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Cullinan Ranch
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Cullinan Ranch was once a 3,000-year old tidal marsh, part of the extensive network of tidal marshes that capped the northern reaches of what we now call San Francisco Bay. General Mariano Vallejo may have barged his cattle out to the marsh to allow them to graze when the tide was not too high.
Later landowners called it Island No. 1, the first large, vegetated tidal marsh adjacent to the open waters of San Pablo Bay. Like all of these high salt marshes that were surrounded by tidal channels, or sloughs, Island No. 1 was only inundated on the highest of tides during the year. In the meantime, cattle could be grazed.
Sometime around the end of the 19th century, ranchers built an earthen levee around the entire 1,496-acre marsh in order to make Island No. 1 permanently accessible to cattle.
Sometime around the end of the 19th century, ranchers built an earthen levee around the entire 1,496-acre marsh in order to make Island No. 1 permanently accessible to cattle.
When it was disconnected from daily tidal inundation and compacted by grazing cattle, the island began to sink. Ranchers and farmers raised the levees in response. Today, the former tidal marsh that came to be known as Cullinan Ranch lies 6 – 9 feet below sea level.
In 1989 the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service purchased Cullinan Ranch with the intention of breaching the surrounding levee in order to allow the former tidal wetland to restore itself. Lack of funding and other constraints have delayed implementation of the plan.
In the meantime, however, Cullinan Ranch becomes saturated with rainfall during the winter, forming a seasonal wetland. In the wettest of winters the site is completely inundated by rainfall, providing habitat for migratory waterfowl and shorebirds.
In the meantime, however, Cullinan Ranch becomes saturated with rainfall during the winter, forming a seasonal wetland. In the wettest of winters the site is completely inundated by rainfall, providing habitat for migratory waterfowl and shorebirds.
The Bay Institute works with a consortium of regional environmental organizations and government agencies in an effort to secure funds to complete the restoration.
