access areas and open spaces along all of its waterfront. and you will hear more about that open space network at your next informational presentation. so today i'm going to focus on those areas where we have undertaken habitat restoration and some of our soft shoreline area particularly at mission creek, pier 94 wetlands and heron's head park (sounds like). beginning from the north and moving south mission creek lies just south of at&t park and forms the northern shoreline of the port's sewall at the 337 area. and much of the shoreline of mission creek supports tidal wetland habitat as shown here in this photo of the northern bank of mission creek. and this area has been largely cared for by the mission creek

conservancy which is a coalition that was initially formed by the mission creek harbor association and various environmental groups in response to a proposed development by catellas (sounds like) and mission bay. catellas embrace the goal of preserving and enhancing the habitat. mission creek conservancy members and volunteers together with catellas has created tidal wetlands habitat along the banks of the creek and also adjacent upland habitat. this habitat provides home to a wide variety of plants and wildlife including grey blue

heron, snowy pelican, and this bat ray, the conservancy also developed landscape areas where there are flowering plants that support specific butterfly species, there are seven butterfly species resident of that upland habitat. i thank the conservancy and their members for these beautiful photographs. pier 94 wetlands involved the construction of the new marine terminal; the shoreline south, at pier 92, and north of the paved terminal at pier 94 was

constructed along with that entire area in the sixties by placing a debris-dike in the water, forming a perimeter with the proposed lands in backfilling with fill material behind that debri dike. during construction of pier 94, a portion of that dike failed and a portion slug from the intended plan service to an elevation subjected to tidal inundation and that error was found to be structurally unsuitable for further development. it was left to be subject to the forces of nature for several decades. over time and with title in tidal inundation --

wetland life was attracted to that area. these are photos in the 90s, they can see that the fill material itself, degraded. chunks of concrete sticking out. the efficacy of primarily goldengate audubon society, who came to the port and urged us to undertake habitat improvements, the port sought funding . so in 2006, with funding from california state coastal conservancy, the san francisco bay natural resources section trust, and the port's capital budget we undertook habitat

improvements at pier 94 that included removing those debris piles and piles of tires and asphalt to create a more natural wetland plain and tidal inundation channels and placing a sand and gravel burm. in doing so we created five acres of new wetlands area, and improved water circulation and habitat quality overall. following construction the golden gate audubon society really adopted this site and they have worked side-by-side with the port ever since to conduct monitoring required by our permits for the project, to monitor the success of the habitat restoration.

they undertook a project to plant and endangered tidal marsh called california seablight once abundant in san francisco bay. today pier 94 supports a small but healthy wetland with wide variety of common and uncommon birds sighted by birdwatchers on a regular basis. some of the species that you will see at pier 94 and also at heron's head park are american -- long billed -- kill deer and black oyster catchers.

the golden gate audubon society continues her stewardship. they have monthly volunteer workdays were people show up to remove invasive species and trash and also fund and lead their own environmental education program at pier 94. one of the components of the port's habitat improvement program is revegetation of the adjacent upland area. we have endeavored to establish native grasses and coastal scrub species. you can see the substrate, hard-pack gravel unsuitable to support plant life and our efforts did not succeed. six years on, the golden gate audubon society again sought

their own funding to revegetate that area. the white boundary shows the perimeter of that area. they will place a better quality soil that can support that life. soil placement is underway now; we expected to be completed this summer and the planting will continue in phases over the next couple of years. further south lies heron's head park, the largest and most accessible and best-known habitat enhancement project, at the southern end of the port's jurisdiction just north of the former hunter's point power plant in south of pier 96. heron's head park is an

irregularly shaped peninsula, from the air, is formed in the shape of the resident's head, the blue heron. when the port was constructing in the early 70s, the future pier 98, similar to other waterfront construction we put a debri dike to form a perimeter of the land that we wanted to build and placed fill behind it. today it's hard to imagine that it was the practice of the day. it was considered to be perfectly reasonable at the time. the port began constructing what it expected to be either a future maritime terminal or possibly the footing for southern crossing bay bridge.

but as cargo demands moved -- or the demand for cargo terminals moved to the east bay, the port authority decided they did not need to finish pier 98, stopped placing fill. fenced off the area to public access, and what followed were several decades of benign use. in the early 90s, this is what the former pier 98 looked like. as with pier 94, with time wetland vegetation establish itself naturally; uplands area were overtaken by the heartiest

weeds; public access was prohibited by a chain link fence. there were the remains of an old construction road. in response to advocacy of environmental organizations and in the case of heron's head, we had a lot of support from the local bayview hunters' community. without support and advocacy the port planned and sought funding for habitat funding and restoration in part improvements at pier 98, with funding from the public utilities commission, the san francisco public utilities commission, the california state coastal conservancy and the san francisco bay trail project and a great deal of resources from the port' capital fund and staff time

and resources. we undertook the restoration at heron's head park by removing thousands of tons of the fill material originally placed to create new wetlands areas with the exception of tires pulled from the fill all the rest of the material was either recycled or reused on-site and we created five new acres of tidal salt marsh in addition to those acres that were established naturally and created a new 14 acre park with amenities included a fishing pier, a trail, benches, interpretive signs and some landscaping. so -- this formerly abandoned land reopens to the public as heron's head park and since then heron's head has become a

pressure raisers to environmentalists, the neighborhoods, students, teachers, walkers, workers in the immediate area. heron's head is visited not only for members of the local community but people throughout the area, from throughout the country and internationally. we have students from indonesia coming to heron's head to study the eco-center because they read about it on the internet. so, in the 13 years or so that heron's head park has existed the port has funded environmental education and volunteer programs in the park. for many of those years, those programs have been provided by local nonprofit organization

called literacy for environmental justice based in bayview hunter's point. through the port-funded environmental education and volunteer program, the cumulative effect of that effort has really brought thousands and thousands of hours of labor and built a constituency that has benefited the park way beyond our outright investment in them. so in 2001 this organization, literacy for environmental justice, came to the port for the idea that they wanted to build an environmental education center that would also be a demonstration

project of green building technology. this idea became the eco-center at heron's head park, constructed between 2008 and 2010. it was the city's first and only off-grid building, meaning that the only municipal utility to the eco-center is the potable water supply. the eco-center is reviewed currently as a leed platinum building, the highest level of leed certification. the eco center was born from any contributions of money, time and efforts. the major funders were the san francisco department of the environment -- and many small

donors, and thousands and thousands of hours of volunteer labor. this is what the eco-center look like shortly after it was constructed. it has 100% solar power; it has a living roof, meeting the roof is vegetated and provides habitat itself. rainwater on the roof is captured and reused for irrigation. and one of the truly unique things about the eco-center at heron's head if it has an on-site wastewater treatment system so the sinks and toilets the wastewater is treated on a series of tanks through settlement and sedimentation; you can see on the left portion this mini aquatic habitat for aquatic organisms and plants

complete that process. the effluent from this wastewater treatment system meets epa water quality standards for recreational contact, meaning you could swim or kayak in it. you wouldn't but you could. it really mimics the wastewater treatment processes happening naturally just right outside this windows. you can see that treating your wastewater in your building -- it's a great educational tool to teach students and youth and adults alike about the value of wetlands and the role and water treatment. recently the national organization of on-site wastewater treatment engineers had their annual meeting at the eco-center so they came from all over the country and

it was really endearing to see how delighted they were to be in this little room with this on-site wastewater treatment system. so the port has continued to fund the environmental occasion program here at heron's head. we have partnered with the department of recreation and parks, youth stewardship programs to deliver those environmental education program and this photo shows a group of students from mission high school learning about historic distribution of wetlands and natural areas in san francisco and how it has changed with urbanization within the last 150 years. these are other examples of environmental education programs thar rec and parks youth stewardship program has led, where students learn about water chemistry, treatment,

native plants and their role in habitat value. just this last year, in 2012, rec parc and the port launch new environmental program called the greenagers, a group of young teenagers, 9th and 10th gradres, who live in district 10 and give them an opportunity to connect with like-minded peers and participated in the program over a period of nine months and doing community service project. they were based out of heron's head park. i went to the graduation early this year and it was lovely to hear these young kids talking about the joy they felt pulling weeds at heron's head

park, they felt like native plant defenders. and then one of our most celebrated accomplishments is also just last year with funding from the 2008 clean and safe park bonds we completed the expansion and improvement to the entryway at heron's head park. most of you commissioners were therefore opening-day. this has been a transformational improvement where they used to be a huge asphalt paved area, with scattered parking spaces and bunch of speeding cars. we have over an acre of expanded green space, new picnic facilities, restrooms, more efficient parking in off leash dog play area and safer and more efficient traffic flow.

that has been wonderful and we have had nothing but praise from the people that i run into when i am out in the park about the improvement. so what i hope that you will take from this presentation is pride in the accomplishments of the port and its habitat restoration effort, small though they may be, and through our collaboration with non-port partners we have an amazingly engaged citizenship in san francisco and habitat restriction programs have really benefited from their engagement and i thank you and the port commissions of the last 12-15 years before the repeatedly to support the port's effort in environmental stewardship. i believe that is truly something to celebrate. that concludes my presentation. thank you.

>> we do have public comment. bob isaacson. >> thank you, director of commissioners. i moved down to mission creek to a houseboat about 25 years ago,in an amazing thing was to see the wildlife there. they should be preserved. at that time the developer catella -- an earlier version of catella mission bay development consider the place a blank slate. wait a minute. there's a lot here that really needs to be taken care of.

the fact that it is within a mile of the downtown area and these wonderful, charismatic shorebirds are there told us that there is really something that needs to be done so we formed a conservancy, about half of us from the creek, half from other places to publicize what was there and needed to be preserved. i am proud to say that we have been successful. the species, the number of species of birds has increased from about 50 which we counted earlier on two over 100 now. the number of individual birds has about doubled. the number of steps of habitat restoration, fortunatetely catella joined right in with

us once we presented the idea. the harbor association and the conservancy to care of it directly. they accepted our recommendation for hiring a wetlands consultant, michael josland (sounds like) who stayed with them for years and years including directing and upland small weatland there, and one of the factors, the preservation of perch piling, birds that come to roost there. i looked up my window and saw that the port was removing the old pilings. first thing i did was to talk to the guy in charge of it. i was amazed. he immediately stopped.

they stop the removal. at least for the day. then i made calls around and they stopped. i would like to thank the port for its cooperation and assistance almost from the beginning. david -- was very helpful to us in years meetings with catella. thank you. >> thank you. jeannie stearns. (sounds like) >> i'm jennie stearns, also with the mission creek conservancy. it's been wonderful to be living in a houseboat there and become steward of mission

creek and to see how this body of water which is basically forgotten and neglected was really a sewer at one time has become this beautiful amenity. and that the port and the bodies of the city have really made it the center of the mission bay project as a sort of focus. and -- my job down there is to help with habitat and to put the habitat into our area. at first i thought it was something to get done, getting everybody to help the putting these plantings. as we went on i began to see that it was something to keep going because it's a community focus on the people came down from the new condos on the north side and they wanted to help them there were people from other parts of the neighborhood that wanted to help. together we really did make a

very beautiful habitat, and now we have the whole body of stewards in the community. i think this is one of the really special things that can come out of this kind of project. here right in the middle of the city we have ways when the fish come in pelicans drop in from the sky grabbing decision squadrons of cormorants and blue heron and caspian herns, is exciting to see this much wildlife where people can see it we have bat rays and sea lions, it's very exciting. i want to invite you come down and take a look at this. thank you for your support of these projects. >> thank you. karen woods.

(sounds like) >> good afternoon commissioners, karin woods, member of the mission creek conservancy. you saw a picture of me digging. i think i have given you a copy of vanishing quarters (sounds like), which is a book that -- the rest of the conservancy commission because mission creek was considered useless, wasteful; it should be lined with concrete and turned into a canal. the conservancy, with the support of the port and -- who was at the time drudge manager for mission bay development,

supported us, and supported the ecosystem improvements that we thought was important and we do believe that it is a jewel. in the port's crown. we are port tenants; we support what the port wants to do and appreciate what the port gives us. thank you. >> is there any other comment? commissioners any comment? >> -- inds (indiscernible)>> wanted to thank carol bock for her presentation; it was heartening to see the kind of work that we're doing and the stewardship of the port exhibits along our waterfront. i'm struck by the hard work

that has gone in by so many people that are still around, people and faces continuously pop up. i want to thank the mission creek alliance; people like karin who seem to be at the forefront of every issue before us and david bellpray (sounds like) -- as you noted heron's head park -- having been there with my dog, i appreciate the dog park, he loved it. >> you are being gracious to say that