Emeryville Crescent
Map SatelliteOn the east shore of the San Francisco Bay, between the fill at the Berkeley Yacht Harbor and the beginning of the Bay Bridge proper, there are various mudflats and salt marshes, interspersed with several areas of fill, that are important feeding and resting grounds for a number of shorebirds.
On the periphery of the extensive and invertebrate-rich mudflats are a few fringing salt marshes with pickleweed, Salicornia sp., and cord grass, Spartina foliosa. At several sites the rare Cordylanthus maritimus ssp. palustris is found. On the mudflats there is a variety of algae.
This area is used primarily during the migratory season by the shorebirds and other waterfowl, though an occasional straggler will be observed during the summer months. Over 5,000 individuals have been sighted feeding or resting in the area at one time. Some of the more infrequent visitors to the area are ruddy and black turnstones, Arenaria interpres and Arenaria melanocephala, marbled godwit, Limosa fedoa, and whimbrel, Numenius.
Integrity: Once the dumping ground for spoils, industrial waste and sewage, the water quality of the Bay has improved in the past decade and the flora and fauna appear to be making a comeback. Within the area are wooden sculptures, duck blinds, radio towers, and adjacent are residential and industrial areas and freeways. While not prime, the scarcity of this type of habitat in the Bay Area warrants its inclusion here.
Use: Educational, research, observational. Some private.
December 1975
Inventory of California Natural Areas
Revision © 2009 Steven Louis Hartman