Kevin Contreras (left), land acquisition specialist, and Mark Silberstein, executive director of the Elkhorn Slough Foundation, review a map of Elkhorn Slough Tuesday.

A short drive from downtown Watsonville is the Elkhorn Slough, a large tract of tidal marsh second in size in the Bay Area only to the marshes of the San Francisco Bay.

The serenity of the slough system belies the bustling city just a few miles away, and serves as home to 340 species of birds and hundreds of plant and mammal species. That home is now 38 acres larger, thanks to three recently acquired portions of wetland.

The three transactions took place last month and include 24.5 acres just north of the Elkhorn Yacht Club, which was given to the foundation at half its value by the Giberson family; 2.5 acres near Castroville Boulevard; and 11 acres along Dolan Road. The total cost of the acquisitions is about $600,000.

Although the total acreage of the land is not large, it still serves a valuable purpose, said Elkhorn Slough Foundation executive director Mark Silberstein. Much of it borders the sloughs that drain into the bay, filtering the water and helping to keep the ecosystem healthy.

“It’s not a lot, but if you look at the strategic placement of the land, it magnifies the value dramatically,” said Silberstein, who called the acquisitions “key pieces of the puzzle.”

There are more than 7,000 acres of protected land in the Elkhorn Slough watershed.

Some areas of Santa Cruz County change from rocky hills to wetlands to a marine ecosystem in a short span.

“I can’t think of any other place in the world where that happens,” Silberstein said.

The problem, he said, is conserving the land in a “working landscape” where farming, residential and natural preservation efforts often compete.

For years, the Pajaro Valley has been developed, as agricultural tracts, housing and businesses have replaced the extensive wetlands that once dominated the area.

Wetlands allow water to drain into the ground, which filters the water, recharges underground aquifers and keeps oceanic saltwater from intruding inland, which in turn damages groundwater.

Enter the Elkhorn Slough Foundation, which works to keep wetlands free from development.

The acquisitions will help protect plants and wildlife — but keeping the ecosystems healthier also protects the people who live here, Silberstein said.

“All sorts of biology depends on it, but it turns out, so do we,” he said.

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The Elkhorn Slough Foundation is constantly striving to acquire more land. For

information, visit www.elkhornslough.org, or call 728-5939.

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*Photos by Tarmo Hannula*

(Published in 1/3/08 edition)

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