The natural resources of the Napa Marsh

One of the objectives of this report is to document not onlythe ecologic/biological resources of the Napa Marsh but also the aesthetic, recreational, and productive (such as agriculture and salt production) resources of the 73 square miles that once made up a network of wetlands and sloughs and rivers. Thousands of people cross portions of the marsh by automobile every day, undoubtedly assimilating in largely unconscious ways the daily and seasonal ebb and flow of light, colors, birds, clouds and tides. And yet, few stop to consider its value and even fewer have visited or savored its interior waterways and remaining natural marshlands.This report has a second set of objectives: that is, to describe the range of human demands which increasingly threaten parts of the marsh, and to make recommendations which focus on specific problems and offer positive solutions. The recommendations essentially take three forms: preservation and/or acquisition of the most vulnerable parts of the marsh; enhancement of areas that can be restored to tidal action to become once again viable marshland; and protection of the residual values of lands some of which are now committed to other uses but still offer marginal or supplemental habitat to resident and migratory wildlife. It is hoped, then, that this report will be useful to planners, to administrators, to landowners, and to others whose interests are diverse, serving as a guide to decisions which concern both conservation and appropriate development of the Napa Marsh.The report is part of a series of studies of critical California coastal wetlands which have also been addressed to the practical need for management solutions. In addition, this series offers an information resource--in the form of compilations of technical data, interpretive descriptions, and bibliographies--for each of the coastal wetlands which have been identified as critical. This additional information regarding other California coastal wetlandresources and their administration may be obtained from the other reports in the "Coastal Wetland Series" prepared by the California Department of Fish and Game. (145pp.)