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The Bay Area Historical Ecology Project
The Historical Ecology Project is an intensive and ongoing
research effort to recover a detailed understanding of the
natural form and function of the lands we know as the San
Francisco Bay Area. During the past three years, dozens of
student researchers, professional academic and agency scientists,
citizen volunteers, and the San
Francisco Estuary Institute's staff have conducted an
intensive search for information on the native landscape of
the Bay Area before it was colonized by Europeans. In this
effort, tens of thousands of historical materials have been
examined at over 100 institutional and personal archives in
the nine counties of the Bay Area and in Sacramento.
The first version of the Native
Landscape View of the EcoAtlas focuses on wetlands and
other surface waters throughout the Bay Area circa 1800.
It is based upon an extensive collection of information
from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century maps, sketches,
paintings, photographs, engineering reports, oral histories,
explorers' journals, missionary texts, hunting magazines,
interviews with living elders, and other sources. Support
is being sought to complete the watershed phase of the project
and to translate this information into forms readily available
to the public.
Importance to the Region
An understanding of the historical landscape and ecological
change is needed to guide emerging plans for species recovery
and the sustained ecological health of the Bay Area. The
project will provide fundamental knowledge of the distribution
and abundance of important ecological resources as controlled
by climate and topography, which generally have not changed
during historical times. Without this historical perspective,
policies and prescriptions for the recovery of ecological
resources can only be based on highly disturbed and artificial
conditions, rather than the natural ecological support functions
of the region.
Of equal importance is the contribution this new understanding
can make to the public commitment to ecological stewardship
that is growing throughout the Bay Area. The maps and images
of the project provide an alternative perspective to the
urbanized region we know so well. They reveal our place
in the watersheds of the Bay Area, as part of natural systems
of topography, climate, habitats, and species. The maps
demonstrate in a powerful and visual way that the many,
albeit fragmented, surviving elements of the historical
landscape which we see around us can be part of a healthy
ecosystem. This view into the natural character of an urbanized
region appears to be unprecedented nationally and offers
a new level of regional environmental awareness.
Scope
In the first part of the project, maps have been developed
of the historical (circa 1800) sandy beaches, salt- and
freshwater tidal wetlands, seasonal and perennial palustrine
wetlands, ponds, lakes, creeks, riparian tree stands, willow
groves, springs, and spring runs of the valleys, coastal
plains, and tidal margins of the Estuary. In the next phase,
the full diversity of habitats indigenous to the region
will be integrated into the EcoAtlas, including habitats
such as redwood groves, dense oak woodlands, oak savanna,
hard and soft chaparral, grasslands, and coastal prairie.
Inclusion of these habitats will extend the Historical View
from the baylands and adjacent flatlands to the crests of
the surrounding watersheds. SFEI is developing tools to
help understanding of ecological change grow through local
discovery.
Contacts: Robin Grossinger 510) 746-7334; robin@sfei.org
Elise Brewster (510) 746-7334
Mike May(510) 746-7370; mikem sfei.org
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