The Times from San Mateo, California • Page 36

fogt 2A-THE TIMES--WEEKEND--Sotupdoy, Aug. 6, 1977. City and Swamp Can Coexist By JOHN HORGAN No one has ever accused Foster City of being placid. The island community of some 25,000 souls seems to feast on contro- I Photos by AAlke THE SLOUGH Patterns of land and light change dramatically with tides and weather along the Belmont Slough. The aerial view shows Bird Island at top center, still a nesting ground for countless wildfowl despite the city's proximity.

versy and tumult. Ever since the town rose from the mudflats on the shore of San Francisco Bay, brouhaha has been its middle name. But, occasionally, out of this incessant clamor which has seen city fathers and other officials fall with the depressing regularity of tenpins In this troubled decade comes something positive. Such is the case with the marshlands on Foster City's side of Belmont Slough. Those marshes are considered a precious asset by naturalists and others interested in ecology.

Belmont Slough Is one of the last rcrr.sE!sg vrfMlife iaiitats of its kind in San Mateo County. For the most part, development has destroyed the county's estuarine marshes along the bavfront According to a Congressional report, 67 per cent of California's estuarine wildlife areas were destroyed by dredging and filling between 1947 and 1967. Along the shores of the bay itself, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reports that more than 130,000 acres of marshlands have been diked or filled (or both). Foster City sits on diked and filled land.

The Corps is interested in preserving as much of the existing bay marshland possible. Additionally, the Corps is experimenting with re-creating new marshes. The Corps says there are about 67,000 acres of diked lands which could be reclaimed if funds became available. Along Belmont Slough, however, the object is to retain what is already present. Foster City has gone a long way toward reaching that goal.

The plan is to preserve 57 acres of marshland from the mouth of the slough west. About 1'i miles of shoreline would be involved. The city, in cooperation with a number of groups, including Die National Audubon Society, has already established a Marshflat Heritage Trail. It did so as a Bicentennial project a year ago. Ronald White, a Foster City Parks Department employe, has been Instrumental in setting up the trail, marking it and maintaining it.

He says the trail, which affords the visitor some excellent views of the marsh and its residents, could become a focal point for nature studies. "The day is not too far off when teachers can bring their classes here to observe the marsh," he says. He has been considering ways to build low observation platforms along the trail. But he doesn't want to make them so large that they intrude on the environment. That has been the aim all along: to preserve the integrity of the pristine marsh.

Says Al Bergeron of the Audubon Society, "It's a marvelous place. There is nothing else quite like it around." People like White and Bergeron are concerned about the other side of the slough too Much of that land is owned by Mobil Oil. The firm has plans for its property on the southern edges of the marsh, but little has been made public. A request to fill about 13 acres of diked wetland, adjacent to the slough, has been received by the Corps of Engineers. Approval of that request would mean Parkwood 101 a Los Altos developer, could firm up an old dump site and make it suitable for construction of a commercial office park complex.

Bergeron, for one, has hopes that any development on the south side of the slough would take the marsh into consideration. "I think Mobil will be conscientious about development here," he savs. Bergeron and White, along with many others, are especially interested in preserving Bird Island, a small marshy island on the southeast tip of the slough. The slough, located on the extreme southern end of Foster City, is the boundary between Foster City and Redwood Shores, Mobil's big development to the south Bird Island is valuable because a wide variety of birds nest there. Bird Island has been included in a federal plan for a huge national wildlife refuge for the entire South Bay region.

However little has been done lately to acquire profr erty for the refuge. Belmont Slough has been the focal point for a continuing debate in Foster City should there be a marina there, and if so where should it be located? At one time a marina was proposed for 19 acres of diked land some Hi miles from the slough's exit into the bay. But government authorities would not permit it. Instead, another site has been chosen It is located much closer to the mouth of the waterway. That means it will cause far fewer problems for the marsh and its downstream denizens.

Susan Robinson, an assistant to Foster City's city manager, says the new marina site would involve perhaps 310 berths for boats. "It's going to be an exceptional environmental she says Because of some land swaps with the state, it means the state will have more contro- lover the fate of the slough, she explains. She believes this could help to limit development on the other side of the slough too. There has been talk of creating another marina somewhere on the south side. But, notes Robinson, such a plan would be greatly hampered by state and federal authorities who apparently feel that one marina Is enough on Belmont Slough.

Why are there surh strong ecological feelings about this relatively modest body of water? For one thing, the saltwater marsh is really the first fink in an entire chain of life. Minute organisms are produced by marsh grasses and these materials are Continued Next Page.