Napa River Salt Marsh Restoration Project
SUMMARY
The Napa River Salt Marsh Restoration Project is a multi-year project that restored 9,800 acres of land within the Napa-Sonoma Marshes Wildlife area, which had been previously altered for commercial grazing and solar salt production. In the last phase of this project, habitat areas for ground-nesting birds were constructed along the pre-existing internal levee bisecting two restored salt ponds, located in the northern portion of the restoration project.
The internal levee has been an important breeding site for migratory shorebirds, specifically the State and Federally endangered California least tern and the Federally threatened Western snowy plover. This site, along with a manmade habitat island that was created as part of the Napa Plant Site Restoration Project just east of the Napa River, supports the northernmost colony of California least terns within their range
Detailed nesting surveys at this site have been ongoing since 2008, with birds returning yearly to nest and raise their chicks before heading back south in the late summer.
Location
Start Date
Donated April 19th, 2025
Impact
As required by project permits and the 2013 USFWS Biological Opinion, CDFW has been monitoring and maintaining the site by removing vegetation and replenishing oyster shell; these efforts are critical for providing attractive habitat and camouflage to evade predators. Wild Oyster Project is helping the project by assisting in long-term maintenance of habitats for species at risk of extinction due to habitat loss and sea level rise post-restoration. This will overall build resilience for species recovery and management in the Napa-Sonoma Marshes Wildlife area.
As of June 2025, Loren Roman-Nunez, an Environmental Scientist at the Napa-Sonoma & Petaluma Marshes Complex, reports that in the Least Tern nesting bird area, “we now have 15 active nests! It remains to be seen how successful this small colony will be by the end of the season, but the replenishment of shell for camouflage is certainly helping them out!"
Partners
