M E M O R A N D U M - South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project

developed with input from the Project Management Team, Science Team, Regulatory and Trustee
Agency Group, and the public through a series of workshops and meetings. 1
2. INTRODUCTION
The process for formulating and evaluating alternatives for the South Bay Salt Pond (SBSP) Restoration
Project is outlined in the Alternatives Development Framework (ADF) (PWA and others 2004a) and
depicted graphically in Figure 1. Formulation of the preliminary program alternatives builds on previous
steps in the alternatives development process: identification of project goals and objectives, opportunities
and constraints assessment, and identification of initial options for restoration at each pond complex. The
project goal and objectives are shown in Attachment 1.
The immediate next steps will be to evaluate the preliminary program alternatives using a weighting and
ranking process, and then to refine the preliminary program alternatives into final program alternatives for
NEPA/CEQA assessment beginning in mid-2005. The landscape-scale assessment of tidal habitat
evolution and bird use will inform the preliminary program alternatives evaluation. The landscape-scale
assessment will provide estimates of the rates and patterns of tidal-habitat evolution in South San
Francisco Bay following restoration, and predictions of bird use within the managed ponds and the
evolving tidal landscape.
This memorandum is organized into the following sections:
Section 3. Definition of a Program Alternative
Section 4. Planning Features and Considerations
Section 5. Preliminary Program Alternatives
Section 6. Phasing
Section 7. Adaptive Management Decisions
Section 8. Next Steps
3. DEFINITION OF A PROGRAM ALTERNATIVE
Planning for the SBSP Restoration Project is being conducted first at the program level, to be followed by
more detailed project-level planning as individual pieces of the program proceed to implementation. A
program alternative is an integrated plan for habitat restoration, flood protection, and public access. Each
program alternative includes identification of the Phase 1 actions, a description of the overall phasing plan
for full implementation, and a description of the key elements subject to adaptive management. The Phase
1 actions, while identified and generally characterized in the program alternatives, will be detailed fully at
the project level.
At the program level the alternatives are defined broadly. Table 1 provides example levels of detail for
program and project alternatives. It will be important to maintain some flexibility in the alternatives at the
1 See the SBSP Restoration Project website (southbayrestoration.org) for a complete list of participants and
workshop and meeting schedules
South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project January 2005
Preliminary Project Alternatives Memorandum 2 1750.01