State awards Marin Audubon Society $2M for Novato baylands project

A plan to restore two former tidal marshlands spanning more than 300 acres in Novato has received a $2 million boost from the state.

The funding from the 2024 Climate Bond will help the Marin Audubon Society purchase the parcels so it can pursue a major restoration effort to expand the Bahia wetlands to about double the size. The project would create a contiguous corridor of tidal habitat from Novato through the Petaluma Marsh along the Petaluma River.

The California State Coastal Conservancy voted unanimously to award the funding at its meeting on Feb. 19.

“Certainly, Marin Audubon Society needs no introduction,” said Douglas Bosco, chair of the State Coastal Conservancy. “They have been partners with us on a number of projects and they always do a superb job.”

The Marin Audubon Society has an agreement with the Leveroni family, which owns the parcels, to purchase them for $3.4 million. The group is working in partnership with Marin Baylands Advocates on the acquisition.

The nonprofits have already received a $1.4 million bequest from Marin Audubon Society supporter Maureen Groper. The purchase agreement allows until the middle of June to close escrow, said Barbara Salzman, president of the Marin Audubon Society.

‘We’re thrilled to be moving along with this project and look forward to owning the land,” Salzman said after the vote. “It’s a great opportunity for us.”

The diked parcels are on the east side of Highway 101 in unincorporated Novato. They are separated by Pinkston Slough.

One property comprises 153 acres east of the Gnoss Field airport and is bordered by state-owned diked baylands to the north. It abuts the Petaluma Marsh, the largest tidal marsh in the state that has never been diked.

The other property comprises more than 170 acres south of the airport and north of the Rush Creek Preserve and the Cemetery Marsh.

The Leveroni family has maintained the land for cattle grazing and hay production for nearly a century, said Erica Johnson, project manager at the State Coastal Conservancy.

The southern property connects to the western border of the Bahia tidal marsh, which was restored by the Marin Audubon Society more than a decade ago.

The organization initially purchased the 635-acre Bahia property in 2003 for $15.8 million from a Sonoma County developer who had planned to construct homes on the site. The nonprofit transferred ownership of the upland hills to Marin County Open Space District.

The nonprofit restored tidal marsh on about 352 acres in two phases in 2008 and in 2013. Most of the tidal marsh was transferred to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The Marin Audubon Society retained ownership of 61 acres of seasonal wetlands and has been maintaining the site since.

Acquiring and restoring the two parcels would fulfill a recommendation in the Petaluma River Baylands Strategy, a planning document produced by the Sonoma Land Trust and its partners.

“The acquisition will ensure an uninterrupted corridor between wildlife areas immediately north and south, preserving ecological connectivity across these areas,” Johnson said.

The restoration project itself is a few years away. It will take some time to get community comments and design the project. It also will require extensive fundraising, Salzman said.

The plan likely would involve introducing setback levees with ecotone slopes that not only would support native plants and endangered species, but provide sea-level rise protection for the airport and properties along Binford Road.

Restoration would create habitat for the endangered Ridgway’s rails and California black rails and foraging habitat for San Pablo song sparrows and salt marsh yellowthroats, among other species.

“We’re glad the Coastal Conservancy was there with this big support,” Salzman said of the grant award. “We couldn’t do it without them.”