YOUSEF BAIG - Argus Courier Staff

The once mighty Petaluma River, a former hub for commerce and recreation, was once one of the defining features of the southern Sonoma County landscape and a vital link between Petaluma and the San Pablo Bay.

Now, 15 years removed from the last dredging, an 18-mile tributary many residents have dubbed “the heart of the city” has become a muddy, silt-choked slough, with little relief in sight.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a federal agency under the Department of Defense, is supposed to dredge the upper Petaluma River every four years, and the mouth where it meets the bay every three years. The flats channel, which begins beneath the Highway 37 overpass east of Novato, was last dredged in 1998.

It was another stunning day at the San Pablo Baylands, when thirty of Linda Judah’s high school Biology students flocked to the restored tidal marsh determined to identify and count birds. Initially students groaned that there were no birds in sight. The high tide meant that the many tidal birds that dot the shores at low tide were elsewhere awaiting their daily timed feast.

Monitoring the marsh bird species is especially valuable as indicators for assessing the health of the wetland ecosystems, and species presence and quantity is a measurement of the success of wetland restoration. Marsh bird populations are expected to increase as the tidal marsh habitat matures; therefore, monitoring changes in bird populations provides evidence of the success of the restoration.