Corte Madera Marshland Restoration Includes a Public Walking Trail

Photo by Casey Gillespie

A recent marshland restoration project located just north of The Village at Corte Madera shopping mall revived four acres of tidal marsh, with an additional 10 acres being seeded with native vegetation. The project, completed by the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District as a mitigation measure for the dredging of the Larkspur Ferry Terminal in the late 1980s and for running high-speed ferry boats beginning in 1996, included the planting of 17,000 plants and the installation of a 25-foot-wide, quarter-mile-long public pathway, benches, trash receptacles and signage (interpretive signs will also eventually be added).

The Marin Audubon Society, which finished a similar project to the north about three years ago, is happy to see additional restoration of these historic marshland areas, many of which were devastated in the mid-19th century. “These marshlands are habitat for wildlife, like the endangered Ridgway’s rail, they stabilize shorelines, which is really important these days with sea level rise, and the plants absorb pollutants and release clean air,” says society president Barbara Salzman. “They do a lot of beneficial things for everybody.”