Ecological Restoration

Integrated Regional Watershed Management Grant:
San Mateo RCD Drought Resiliency and Water Conservation Program

2023-present
In partnership with the ARO and Potrero Nuevo Farm, the San Mateo Resource Conservation District submitted and received a grant for about $5.5 million for increasing stream flow and fish passage in Pilarcitos Creek and for improving water storage at Potrero Nuevo Farm that serves the homeless and Latinx population in and around Half Moon Bay. Funding from the grant will support ARO's hiring and training of its future Director of Native Ecology.

One of the obstacles to stream flow and fish passage on a branch of Pilarcitos Creek is pictured right.

Western Tiger Swallow Butterfly

Sunset Natural Resilience Project

2022-Present
Nature in the City is assisting in the re-design of San Francisco's civic spine by creating butterfly habitats along the roofs of BAST stations along Market Street. The ARO is consulting with Nature in the City on this incredible project to enhance biodiversity in urban spaces. For more information on the project, please visit www.natureintecity.org/tigers.

2022-Present
A grant of up to $555,000 to San Francisco Estuary Institute (and its partners, like the ARO) to prepare designs, design recommendations, and/or guidance documents for the Sunset Natural Resilience Project, six urban greening, wildlife connectivity corridor, and dune restoration projects in the western portion of the City and County of San Francisco. One of the six projects includes a five-acre community garden for the Ramaytush Ohlone, American Indian, and other Indigenous peoples in San Francisco.

San Francisco Estuary Blueprint

2021-Present
The ARO is participating in an update to the San Francisco Estuary Blueprint. In late 2016 more than 70 organizations reached collaborative agreement on four long-term goals and 32 actions to be taken over the next five years to protect, restore, and sustain the San Francisco Estuary. The SF Estuary Blueprint update addresses current concerns and future uncertainties— ranging from rising sea levels to drought, habitat loss, and failing fish and wildlife. For more information please visit the San Francisco Estuary Partnership website.

Palo Alto Horizontal Levee Pilot Project

2021-Present
The City of Palo Alto (City) is collaborating with the San Francisco Estuary Partnership and ESA to design and construct a
horizontal levee pilot in the Palo Alto Baylands. The project would utilize highly treated wastewater from the Regional
Water Quality Control Plant to irrigate a vegetated ecotone prior to discharge into the San Francisco Bay. The ARO is helping to raise funds for the project and will assist in the planting and maintenance of native plants as well as provide interpretive content for the project.

Housing Element

2021-Present
The housing element is San Francisco’s long-range plan for meeting anticipated future housing needs throughout the city. As discussed below, the housing element must be updated on a regular basis in accordance with state planning and housing law. The ARO is consulting on matters of ecological and cultural concern.

Waterfront Plan

2021-Present
The Port of San Francisco’s proposed 2019 Waterfront Plan Project sets long-term goals and policies to guide the use, management, and improvement of 7.5 miles of properties under the Port’s jurisdiction, from Fisherman’s Wharf to India Basin. The ARO is consulting on matters of ecological and cultural concern.

Colma Creek

The ARO is consulting on the redesign of Colma Creek with Hassell Studio. The planning and design of Coma Creek will inevitably result in dramatic changes to the drainage in order, for example, to make the lower end of the creek more publicly accessible and to account for sea level rise. The ecological restoration of the creek will radically transform the cement channel into a beautiful and usable watershed.

Salmon Release with the
San Mateo Resource Conservation District

November 2020
Gregg Castro said a blessing for the release of salmon in Pescadero Creek in Ramaytush Ohlone territory. The habitat restoration project was managed by the San Mateo Resource Conservation District who "partnered with NOAA Fisheries, the Monterey Bay Salmon & Trout Project, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to release ten thousand juveniles of critically endangered Central Coast Coho salmon throughout the watershed, rewarding many years of habitat restoration to help ensure their survival."

California Indian Environmental Alliance

2019-2021
The ARO is participating in a $6.5 million Bay Area environmental grant. The CIEA provides technical assistance for Tribal leadership and Tribal staff to advocate on their own behalf for the benefit of their own people. The ARO is currently working with other organizations and agencies, like the San Mateo County Resource Conservation District and the San Francisco Estuary Institute, to identify projects to forward for funding.