996.
Thanks to a history of salt making and hay farming, much of the land surrounding the Bay in the North and South was diked over a century ago. Patches of this land recently became available for purchase. On December 13, 2013, a large puzzle piece in the patchwork of North Bay marsh restoration sites fell into place with the acquisition of a long-time hay farm: The Haire Ranch. The sale involved a variety of partners including a local land trust, the SF Bay Joint Venture, US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), who helped broker the deal, and was accomplished with funding from NRCS as well as other state agencies and private foundations. The 1100 acre acquisition was immediately transferred to the USFWS for marsh restoration and expands the National Wildlife Refuge in the region to over 20,000 acres.
