The Napa Sonoma Marsh is a wetland at the northern edge of

San Pablo Bay San Pablo Bay is a tidal estuary that forms the northern extension of San Francisco Bay in the East Bay and North Bay regions of the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California. Most of the Bay is shallow; however, there is a deep wate ...

, which is a northern arm of the San Francisco Bay in California, United States. This marsh has an area of 48,000 acres (194 km²), of which 13,000 acres (53 km²) are abandoned salt evaporation ponds. The United States Government has designated 13,000 acres (53 km²) in the Napa Sonoma Marsh as the

San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge in California established in 1970. It extends along the northern shore of San Pablo Bay, from the mouth of the Petaluma River, to Tolay Creek, Sonoma Creek, and ending at Ma ...

. The marsh is fed by

Sonoma Creek , name_etymology = , image = Beaver Dam Sonoma Creek, Sonoma Thanksgiving 2009.jpg , image_caption = Beaver dam on Sonoma Creek at Maxwell Farms Regional Park in Sonoma, California, 2009 , image_size = 300 , m ...

(which drains the

Sonoma Valley Sonoma Valley is a valley located in southeastern Sonoma County, California, in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Known as the birthplace of the California wine industry, the valley is home to some of the earliest vineyards ...

), Tolay Creek (originating in the

Tolay Lake Tolay Lake is a shallow freshwater lake in southern Sonoma County, California, United States. The lake, nestled within the southern vestiges of the Sonoma Mountains, is the site of significant Native American prehistoric seasonal settlement. I ...

basin), and the

Napa River The Napa River is a river approximately long in the U.S. state of California. It drains a famous wine-growing region called the Napa Valley, in the mountains north of the San Francisco Bay. Milliken Creek and Mt. Veeder watersheds are a few ...

(which drains the Napa Valley). Although the marsh extends north as far as State Route 12, as a practical matter, most of the marsh is only accessible by boat. The marsh is a productive estuarine ecosystem providing habitat for a wide diversity of

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring ( indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or ''skin flora''. ...

and fauna, including numerous rare and endangered species such as the

California clapper rail Ridgway's rail (''Rallus obsoletus'') is a near-threatened species of bird. It is found principally in California's San Francisco Bay to southern Baja California. A member of the rail family, Rallidae, it is a chicken-sized bird that rarely flie ...

and

California freshwater shrimp California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. Because of its rich

avafauna Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight s ...

l content, the Napa Sonoma Marsh is one of only seven marshes selected for intensive study by the Point Reyes Bird Observatory (based on a total of 50 discrete marshes appurtenant to the San Francisco Bay). Around 1860, the Napa Sonoma Marsh was one of the most productive wetlands of the

Pacific Coast Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean. Geography Americas Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western or southwestern border, except for Panama, where the Pac ...

, providing habitat for millions of birds. By the mid-1980s, the San Francisco Bay perimeter had lost over 91 percent of its wetlands. The Napa Sonoma Marsh represents one of the few sizeable expanses where restoration is feasible. During the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

utilized the marsh as a training ground for crews of the Navy's new

Swift boats Patrol Craft Fast (PCF), also known as Swift Boats, were all-aluminum, long, shallow-draft vessels operated by the United States Navy, initially to patrol the coastal areas and later for work in the interior waterways as part of the brown-wat ...

and patrol boats, operating out of

Mare Island Naval Shipyard The Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINSY) was the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is located northeast of San Francisco in Vallejo, California. The Napa River goes through the Mare Island Strait and separates t ...

at the marsh's southern terminus. An extensive research literature base exists for the Napa Sonoma Marsh.A research bibliography for the Napa Sonoma Marsh
/ref>

References

External links

* Landforms of Napa County, California Landforms of Sonoma County, California Marshes of California Wetlands of the San Francisco Bay Area {{SonomaCountyCA-geo-stub

See also

References

External links