Mountain View completes $20 million salt pond restoration creating 435 acres of wildlife habitat

Mountain View officials celebrated the completion of a $20 million restoration project Friday that transformed a 435-acre former salt pond into wildlife habitat and public open space, marking a significant milestone in the Bay Area’s largest environmental restoration effort.

The three-year project restored Pond A2W, located within the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, according to project officials. The site, which operated as a salt pond for nearly a century and served as a landfill from the 1960s to mid-1980s, now provides habitat for diving ducks, mallards, northern shovelers, egrets and herons that visitors can observe from newly extended trails.

“We are in every corner of this country, and it’s an honor to help protect these beautiful resources that are so important to the very culture and fabric of our country,” said Paul Souza, regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who described the project as one of the “crown jewels” of the national refuge system.

The restoration represents a small but important piece of a 50-year plan to revive 15,100 acres of former salt ponds across the South Bay, East Bay and Peninsula into vital tidal marshes, according to project leaders.

Crews imported 180,000 cubic yards of fill dirt from local construction sites to reshape the pond and reinforce levees against sea-level rise and storm surges, according to project officials. The work included constructing five habitat islands, creating horizontal levees called “habitat transition zones,” and extending public trails by 1.2 miles.

Mountain View Councilmember Pat Showalter, a civil engineer, highlighted the logistical challenges the city faced coordinating the massive undertaking.

“That was a lot of trucks,” Showalter said, referring to the period when thousands of tons of dirt had to be hauled in. “One of the main accomplishments was figuring out that truck route and making sure it worked safely and efficiently.”

While restoration work is complete, natural levee planting for shoreline protection will begin this fall under the leadership of Save the Bay, according to project officials.

The restoration comes as recent storms have highlighted flood risks across the Bay Area and rising seas increasingly threaten low-lying shoreline communities. Regional agencies are advancing wetland restoration as a natural defense that absorbs wave energy and helps reduce inland flooding, according to project leaders.

Assemblymember Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, called the project the “epitome of cross-jurisdictional collaboration,” linking climate resilience to regional development efforts.

“This creates stronger protection against sea level rise, which is a concern on both sides of my district,” Berman said. “It means better flood protection for Shoreline Park, nearby offices and future” housing developments.

Dave Halsing, executive project manager, emphasized the project’s multiple benefits for the public.

“There are a number of different advantages for the public — access to new trails, connections to city parks and the Bay Trail,” Halsing said. “There’s something for everyone, and these projects are multi-benefit, designed to meet a wide range of goals.”

The restoration involved partnerships between the city of Mountain View, Save the Bay, the State Coastal Conservancy, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ducks Unlimited and other local agencies, according to project officials.

The celebration took place with views of Stanford University’s Hoover Tower and Google’s campus to the north, where residents, environmental groups and local leaders gathered to mark the completion of the ambitious environmental project.