Resurrection Of A California Marsh

After getting permits from numerous state and local agencies, Sam built a levee that helped tocreate nearly 100 acres of wetlands. The article describes the nature of the wetlands, the habitat provided for various birds and the effect of seasonal changes on the area: "The hayfield was a fossil marsh. It had the hydric soil characteristic of former wetlands. Had Sebastiani descended to the field and dug up a handful, he would have smelled the telltale sulfidic odor; seen the histosol, the high organic content of the surface layer, the organic streaking, the gleyed, low-chroma, blue-gray color. Digging deeper, he would have found long-dormant seeds of marsh sedges and the sleeping rhizomes of tules and cattails. This field had been a cove in the marshy plain of reeds that bordered San Francisco Bay before the gold rush, when the bay was twice its present size."