Marin Conservation League

Parks and Open Space Committee

2:30 – 4:30 pm
In-person/Zoom hybrid

Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0pcOmgrD4vG9XtnkUk-dxDuEZFSvAuGyhD

Note changed time 2:30 – 4:30

The June 11 meeting of MCL’s POSC will present two vastly contrasting open spaces in Marin, one fully protected, the other still a community’s dream of future protected land. 

• The 2,600-acre tidal and non-tidal wetland restoration project now known as “Novato Baylands Wetland Restoration Project,” a multi-decade investment of hundreds of millions of dollars; and
• A 28-acre site at 70 Oxford Drive, tucked into the Oxford Valley area of Santa Venetia and valued for its streams, seasonal wetlands and native plants and wildlife. This story also features Marin Open Space Trust (MOST) and its success in working with neighbors and grassroots groups like those in Santa Venetia to facilitate the acquisition of special sites that are “For Sale” in their communities.  

Novato Baylands Wetland Restoration Project

Linda Tong, Deputy Regional Manager of The State Coastal Conservancy San Francisco Bay Program, will report on how the restoration of Novato Baylands on Bel Marin Keys Unit V is preparing 1,600 acres to expand the restored Hamilton airfield wetlands into an eventual 2,600 acres of connected tidal and seasonal salt water, fresh water, and upland habitats.

Much of the history of this multi-decade project is well-known. Twelve years have passed since the Hamilton Wetland Restoration Project, after years of preparation, breeched the levees in 2014 to let the tides in, creating 648 acres of tidal and seasonal marsh. The success of the effort is evident in the spread of 10,000s of native plants, grown for the project and introduced by volunteers, and the teeming flocks of waterfowl, shorebirds, and other bird life that now frequent the site. Immediately to the north, the so-called North Antenna Field (344 acres, owned by State Lands Commission) was added to the project.  Currently, The Coastal Conservancy is managing restoration of Bel Marin Keys V hayfields to eventually become 900 acres of tidal wetlands, 680 acres of non-tidal/freshwater wetlands, plus upland and subtidal habitats.

As an essential piece of the program, the area will receive millions more yards of mud dredged from navigable sites around San Francisco Bay in order to raise the subsided land surface to an elevation high enough to support intertidal plant species.  When that elevation is achieved, the levee will be breeched, as it was at Hamilton, bringing in tides that have been withheld from the land for 100 years. In addition, by avoiding the need to transport dredged materials for disposal out in the Pacific Ocean, this “beneficial reuse” of dredge material will be a major cost benefit of the project.

70 Oxford Drive, Santa Venetia

https://www.marinconservationleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/70vista-300×225.jpgViewed from one perspective as a prime opportunity for “thouhttps://www.marinconservationleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/bill-300×226.jpgghtful residential planning and infrastructure,” and by another as a peaceful meadow and stream amidst surrounding ridges for neighbors to enjoy and wildlife to thrive, this 28.7 acre site is tucked into the Oxford Valley area off North San Pedro Road.  A “For Sale” sign appeared recently on the property, which is designated by San Rafael as a priority housing site, just minutes from key transit routes and established neighborhoods. Neighbors envision a very different long-term outcome for the property as permanent open space.

Mary Hanley, long-time resident of Santa Venetia, and her neighbors will illustrate why the site is called out in the Santa Venetia Community Plan for its special environmental values and constraints to development and, therefore, why it should be acquired for the public. The Plan describes the main stream through the property as a unique wildlife corridor, providing access to water for a variety of animal species. Neither stream nor seeps and seasonal wetlands on the property should be developed or fenced.  Other constraints to development include oak woodlands, native purple needle grass and other sensitive biological resources, including special status animal and plant species as reported from a survey commissioned by a community working group in 2020.  The site is also known for its high archaeological sensitivity, and the steep slopes around the periphery exceed 40%.

This is not a new tension in competing land values, especially where private land has remained undeveloped for long periods of time and been habitually trespassed, giving the illusion of permanent open space. Bill Long, Chairman of MOST, and his colleagues recognized almost twenty years ago the need for a non-profit “agent” to assist local grassroots and neighborhood groups who had long targeted certain vacant lands for permanent open space. The list of MOST’s in-fee and easement aquisitions has grown over the years – twelve to date, including the recent Wall Property in Fairfax and, hot off the presses, the crest of King Mountain in Larkspur, after more than 40 years of local effort to break through an easement to the privately-owned top.

Bill will recount some of the experiences that have challenged MOST and why they have been so successful in bringing some of Marin’s treasured, threatened landscapes into the fold of public open spaces.