By Mark Prado
Marin Independent Journal
Monday, October 24, 2005
As a sole egret stood quietly in Triangle Marsh in Corte Madera one day last week, people gathered nearby to celebrate the restoration of the wetland, once slated for development.
Volunteers and others restored nearly two acres of filled bayland at the site along Paradise Drive, turning it back into a habitat for marsh species such as the endangered California clapper rail and the salt marsh harvest mouse.
"This is one of many little corners of Marin that has been saved from certain destruction and brought back into great natural beauty," said Sam Schuchat, executive officer of the Coastal Conservancy, which helped bring money to the project.
About 8,000 cubic yards of material was hauled away, allowing water back into the area, returning the site to its natural state.
Marin Audubon - which sponsored the project - purchased the 32-acre parcel in 1999 for $750,000.
It was once going to be used for a small, bayside residential development.
The marsh is wedged between the Corte Madera Ecological Reserve to the northwest and Ring Mountain Preserve to the south - an area that now provides contiguous shoreline habitat for tens of thousands of migratory birds every winter.
Before Audubon took it over, the Triangle Marsh was not much of anything.
"It was a mess," said Barbara Salzman, who heads Marin Audubon and who officials said "twisted arms and used sweet talk" to make the project happen.
Volunteers have helped plant coyote brush, coffeeberry, live oak and sticky monkey fingers at the site. There is also an overlook over a knoll, where visitors can take in the marsh and look north over San Francisco Bay.
"It's a lovely place," said Steve McAdam, the deputy executive director with the Bay Conservation and Development Commission in San Francisco.