1993–2001

1993

Project is initiated as research by Josh Collins and Robin Grossinger into the "Historical Distribution and Abundance of Surface Waters in the Bay Area." The effort is designed to support the incipient regional environmental planning process which would become the Bay Area Wetlands Ecosystem Goals Project.

Grossinger begins working with Dave Plummer and Rand LaForce, experts in historical ecological research at the California State Lands Commission in Sacramento.

Elise Brewster, a visual artist also trained in landscape architecture, is recruited to help lead the search for historical data and to apply her drawing abilities to the synthesis of historical materials into a composite map.

1994

Initial analyses of the early U.S. Coast Survey maps suggest that substantial and useful information about the natural form and function of the Bay Area is potentially available from these and other historical documents. The project begins to be called the "Historical Wetlands Project."

About a dozen interns (over 40 during the course of the project) join a growing effort to identify, collect, and organize historical documents describing the early Bay Area landscape. The interns, largely recruited from local colleges and universities, focus on specific document types, counties, or data entry. Zoltan Der, a geography student with extensive computer skills, initiates development of the project database.

1995

Intensive research in large and small, public and private archives throughout the region continues. Dozens of local experts begin to contribute time, knowledge, and source materials to the Project, which is featured in several local newspaper articles.

Production of the Arc Info Geographic Information System (GIS) which would become the EcoAtlas begins, led by Zoltan Der.

The project contributes mapping of the historical distribution of wetlands to the Oakland Museum's Watershed Map for the Berkeley/Oakland Area (later to the Museum's maps for the San Leandro/Hayward Area (1996) and Fremont (1999)).

Grossinger completes Masters Thesis in Marine Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz, "Historical Evidence of Freshwater Effects on the Plan Form of Tidal Marshlands in the Golden Gate Estuary."

1996

Development of the GIS continues; an early version is presented in a live demonstration to about 100 regional environmental scientists at the Bay Area Wetlands Ecosystem Goals Project Retreat. The presentation focuses on findings about the character of tidal marshlands in the Estuary prior to European development, with preliminary observations about native palustrine, fluvial, and riparian habitats.

Christina Wong, who had worked extensively with the U.S. Coast Survey T-Sheets with NOAA in Washington D.C. and at the BCDC, joins SFEI to assist with EcoAtlas development.

Collins, Grossinger, Der, and Brewster present paper, "Geography of Wetlands in the San Francisco Estuary" at the State of the Estuary Conference.

1997

Development of the Historical View of the EcoAtlas continues, with an expanded focus on the Bay environment and habitats of the adjacent valleys and plains through the "Historical Ecology Project (HEP)."

The detail of the nearly-completed Historical View, and limitations in the existing maps of present-day Baylands, lead to the development of the Modern View of the EcoAtlas. This effort is undertaken by the SFEI historical ecology/GIS team with the assistance of numerous scientists of the Goals Project.

Ecological Change in the San Francisco Estuary, a wall-size poster of the Bay Area past and present, receives "Most Communicative Map" Award (2^nd Place) at the International ESRI GIS conference.

1998

The Project completes an extensive analysis of the past and present distribution of a variety of wetlands and related habitats in the Bay Area. "Spatial Analysis of the Baylands Ecosystem" presents this information to the Goals Project scientists at a variety of scales, using tables, charts, and maps. A series of maps and presentations are produced during the year to support the development of long-term habitat goals based upon an understanding of the past, the present, and environmental change.

Having developed an unusual set of resources and skills to answer questions about the historical landscape and environmental change, the Project begins to address other environmental science and planning issues.

At the request of the Marin County Community Development Agency, SFEI develops a "Cartographic Analysis of Historical and Modern Baylands Boundaries for Marin County, CA". This project helps County planners implement conservation zoning policies (which are delineated by the historical extent of tidal waters) by assessing the relative error associated with earlier versions of the boundary used by the County, and by producing a new boundary supported by a GIS-database documenting the potential error associated with each segment of the new line.

Local Historical Ecology Projects are initiated on the Permanente Creek Watershed and the Wildcat Creek Watershed, in collaboration with SFEI's Watershed Science Program, extending the tools developed in Wetlands to the adjacent fluvial and terrestrial systems.

Recognizing the potential educational value of the Historical Ecology Project, SFEI develops History, Maps, and Watersheds to explore the translation of HEP materials into useful classroom materials. With support from the Center for EcoLiteracy, the project recruits a dozen teachers from public schools in nearby Richmond, San Pablo, and Kensington to participate in a Summer Institute designing curricular materials on local landscape change.

Brewster and Grossinger present "Mapping the San Francisco Estuary: Views of Past and Present and the EcoAtlas As a Tool for Restoration" at the American Academy in Rome, where Brewster is a Fellow in Landscape Architecture.

1999

Baylands Ecosystem Habitat Goals, containing both long-term regional ecological goals and detailed local recommendations, is released by the multiagency Goals Project team. Visualization and analysis of the historical ecosystem allows the Goals to be based upon a strong understanding of natural habitat form and function.

As part of the History, Maps, and Watersheds project, packets of thickly-laminated large-format illustrations of the local historical ecology (including early Spanish maps, geo-referenced landscape photographs, and a wall-size color aerial photograph of the watershed) are tested with some success in classrooms of the Wildcat Creek Watershed.

The Project completes an historical analysis of the characteristics of South Bay tidal marshlands in Conceptual Models of Freshwater Influences on Tidal Marsh Form and Function, with an Historical Perspective. The report is developed for the City of San Jose to help identify and determine the causes of long-and short-term changes to local brackish marshlands.

The Napa Watershed Historical Ecology Project is initiated, with the Friends of Napa River and other local partners, to develop a broad-based understanding of landscape change in the second-largest watershed in the Bay Area.

History, Maps, and Watersheds receives an Outstanding Implementation Award from Friends of the Estuary.

Grossinger presents "What Did This Place Used to Look like, Anyways? An Example of Historical Ecology Research from the San Francisco Bay Area" at the Society for Ecological Restoration Conference.

Bay Area EcoAtlas maps showing the transformation of the Bay's wetlands and adjacent lands are featured in the ESRI Map Book (Vol. 15) and The Living Landscape: An Ecological Approach to Landscape Planning (Steiner, F., McGraw-Hill, 2000)

2000

The Project completes a detailed analysis of the landscape history of a local watershed as part of the Wildcat Creek Landscape Change report. Several new methodologies are developed to produce a geographic representation of changing land-uses through time and show the resulting landscape at fifty-year intervals. Watershed maps are developed showing habitats and hydrology of the Native Landscape, Ranchero Landscape, Agricultural Landscape, Early Industrial Landscape, and Modern Landscape.

With the support of the Strong Foundation and the Center for EcoLiteracy, Brewster develops the Wildcat Creek landscape change maps as full-color hand-drawn maps for use by the teachers in History, Maps, and Watersheds and the broader public.

Phase 1 of the Napa Watershed Historical Ecology Project is completed with the establishment of a project headquarters in downtown Napa, hiring and training of local coordinator, and development of an archive and database containing several hundred historical documents. A diverse range of local organizations (including the Land Trust of Napa County, the Napa Valley Vintners Association, the Napa Valley Museum, the Regional Water Quality Control Board) contributes questions about the history and function of the watershed, and Phase 2 is designed to meet these needs.

Collaboration with biologist Chuck Striplen, graduate student at University California Berkeley, is initiated to study native land management practices in the region.

Grossinger presents "The Way It Was: Mythology, Memory, and Maps of the Early San Francisco Bay Area" at the American Society for Environmental History Conference.

2001

"Documenting Local Landscape Change: the Bay Area Historical Ecology Project," is published in Egan, D. and E. Howell, editors, The Historical Ecology Handbook: a Restorationist's Guide to Reference Ecosystems (Island Press, Washington D.C.)