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Bolinas Lagoon Foundation’s charter is to promote a healthy, long-lived, Bolinas Lagoon. We’ve all spent much of the past ten years studying Bolinas Lagoon, and trying to determine if a restoration project is needed to preserve the lagoon. But to preserve the lagoon as what? Hopefully as a “healthy” tidal estuary. We can’t turn the clock back, but we can try to restore qualities that have been lost during the past 150 years.
To date, no one has defined “healthy.” The major portion of the study effort has been directed to the physical parameters of the lagoon: tidal prism, changing habitat distribution, and questions such as “will the mouth remain open?” The Foundation suggests that a “healthy” Bolinas Lagoon is not only one that remains open to tidal flow, but also is one that is home to a wide range of plant and animal life.
No one can dispute that Bolinas Lagoon has undergone significant changes over the past 150 years. Now the long awaited report by Marin County Open Space District’s consulting team predicts what Bolinas Lagoon will be like 50 years from now. The report suggests that continued change can be expected, and that calamitous change is unlikely in the given time frame. Recommendations for monitoring are also included.
Now it’s up to us! We need to encourage everyone with an interest in, or concern for, Bolinas Lagoon to study the report and think about what his or her wishes for the lagoon are. Then, write your comments and send them to Bill Carmen by March 31. Bolinas Lagoon Foundation will have comments, to be presented in a future “Lifesaver.” After all the comments are considered, a public meeting will be held in May to discuss how the public comments affect the report’s conclusions. A determination of possible intervention alternatives will be made in June and presented to the public, for comment, in late July. The MCOSD Board of Directors will make their determination in September.
The report is available for downloading at the Open Space District’s web site (www.marinopenspace.org); in printed form at several County libraries; on a compact disc from: William Carmen, Project Manager, Bolinas Lagoon Ecosystem Restoration Feasibility Study, MCOSD, 3501 Civic Center Drive, Suite 415, San Rafael, CA 94903; or from an e-mail directed to scrubjay "at" sbcglobal.net.
Project bulletins, correspondence and status updates continue to be available at the MCOSD’s web site: www.marinopenspace.org.
Bucky Mace
For the Foundation Board