F I R S TP R E V805NEXTLAST

Hamilton Field Wetlands, Novato
You may not see it but you're looking at former airfield runways for B-12 bombers, P-51 Mustangs, and F104 Starfighters. The Hamilton Air Force Base, decommissioned in 1974, has recently begun the largest wetlands restoration program ever attempted on the West Coast. By pumping in nearly 7 million cubic yards of sediment and shaping that soil, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is rebuilding a natural estuary. The $200 million project will turn a 760-acre tract of former landing strips into a sprawling wetlands filled with a diverse array of plants, wildlife and waterfowl. Environmental planners are designing the new estuary to re-create tidal wetlands of the Bay. These planners studied old maps from the 1800s, historic photos and dated drawings to determine what was at the airfield before the landscape was changed.
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