In 2003, California and federal partners acquired 15,100 acres of Cargill Salt Ponds to reverse a century of wetland loss; more than 3,700 acres are now open to San Francisco Bay's tides

For more than a century, the southern edge of San Francisco Bay was reshaped by an industry that depended on keeping seawater out. Large stretches of tidal wetland were enclosed behind levees and converted into evaporation ponds, creating the distinctive geometric landscape of salt ponds visible across the South Bay.

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