Stakeholders

Project Team

A Project Team is a group of organizations, people, or groups that work together to reach a common goal. These groups and people have various backgrounds and skill sets to help achieve the project goals.

• SamTrans

  • SamTrans is governed by nine appointed members, two county supervisors, three city council members, three private citizens appointed by the other board members, and one transportation expert. SamTrans was established in 1976 to consolidate the 11 existing bus systems into a single bus agency called SamTrans. It has approximately 22,600 riders daily, mainly on the eastern side of the Santa Cruz Mountains. While the coastal regions of San Mateo do have service, it is intermittent. SamTrans also participates directly in the operations of Caltrain and, along with contractor Transit America Services, provides crews for Caltrain. SamTrans offers administrative support for the San Mateo County Transit Authority, whose job is to oversee sales taxes to improve highways and transit projects. The San Mateo County Transit Authority was created by 1998’s Measure A, a half-cent sales tax that would generate approximately $14 million to buy the Dumbarton Corridor. Eventually, SamTrans would buy the corridor for almost seven million dollars with Caltrans's help. SamTrans, the lead agency tasked with overseeing the day-to-day activity of the project, is re-evaluating the project due to Facebook pulling out of the project. They are still interested in progressing with the project (DuMonde, 2022).

• Plenary Group and Cross Bay Transit Partners

  • Cross Bay Transit Partners was a development company formed between Facebook and the Plenary group to work with SamTrans on the Dumbarton Project before the pandemic. The Plenary group said they are still committed to the project, but there is currently no information on the status of Cross Bay Transit Partners as a development company (Shlaes, 2019).

    Plenary Group’s Headquarters is located in Melbourne, Australia, serving Australia, Canada, the United States, and Asia. Plenary Group is an infrastructure investment firm that specializes in public-private partnerships. A Public Private Partnership is when private sector institutions help finance, build, and operate projects such as rail lines, highways, and parks, allowing these projects to be accomplished quicker than usual. Plenary Group was founded in 2005 by several members of ABN Ambro, the third-largest bank in the Netherlands Plenary Group). They have a wide variety of expertise they can bring to any project, such as bidding, financial, and infrastructure management. Plenary Group has won over 120 projects, corporations, and developers awards. Plenary Group accomplishes its goals by developing client and partner relationships. Plenary Group also has teams specializing in procuring and maintaining Public Private Partnerships and Asset delivery teams that oversee project construction and long-term maintenance (Plenary Group). They have been involved in over 81 different projects, including:

    1.     Hospitals: Corner Brook Acute Care Hospital (Newfoundland, Canada)

    2.     Transportation: Belle Chasse Bridge and Tunnel Replacement (Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana)

    3.     Transportation: Metrolink East Maintenance Facility (Toronto, Canada)

    4.     Transportation: Highway 36 (Denver, Colorado)

    5.     Education: The University of California at Merced (Merced, California)

• Kimley Horn

  • Kimley Horn is a planning, surveying, engineering, and design consulting company founded in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1967 by three transportation engineers; Bob Kimley, Bill Horne, and Ed Vick. They have 5 Bay Area offices, and they specialize in projects such as (Kimley-Horne):

    1.     Urban Design

    2.     Transportation Planning

    3.     Federal/Military

    4.     Parking

    5.     Community Planning

    6.     Forensic Engineering

    7.     Mechanical, Engineering, Plumbing

• Circle Point

  • Circle Point was founded in 1987 by Kay Wilson to provide integrated environmental and communication services. They provide this service through advice and services targeting specific communities, government agencies, and businesses. Circle Point is highly skilled at environmental consulting, and their Oakland and San Francisco offices are often involved with the Dumbarton Corridor Project’s environmental assessment phases. Circle Point has extensive technical experience, along with highly skilled public communication and engagement, that has come about as a result of hundreds of environmental assessments. Circle Point is successful because of their highly trained employees with extensive backgrounds in environmental planning, social media, web design, marketing, and public communication skills (Circle Point).

• Fehr-Peers

  • Fehr-Peers, headquartered in Walnut Creek, has been in the transportation and engineering sector since 1985. They are committed to being the best by employing a talented and skilled workforce, having robust research and development programs, and focusing on the local community. They look for people with diverse backgrounds and highly motivated individuals who have different perspectives and can work well with local communities. Fehr-Peers fund their own research and development, which allows them to develop new methods and analytics to accomplish their objectives. They also tailor their solutions to align with the needs and values of the community they are working in to provide everyone with a bright transportation future (Fehr-Peers).

• Howard, Needles, Tammen & Bergendoff (HNTB)

  • HNTB, founded in 1915, is a highly respected infrastructure design firm (HNTB). HNTB believes that teams are more robust than individuals and have several philosophies, including:

    1.     Take personal responsibility for making success happen

    2.     Expect more of yourself

    3.     Discover what is essential to any situation

    4.     Collaboration benefits everyone

    5.     Collaboration is crucial to build relationships.

    HTNB specializes in and has been a part of a variety of different projects (HNTB):

    1.     Sporting Facilities: Levi’s Stadium (Santa Clara-49’ers) and Allegiant Stadium (Las Vegas-Raiders)

    2.     Transportation: Airports (Los Angeles International Airport), Bridges, and Roadways (Sixth Street Viaduct-Los Angeles and the Governor Cuomo Bridge replacement – New York).

    3.     Education: College of William and Mary in Virginia and the University of Southern California

    HNTB has over 3000 employees scattered around 79 offices throughout the world. In California, their offices are in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Areas: Oakland, San Jose, and San Francisco.  HNTB is also involved in aviation, construction management, design and building, environmental planning, program management, tunnels, and transit/railroad projects.

• MC2

  • MC2 Public Affairs Group is a small company headquartered in San Francisco that specializes in public and government affairs and community outreach consulting. They have experience in helping to establish lines of communication between the developers, lead agencies, and other entities with the community and community groups. They work with business and community leaders and other clients to better understand all the different phases of the project. In addition, MC2 Public Affairs Group also consults on the land use and development process, helping build support for projects that will help local communities. They also assist with media outreach by handling and assisting with community outreach and media relations (MC2).

Technical Advisory Group

A technical Advisory group is a group of experts who provide technical advice to the Project Group.

• Warren Slocum

  • See Elected Officials Section.

• Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority

  • The Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority is a transportation district responsible for public transit services, congestion management, highway improvement projects, county transportation planning, and Caltrain management and oversight.  In 1969, Santa Clara had three bus companies facing financial difficulties: Peninsula Transit, San Jose City Lines, and Peerless Stages. As a result of these financial failures, the California State Legislature passed the Santa Clara County Transit District Act (Statues and Amendments). This act allowed Santa Clara County to add a “Creation of Santa Clara County Transit District” measure on the ballot. This initiative was rejected in 1969 and 1970 but passed in 1973, leading to the Creation of the Santa Clara County Transit District (McCaleb, 1994). The district took over all transit operations, including all the bus routes in the city. A ½ cent sales tax in 1976 went to Support the District, allowing them to build new maintenance facilities and upgrade their bus fleets. January 1st, 1995, saw the county’s Congestion Management Agency merger with the Transit District to become Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority. VTA has a yearly ridership of over fourteen million people across 43 bus routes and three light rail lines (Public Transportation Ridership Report). They are also responsible for building their BART San Jose Extension.

• SamTrans

  • See Project Team Section

• City of Fremont

  • Fremont, located in Alameda County, sits at the eastern end of the Dumbarton Rail Corridor. SamTrans owns the tracks up to the city limits of Fremont, where Union Pacific ownership takes over. Fremont has an area of 88 square miles, 78.31 miles of land, and 10.31 miles of water.

    1797 Mission San Jose was built, and now the town of Fremont sprung up around it. The Spanish constructed Mission San Jose in an Ohlone village to convert the Ohlone Indians to Christianity. The Spanish offered tools, metals, wood, pigs, cattle, and sheep to the Ohlone, attempting to transition them from a hunting community to a farming community.

    Fremont was incorporated on January 23, 1956, when the towns of Mission San Jose, Centerville, Niles, Warm Springs, and Irvington were unified into one city. The city was named after General John C Fremont, who had a hand in capturing California from the Mexican Government during the Mexican-American war. Some of Fremont's top employers today are Tesla, Kaiser, Western Digital, and Seagate. BART, ACE, and Amtrack provide transit services to Fremont, potentially connecting with Caltrain. The population of Fremont is 230,504, the 2nd most popular city in Alameda (16th in the United States) (Census Bureau).

• City of Newark

  • Newark is located in Alameda County, at the eastern end of Highway 84 and the Dumbarton Corridor. The City of Newark is approximately 13.9 square miles of land with .02 square miles of water. Newark has an elevation of 20 feet with a population of 47,529 (Census Bureau). Newark has a similar history to other Bay Area cities. It was home to the Ohlone Indians before Spanish missionaries arrived and started building missions there. The City of Newark was formed in 1878 when the Pacific Land Investment Company purchased land belonging to Washington Township and started the city's development. Newark was formally incorporated on September 1955. AC Transit serves Newark and could be home to a Caltrain Station and a maintenance facility along the rail line should rail service come to fruition. Newark would like to be able to coordinate some of their planned projects with SamTrans and the rail service.

• Metropolitan Transportation Commission

  • See Transportation Public Sector Section

• Alameda Metropolitan Transportation Commission

  • See Transportation Public Sector Section

• Menlo Park

  • In 1769, the Portola expedition arrived in the now Menlo Park area and started seizing land that belonged to the Ohlone Indians for their settlements (CHL). A century later, in 1851, two Irish immigrants, Dennis J. Oliver and his brother-in-law, D.C. McGlynn, purchased a large tract of land and named it Menlo Park, after their birthplace of Menlough, Ireland. San Francisco and San Jose Railroad’s rail line initially terminated near the Menlo Park area, and today the Menlo Park Station is the oldest continuously operated train station in California.  Menlo Park grew and expanded around the train station. In World War 1, Menlo Park was home to a training camp that trained 27,000 men. The Army paved the streets and installed gas and water lines (Archive.Org). The U.S. government purchased the estate of Timothy Hopkins and formed the Palo Alto General Hospital but sold the rest of the land to Menlo Park and Stanford University. Timothy Hopkins was the adopted son of Mark and Mary Hopkins and a good friend of Leland Stanford. Today, Menlo Park, bordered by San Francisco Bay, East Palo Alto, Atherton, Redwood City, and North Fair Oaks, has a population of 33,780 (Census Bureau). Menlo Park is home to Facebook’s Headquarters and the city where Google was founded. The Dumbarton Corridor cuts through Menlo Park, and Menlo Park will have a station, potentially near the Facebook Headquarters. Menlo Park is home to several significant roadways, Willow Road and Marsh Road, that cross the railroad and are possibly interested in a grade separation project.

• San Mateo County

  • San Mateo County has a population of 764,442 and is part of the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkley metropolitan statistics area. In 1856, the California State government decided that San Francisco County needed to be broken up, believing it was too large of a county. They drew a straight line just north of San Bruno Mountain, with everything south of the line being San Mateo County and everything north remaining San Francisco County (San Mateo County Quick Facts). In 1857, it was decided that the southern Boundary would be San Francisquito Creek, with the county seat in Redwood City. In 1868, San Mateo annexed the areas of Pescadero and Pidgeon Point from the county of Santa Cruz. In 1850, many people moving to San Mateo County were male students of Japanese Descent looking to learn English and other skills with the long-term goal of returning to Japan. San Mateo County comprises 744 square miles, with 448 square miles being land and 293 square miles of water (Explore Census Data).

    San Mateo County is home to Facebook’s headquarters, making San Mateo a top-earning county in 2012. In addition, San Mateo County is home to several other high-tech companies, such as Visa, Sony, YouTube, GoPro, and Gilead Sciences. SamTrans, BART, Caltrain, and ferry service at Oyster Point in Brisbane provide transportation in San Mateo County. San Mateo Counties' involvement comes from much of the Dumbarton Corridor running through San Mateo County, along with Caltrain and SamTrans’s headquarters in San Mateo County. Redwood City and Menlo Park are two cities in San Mateo County directly involved in the project.

• Caltrain

  • See Transportation Public Sector.

• Menlo Park Fire

  • Menlo Park Fire Department's first office or department was located at Merrill Street, with 17 volunteers. The fire vehicles were horse-drawn wagons. On September 16th, 1915, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors formed the Menlo Park Fire Prevention District at the behest of the community residents. Today the Menlo Park Fire Prevention District protects 17 square miles of land and 12 miles of marshland. There are seven fire stations, one next to the Dumbarton Corridor, Station 77. Station 77 has a rail spur with four boxcars for storage (Menlo Park Fire Department). The Fire Department’s advisory role in the Dumbarton Project comes from their need to access the bridge in an emergency. In the 1990s fire, they had to load their firefighting equipment on special railroad vehicles to reach the site. Should the Dumbarton be rebuilt, they could advocate for fire roads or having special railroad equipment stored on a nearby railroad spur.

Stakeholder Group

The Stakeholder group comprises organizations whose decisions could affect the project.

• Friends of Caltrain

  • Friends of Caltrain is a non-profit advocacy group supporting stable funding, modernization, and expanding Caltrain service. They work with environmental and sustainable transportation groups (Sierra Club), cities, and local businesses. They aim to see Caltrain become a financially stable, electrified rail system with frequent service and accessible bike access (Alevine)

• Stanford University

  • Stanford was started on November 11th, 1885, by Leland Stanford, one of the men behind the Central Pacific Railroad and governor of California from 1862-1863. The University sits on 8,180 acres and currently has 17,000 students. Leland Stanford formed Stanford University to honor his son, Leland Stanford Jr, who died of typhoid at 15 (Stanford University). Stanford University opened its doors on October 1st, 1891, and had an uncertain future after Leland Stanford died in 1893. The 1906 earthquake that destroyed much of San Francisco also destroyed much of the campus. Stanford University has a budget of 7.4 billion. While the main campus is primarily located on land in unincorporated Santa Clara County, university-owned land can also be found in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Woodside, and Portola Valley. Stanford University operates Jasper Ridge Biological Preserver and the Stanford Linear Accelerator National Accelerator Laboratory. Stanford University also rents land to Stanford Shopping Center and the Palo Alto Unified School District. They are in the process of buying the struggling Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont (Stanford Lands). In addition to the Dumbarton Project, Stanford University is involved in the Dumbarton Forward Initiative, a set of short-term transportation strategies that could improve traffic and reduce delays on the Dumbarton Bridge (highway 84) (Dumbarton Forward).

• San Mateo County Economic Development Alliance

  • Formed in 1953, the Economic Development Alliance looks to promote business and business issues that help to enhance the prosperity of the San Mateo County Region. They believe that “Business is good. Business brings opportunity”. The Development Alliance offers various benefits, such as direct access to top federal, state, and local political leaders, strong connections to chambers of commerce, and relationships with multiple entities such as SPUR. They have an expansive focus area, for example (Economic Development Association):

    1.     Economic development: Supporting CEQA reform to speed up and streamline the process for housing, specifically Transit Oriented Development

    2.     Transportation: Support Caltrain electrification, increased capacity efforts, and expanded service (such as the Dumbarton Route)

    3.     Housing: Investing in Transit-Oriented Developments

    4.     Education: Working with businesses to identify areas for skills development (such as needing construction training)

    5.     Information: Produce and publish information about the economy, business environment, and public policy.

• Sierra Club

  • John Muir created the Sierra Club in the 1890s to preserve and protect the environment. Their goals included the creation of Glacier and Mount Rainier national parks, having Yosemite Park transferred from California State to the Federal Government, and preserving the redwood forests in California. Early members included William Keith, Willis Linn Jepson, and Willard Drake Johnson, amongst other people. John Muir was president until he died in 1914. The Sierra Club has offices (or chapters) in all 50 states, with their California Headquarters in Oakland. They are a 501c3 Social Welfare Organization whose goals are to (Sierra Club):

    1.     Protect the wild places of the earth for the public’s enjoyment and exploration

    2.     To practice and promote responsible use of earth ecosystems and resources

    3.     Educate the public on ways to protect and restore the natural environment

    4.     Use all legal means to accomplish these objectives.

    The Sierra Club opposes all forms of nuclear power and wants to see coal plants shut down in favor of cleaner, renewable energy sources. The 2020 George Floyd Protests revealed that the Sierra Club had a racist history of excluding people of color from their ranks and catering specifically to white people. Muir and several of his closest associates were tied to the eugenics movement and believed in improving the genetic quality of the human race, where many poor, disabled, mentally ill, and people of color were sterilized against their will (Brune, 2020). The Sierra Club has acknowledged that its past had ties with racism. The Sierra Club is also involved in lobbying, and they have their own Super Political Action Committee and always donate to Democratic candidates. In the San Francisco Bay Area, they support the Dumbarton Rail Corridor project and Santa Cruz County’s attempts to start passenger service. In California, their main activities are to promote and guide outdoor activities while promoting environmental causes and environmental protection. The Sierra Club has been described as the leading environmental organization (Skinner, 2007).

• San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association

  • San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association, SPUR for short, is a non-profit think tank public policy organization that works with many people to develop solutions to Bay Area Cities’ problems (SPUR).  Their seven areas of interest are Planning, Housing, Transportation, Sustainability and resilience, Economic Justice, Good Government, and Food/Agriculture.  Spur was formed in the early 1900s when San Francisco City leaders came together to improve housing quality after the 1906 earthquake. They helped start the San Francisco Housing Association. In the 1930s, they became the San Francisco Planning and Housing Association when a group from U.C. Berkley joined their ranks (SPUR). Eventually, their success led to the formation of San Francisco’s Department of City Planning. In 1959, they formally became the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association and played significant roles in creating BART. In 2012, SPUR opened an office in San Jose, with their Oakland office following three years later. SPUR has three core values: equity, environmental sustainability, and economic prosperity. They focus on analyzing a variety of subjects, such as sea-level rise, renewable energy, bicycle lanes, and equity in transportation (SPUR).

• Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition

  • The Silicon Valley Bike Coalition’s mission is to “create a healthy community, environment, and economy through bicycling for people who live, work, and play in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties (Silicon Valley Bike Coalition).” They would like to see 10% of every trip made be taken by bike by 2025 through several initiatives:

    1.     Making people feel safe on bikes

    2.     Making bike riding a regular part of everyday life

    3.     Making bike riding accessible and convenient

    4.     Providing bike education to youths.

    Due to high transportation costs, rising housing costs, climate issues, and a lack of physical activity leading to a health crisis, the Silicon Valley Bike Coalition’s primary goal is to get a pedestrian-use bicycle path included in the Dumbarton Bridge Designs. This bike path would be built as part of the Railroad Bridge and link the East Bay (Newark, Fremont) to the Peninsula (Redwood City, Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, and Menlo Park). It would connect to each station, residential area, park, shopping area, and place of employment (Silicon Valley Bike Coalition). They believe a bike path that includes water stations, shade, rest areas, bike repair facilities, and bike repair facilities can further encourage people to get away from their cars and into a healthier mode of transportation.

• Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge

  • Formed in 1965 to protect Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge from development, they work to protect wetlands of all forms and the headwaters that flow into San Francisco Bay. 55 The Citizens Committee also monitors changes to the regulations that help protect endangered wetlands and species (Bay Refuge). The Citizen’s Committee is involved in the Dumbarton Project to protect the wetlands against damage and sea level rise (Bay Refuge).  As stakeholders, they aim to ensure that rare and sensitive natural resources are protected and sea level rise mitigation is included in any concept plans. These issues are factors in redeveloping the Dumbarton Bridge. The Bay Wetlands on each side of the bridge is a critical habitat for the survival of endangered species such as the Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse and the California Clapper Rail. If this habitat is destroyed, these and many other species will die. These wetlands are also high-functioning, high-capacity carbon exchange and significant nature-based mitigation areas for the rising seas. They do have a couple of concerns with how SamTrans has potentially handled the project so far (Bay Refuge): 

    ·       According to the CCCR, SamTrans has not considered sea level rise and underestimated the project’s costs.

    ·       SamTrans has presented the project as a cross-bay transit connection but retained all decision-making powers rather than a joint project with Alameda County. East Bay voters do not have representation

• Chamber of Commerce

  • The Chambers of Commerce in the Dumbarton Project are San Mateo County, Newark, Fremont, Redwood City, and Melo Park. They are an association of businesses and people that work together to promote and protect shared interests. The Chambers of Commerce do not have any role in creating laws, but they can lobby and influence politicians that support their common Interests (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). In the case of the Dumbarton, the Chamber of Commerce could attempt to influence politicians to work on getting the state and federal government to pass funding bills for the Dumbarton Project.

• Menlo Spark

  • Menlo Spark is an independent non-profit organization that helps the City of Menlo Park adopt various measures necessary to reach a zero-carbon emission rate by 2030. Menlo Spark also seeks to advance the economic viability and community health of Menlo Park. They apply proven sustainability methods to Menlo Park through community engagement and collaboration with governments, businesses, residents, and experts that support increased safety and ease of walking and biking. Menlo Spark hopes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and road congestion by providing more mass transit choices and encouraging clean-air vehicles (Menlo Spark).

• Peninsula Open Space Trust

  • Peninsula Open Space Trust is a land trust non-profit organization in Palo Alto. POST was created five years after Mid-Peninsula Regional Space District in 1977 as a non-profit specializing in private land sales and protective easements. They aim to protect open space land in the Peninsula and the South Bay.

• Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space District

  • The Mid-Peninsula, Open Space District protects ecologically sensitive land for public enjoyment. Their mission is to acquire and preserve open space lands and to protect and restore the natural environment for general entertainment and education. The Mid-Peninsula, Open Space District, has preserved 63,500 acres of open space (mountains, foothills, and bay), comprising 26 open space preserves linked to many parklands in Santa Clara, San Mateo, and Santa Cruz Counties. Ravenswood Open Space Preserve, one of the preserves managed by the Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space District, parallels the Dumbarton Corridor in East Palo Alto (Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space District).

• East Bay Development Alliance

  • The mission of the East Bay Development Alliance is to establish the East Bay Region (Alameda and Contra Costa counties) as a world-recognized location to grow businesses, attract capital, and create jobs. The East Bay Development Alliance accomplishes this by supporting and developing new city and country economic developments, including implementing (or improving) new city and county comprehensive programs/services (East Bay Development Alliance). The Dumbarton Corridor project fits its mission statement as it will create jobs in the construction and steel-working industry and help stimulate the local economy as money is spent on local businesses.

• Redwood City

  • In 1835, the Mexican government gave the Arguello family some of the Rancho de Las Pulgas lands. When the United States took California from the Mexican government, they kept the land and sold some of it to local squatters. Other portions of their land were donated for open space, such as Mezes Park (which still exists today). Formed in 1856, Redwood City was incorporated as a city in 1867. Redwood City is located 27 miles south of San Francisco and 24 miles north of San Jose and is the county seat of San Mateo County (Redwood City).  Redwood City is 34.7 square miles, with 19.4 comprised of land and 15.2 making of water (Redwood Creek is a significant waterway), and has a population of 81,292 (Census Bureau). Redwood City is surrounded by Highway 101 (west), Highway 84 (east), San Carlos (North), and Menlo Park (South). In the United States House of Representatives, Redwood City is represented by Eric Swalwell. The top employers in Redwood City are Oracle, Stanford University, Permanente Medical Group., GoFundMe and Electronic Arts.

    Caltrain has its Redwood City Station at Sequoia Station, and SamTrans provides a bus service. The new station, if it is needed, could be shifted one block north, and Redwood City is coordinating station design with Caltrain’s business plan and potential local development. Like Newark, Redwood City plans to coordinate long-term development projects with Caltrain, potential rail stations, and high-speed rail. How this shapes up will depend entirely on how the Dumbarton Corridor Project moves forward.

• North Fair Oaks

  • North Fair Oaks is a small unincorporated area of San Mateo County, bordering Redwood City and Menlo Park. It has a population of 14,027 and a total square mile area of 1.200, all of it land (Census Bureau). In 1923, Menlo Park tried to incorporate the residential area of Fair Oaks, but in the end, a portion of Fair Oaks decided to join the nearby town of Atherton. The remaining portion of Fair Oaks remained as North Fair Oaks and is now an unincorporated community. A Caltrain station will likely be added in this area, as the Dumbarton Corridor runs through the area.

• Alameda County

  • Alameda County was founded in March of 1835 from parts of Contra Costa and Santa Clara Counties, with the county seat located in Alvarado (Union City). While the county center was in San Leandro, it was destroyed by a massive earthquake in 1868. As a result of the earthquake, the town center was moved to Brooklyn in 1872. In 1873, Oakland annexed Brooklyn, becoming the county seat of Alameda County. Alameda County’s past closely follows much of the history of the other counties and cities. The original inhabitants were Ohlone Indians who saw their tribal lands taken away by the Spanish and Mexican ranchers and explorers. Today, Alameda is part of the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkley Metropolitan Statistical Area and the San Francisco-San Jose-Oakland California Combined Statistics Area. Alameda County has a population of over one and a half million. The Dumbarton Corridor’s eastern end is located in Alameda County.

Transportation Public Sector

These transportation agencies have the experience and knowledge needed to advise the project partners on the transportation-related aspects of the project.

• Caltrain

  • Caltrain, headquartered in San Carlos and owned by the Peninsula Corridor Joint Power Board (JPBX), is a commuter service train that Operates between San Francisco and San Jose. Service along the Peninsula dates back to the 1890s and the San Francisco-San Jose Railroad. Due to competition from the car and declining ridership, in 1977, the Southern Pacific Railroad petitioned the California Public Utility Service to allow the abandonment of passenger service. In 1977 Assembly Bill 1853 authorized the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to subsidize passenger service operations calling the new passenger service Caltrain (Hoppins, 2020). In 1987, the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board was formed, and in 1991 they bought the rail line from Southern Pacific Railroad. The Powers Board took over passenger operations from Caltrans, adopting the name of Caltrain. Caltrain provides the trains and maintains the infrastructure, while the crews come from an outside agency (originally Amtrak, now Transit Services America) (Hoppins, 2020).  Funding for Caltrain comes from the agencies that sit on the powers board: VTA, MUNI, and SamTrans. If these agencies face financial shortfalls, they cannot give Caltrain as much funding. Caltrain often has to resort to service cuts, price increases, and sales taxes to deal with the financial shortfalls they continually face. The pandemic hit Caltrain especially hard, dropping their ridership numbers by 95%, translating into a monthly loss of nine million dollars. Sale taxes and taxes were floated to help keep Caltrain in operation, along with significant service cuts: baby bullet trains were discontinued, and they dropped daily service from 90 trains a day to 42. Sixty-five thousand people riding Caltrain daily dropped to 12,200 (Levin, 2020).  By the end of 2021, Caltrain increased the number of trains to a record high of 104 trains a day.  Caltrain is also in the process of a system-wide and region-wide long-term plans:

    1.     Electrification from San Jose to San Francisco (in progress)

    2.     Potential Rail Service provider for service to Salinas. Amtrak has also been in the running for this role. Currently, Caltrain is favored as the service provider (in progress).

    3.     Dumbarton Corridor Service (planned and delayed)

    4.     Service linking their San Francisco 4th and King stations to the Sales Force Tower (planned)

• Altamont Corridor Express

  • Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) was created in 1995 by San Joaquin County and several other cities to form the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission to oversee rail service (ACE). The Altamont Corridor Express, Joint Powers Board, governs ACE. The Joint Powers Board was created by the following agencies in 1997: San Joaquin Regional Rail Authority, Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority, and Alameda County Congestion Management. ACE is funded by state and federal money, sales tax revenue collected from all three counties, and transit ticket sales. They currently pay Union Pacific Railroad approximately 1.5 million dollars annually to operate on their tracks (ACE)

    Service began on October 19th, 1998, and in 2023, ACE now has four trains that run from Stockton to San Jose in the mornings, with reverse service in the evenings.72 July 1st, 2015, the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority took over operations of the Amtrak San Joaquin trains from Caltrans. Altamont Commuter Expresses long-term plans to extend to Modesto, Merced, Sacramento, and electrification. They also plan on a BART connection in Union City, which could connect to future Caltrain service, should the Dumbarton Corridor be rebuilt.

• Amtrak

  • Amtrak (America Trak), or National Railroad Passenger Corporation, provides long-hail intercity railroad service in the United States and parts of Canada (Vancouver, Ontario, Quebec) (Amtrak Guide).  Before Amtrak’s founding in 1971, passenger service was provided by various railroads, including the freight railroads: Southern Pacific, Union Pacific, and Burlington Northern Santa Fe. However, the freight companies wanted out of passenger service, as it was not making them enough revenue, and they were facing stiff competition from busses, cars, and planes (Solomon, 2004). Amtrak was created to take over passenger operations. In October 1970, Congress and President Nixon passed the Rail Passenger Service Act, which made the National Railroad Passenger Corporation. Before operations began, the operating name was changed to Amtrak. Amtrak has over 500 destinations, in 46 states, with more than 300 trains a day. They operate on over 21,400 miles of track, mostly owned by private railroad companies. Amtrak owns approximately 650 miles of track. The Capital Corridor, for example, operates between Auburn and San Jose on Union Pacific-owned track. Amtrak and its Capital Corridor service would connect to Dumbarton Service in Fremont or Newark. Capital Corridor is operated by the Capital Corridor Joint Powers Authority (comprised of 2 elected representatives from the eight counties they serve). Its day-to-day management falls to the Bay Area Rapid Transit District.

• Bay Area Rapid Transit

  • In 1950 traffic studies showed that a high-speed rail system linking most of the San Francisco Bay Area would greatly help to alleviate traffic, and in 1957, The Bay Area Rapid Transit district was formed. In 1962, San Mateo County pulled out of the BART district because they did not want to pay taxes to support a system that would benefit Santa Clara more than San Mateo. San Mateo County also felt that BART service would be too expensive to acquire and would conflict with the rail service already provided by Southern Pacific Railroad. This pull-out weakened the BART District’s Tax base, and Marin could no longer afford their share of the new projected costs, so they were removed from the BART District (BART). The BART San Francisco International Airport (SFO) extension opened in 2003, Warm Springs opened on March 25th, 2015, and the Berryessa extension began operations on June 13th, 2020. The BART Warm Springs extension experienced a significant funding shortfall when the SFO Extension did not generate the hundreds of millions needed to keep the extension going. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission redirected hundreds of millions of dollars from the Dumbarton Project to the BART Warm Spring Extension. BART currently has 108,000 riders daily and approximately 26 million riders annually. These numbers reflect pandemic ridership numbers and will likely slowly grow in the coming years.

    Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) operates six routes on 131 miles of track on the right of way of former railroads (BART System Facts:

    1.     The Orange Line: Berryessa to Richmond.

    2.     The Blue Line: Dublin to Daily City.

    3.     The Yellow Line: Antioch to Millbrae (light rail diesel trains from Pittsburg/Baypoint to Antioch) & SFO.

    4.     Beige: Oakland Coliseum to Oakland Airport

    5.     The Red Line: Richmond to Millbrae & SFO.

    6.     The Green Line: Berryessa to Daily City.

    The Orange and Green lines partly operate on the Western Pacific right of way between Oakland and Berryessa. The Yellow operates on Sacramento Northern’s right of way between Rockridge and Pittsburg/Bay Point. Between Oakland and Millbrae, BART (Blue, Yellow, Red, and Green lines) operate along the Southern Pacific’s right of way with the Daly City-Millbrae portion of the right of way originally belonging to the San Francisco-San Jose Railroad (before the Southern Pacific bought them out. The Orange and Red lines, between MacArthur and Richmond, operate on Santa Fe’s right of way.

• Union Pacific Railroad

  • Union Pacific’s Rail line started in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and connected to the Central Pacific Railroad in Promontory Point, Utah. Much of the railroad was built with the help of Irish laborers, and construction was finished after the Civil War ended. The Union Pacific Railroad grew by buying out smaller railroads and building spurs to logging camps and mining towns (Union Pacific Railroad). Today, the Union Pacific Railroad has 32,200 miles of track in 23 western states and is one of two railroads to serve the entire western USA, the other being the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad (Union Pacific Railroad).  Union Pacific operates freight along the Peninsula Corridor between South San Francisco and Santa Clara. They will have the final say on any Caltrain service between Newark Junction and Hayward.

• Metropolitan Transportation Commission

  • The California State Legislature created the Metropolitan Transportation Commission in 1970 to provide and plan a cohesive San Francisco Bay Area transportation system. Today, they are also involved in housing and development. San Francisco has 101 Cities and nine counties, each with unique transportation and housing needs (Metropolitan Transportation Commission).78 The MTC provides planning, funding, coordination, and tech assistance to cities, counties, and planning agencies. They aim to provide everyone with an equitable transportation system to improve our lives. They have distributed over one billion dollars a year to transit agencies. In the early 2000s, they redirected much of the Dumbarton Funds to BART Warm Springs, setting the project back decades. The MTC also oversees the Bay Area Toll Authority, which oversees the seven state-owned bridges (Metropolitan Transportation Commission).

• Alameda County Transportation Commission

  • The Alameda Metropolitan Transportation Commission is a joint powers authority that plans, funds and delivers transportation programs and projects that expand access and improve mobility in Alameda County. A Joint Powers Authority is an entity where two or more public authorities, such as transportation districts and local governments, combine their powers and resources to work on common problems, such as the administration of a transportation network. Alameda Metropolitan Transportation Commission is overseen by 22 elected officials representing each of the 14 cities in Alameda County, five county boards of supervisors, one person from AC Transit, and one from Bart. The job of the MTC is to represent the interests of the people in Alameda in transportation-related topics, such as expanded rail access or improved bus service (Alameda County Transportation Commission).

• California Department of Transportation

  • Caltrans is part of the California State Transportation Agency (CSTA). The CSTA is a cabinet-level agency that oversees transportation-related development. They were created when the Housing, Transportation, and Business Department underwent a massive overhaul ordered by then-Governor Jerry Brown in 2013. They are made up of several agencies (State California Technology Agency):

    1.     Board of Pilots commissioners

    2.     California Highway Patrol

    3.     California Transportation Commission

    4.     Department of Motor Vehicles

    5.     Department of Transportation (Caltrans)

    6.     California Highspeed Rail Authority

    7.     New Motor Vehicle Board

    8.     Office of Traffic Safety

    Caltrans was formed in 1895 when Governor James Budd signed a law that created the Bureau of Highways. There were no highways in 1864, and roads were left to the local municipalities to deal with. California found that this system could not keep up with the growing population. In 1896, the Department of Highways replaced the Bureau of Highways. In the 1980s, Caltrans started subsidizing Southern Pacific’s Commuter Service until the Joint Peninsula Powers Board (Caltrain) was created to take over operations of the commuter service (Statute and Amendments to the Code, 1977). The Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is an executive department of the California State Government that manages the state's highway system and helps to support public transportation systems. They provide funding and oversight for Amtraks California’s routes: Capital Corridor, Pacific Surfliners, and San Joaquin.

Elected Officials

Elected officials are politicians that are elected to the state or government. They are responsible for attempting to get legislation approved to fund the Dumbarton Corridor or getting voter support for a sales tax measure that would help fund the Dumbarton Corridor. These politicians were or are currently representing areas of the San Francisco Bay Area that the Dumbarton Rail Corridor runs through.

• San Mateo County Executive’s Office

  • Mike Callagy heads the San Mateo County Executive’s Office. They are responsible for the day-to-day operations of the San Mateo County Government and carry out the vision and policies of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors. The Executives Office completes its mission through several divisions (County Executive’s Office):

    ·       Clerk of the Board: Publishes the Board of Supervisors Agenda.

    ·       Budget, Policy, and Performance: Aims to ensure the financial success of the county by leading the budgetary process and guiding the county’s goals and policies.

    ·       Community Affairs: Connects the Community to the County Departments.

    ·       Intergovernmental and Public Affairs: Manages the Sacramento and Washington,

    D.C. legislative programs.

    ·       Project Development: Provides construction services for new capital construction projects.

    ·       News and Public Information: Delivers information and news to the public and the media.

    ·       Arts and Culture: They oversee the County’s Strategic Arts and Culture Plans.

    ·       Real Estate and Property: They Manage the County’s Leased Space.

• Carole Groom

  • Carole Groom is the District 2 Board of Supervisors representative. She was elected to the Board in June 2010 and served as the Board President in 2011 and 2015 (Carole Groom). Carole Groom served a year on the San Mateo City Council, with two terms as mayor and on the San Mateo Planning and Public Works. 2012 California State Assembly Speaker John Perez appointed Carole Groom to the California Coastal Commission. Her priorities range from expanded access to preschools, expanded healthcare, economic growth, environmental preservation, and the protection/expansion of County Parks (Carole Groom). 

• Warren Slocum

  • Warren Slocum, elected in 2013, is the District 4 Supervisor for the County of San Mateo. District 4 covers Redwood City, East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Bell Haven, and Northern Fair Oaks.85 These are all cities involved in the Dumbarton Project. His priorities are to work with people from every part of the community: faith-based businesses, youth, renters and homeowners, schools, and non-profit agencies. He focuses on equity, social progress, affordable housing, eliminating homelessness, and reducing traffic congestion (Warren Slocum).

• Mark Berman

  • Mark Berman is the 24th Assembly District representative that includes areas of the counties of San Mateo (East Palo Alto and Menlo Park) and Santa Clara (Palo Alto). He worked for Anna Eshoo’s office as an analyst for the U.S. Department of Judicial Civil Rights. Before his appointment to the California Assembly, he was on the City Council of Palo Alto. Some of his experience involves work with Violence Against Women and asylum seekers from the Republic of the Congo (Mark Berman). Many cities and counties he represents include parts of the Dumbarton Rail Corridor.

• Kevin Mullen

  • Kevin Mullen served San Mateo County for over a decade as a South San Francisco City Council Member and in the state assembly. He represented the 22nd District (California State Assembly), encompassing the San Francisco Peninsula area. Since 2013 he has had over 60 bills turned into law, including a vote by mail. Now, Kevin Mullen serves in the United States House of Representatives as a representative of the 15th District of California. The 15th district encompasses parts of the East Bay, including Newark and Fremont. One of his goals is to ensure public transportation is given a chance to electrify, similar to Caltrain’s electrification (Kevin Mullen).  

• Anna Eshoo

  • In 1988, while Anna Eshoo served on the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, she ran as the 12th district representative in Congress but lost to Tom Cambell. Four years later, Tom Cambell ran for senate, and Anna Eshoo won the election to replace Tom Cambell as the 12th District Representative. The 12th District would eventually become the 14th District before becoming the 18th in 2013. She is the only Assyrian American and one of two Armenian Americans in the House of Representatives.  She supported Biden’s American Job Plan that could create millions of jobs, fund numerous infrastructure projects, and revitalize urban infrastructure. The 18th district comprises Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, and San Mateo Counties (Anna Eshoo).

• Jackie Speier

  • Jackie Speier is an American lawyer and Democratic politician who represented the 22nd District when she was in the U.S. House of Representatives. The 22nd District was the northern two-thirds of San Mateo County and a small portion of San Francisco. In 1978, she was Leo Ryan’s aide when he was assassinated during the Jonestown Massacre, where she was shot. Ms. Speier ran and was elected to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors in the 1980s. However, she was not eligible to run again after her fourth election. Instead, she ran for California State Assembly. While in the state assembly, she secured over 125 million dollars for Caltrain’s Baby Bullet expansion. In February 2000, she introduced a bill that would have helped to generate over 96 million dollars for the Dumbarton Bridge and given ACE access to the Peninsula.92 However, ACE did not back her legislation as they did not feel it provided them with money for operations and rolling stock. In 2008 she took over Representative Tom Lantos’s position during a special election.  On January 3rd, 2023, Kevin Mullen will officially replace Jackie Speier in the U.S. House of Representatives when the 118th Congress is sworn in (Jackie Speier).

Other

These stakeholders were not listed under a specific group in the Dumbarton Meeting Notes, so they were placed under the “Other Category.” They might have had a role in the project before leaving (Facebook) or have regulatory/administrative functions such as the California Public Utility Commission and the Federal Railroad Administration.

• Facebook

  • Facebook initially started as Face Mash on October 28th, 2003. Six months later, on February 4th, 2004, they changed their name to Facebook. The original founding members were Mark Zuckerberg and other Harvard students, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Chris Hughes, and Dustin Moskovitz (Meta Report). When Facebook started, it was limited to just Harvard students, but by 2006, anyone over 13 years old with a valid email could sign up for an account. By 2011, Facebook had over 600 million users; as of 2023, there are almost 3 billion users. In 2011, Facebook moved its Headquarters to Menlo Park. Facebook has two sets of buildings, one located on the bay side of Highway 84 and a second, newer building next to the Dumbarton Rail Line. Facebook employees who traveled along the 84 corridors would often get stuck in commute traffic even with Facebook’s employee bus program. Eventually, in 2016, Facebook decided they wanted to look at revitalizing the Dumbarton Rail Line to provide better transportation options. They were offering approximately one billion dollars for the review and construction phases of the project. Facebook partnered with Plenary Group to form a Cross Bay Transit Partners development company (Shlaes, 2020). When the COVID-19 pandemic led to emergency shelter-in-place orders being issued, Facebook moved to a work-from-home model. These two things led to a dramatic drop in transit ridership numbers and low commute traffic, so Facebook decided to pull out of the project.

• Santa Clara County

  • Santa Clara is California’s 6th most populated county, with a population of nearly two million (Census Bureau).  Home to Silicon Valley, Santa Clara has the world's third-highest gross domestic product (GDP) and is now the most affluent county in the United States. Santa Clara was named after Mission Santa Clara, established by the Spanish and European Explorers that took over the land from the Ohlone Indians. Formed in 1850, when California became a state, Santa Clara is one of the oldest counties. Several technology companies are headquartered in Santa Clara: AMD, Nvidia, Cisco, Apple, eBay, Google, and Yahoo. Santa Clara County is served by VTA light rail and busses, along with Caltrain (partly funded by VTA, BART, and Muni), Amtrak, and ACE at the Santa Clara station, with a BART connection possible in the future (the Berryessa to Santa Clara Extension) (Council, 2019). 

• Union City

  • Incorporated in 1959, Union City combined the communities of Alvarado and Decoto and has 70,000 residents (Union City). Along with Fremont and Newark, Union City makes up the Tri-Cities area in Alameda County. The area's first inhabitants were called the “Costanoans” by the Spanish Explorers and missionaries. Burial Sites and archeological artifacts can still be found in Union City. Along with Fremont and Newark, Union City was home to the original transcontinental rail line. Union City is served by AC Transit and Dumbarton Express (a bus route linking the Peninsula to the East Bay), BART, and Union City Transit (a bus that links Union City and Hayward) (Union City). Union City is in the position to see an intermodal transit station connecting Bart and Caltrain, should Caltrain get trackage rights from Union Pacific Railroad. Union City is interested in joining transit services and planning developments around transit stations.

• Hayward

  • Hayward has a population of 162,954 and is the third largest city in Alameda (34th largest in California) (Census Bureau). Hayward is 64 square miles, with 45.77 square miles of land and 18.29 square miles of water (Census.gov). Similar to the history of the San Francisco Bay Area, the Ohlone Indians inhabited the areas of Hayward before the 19th Century. In 1841, Guillermo Castro acquired a large plot of land where Hayward is now located, and once the gold rush started, William Dutton Hayward bought a portion of that land and started a hotel. Hayward became a major agricultural town served by the South Pacific Coast Railroad, a narrow-gauge railroad from Oakland to Santa Cruz, producing tomatoes, potatoes, peaches, and cherries. The South Pacific Coast Railroad was formed to quickly transport the growers' produce to the markets as an alternative to the Southern Pacific Railroad. Today Hayward, Ca, is served by BART, Amtrak, and AC Transit.  Should Caltrain successfully negotiate trackage rights on Union Pacific’s railroad tracks from Fremont, Hayward could be the final stop on Caltrain’s east bay route.

• California Public Utility Commission

  • The California Office of the transportation commissioner created the first version of the California Public Utilities Commission on April 1st, 1878, to regulate railroad prices (PUC History). At the time, the Southern Pacific Railroad was becoming extremely powerful, and the public was concerned. The Southern Pacific eventually used the commission to its advantage because it dominated local and state politics. The public was quickly outraged at this leading to the creation of the Board of Railroad Commissioners through the California Constitution. Other utilities would slowly be placed under the jurisdiction of the Commission. In 1945, the California Legislature amended the Constitution to turn the Board of Railroad Commissioners into the California Public Utility Commission (California Constitution).  The Public Utility Code is the highest law in the state, and the Public Utility Commission has unlimited authority to regulate any public utility. The Public Utility Commission regulates privately owned public utilities such as electrical power, natural gas, and telecommunication. They also regulate common carriers such as household goods movers, passenger transportation, and rail crossing safety. The CPUC is not involved in the construction of the rail line; instead, they get involved after passenger service begins. The CPUC’s responsibilities include the following (Rail Safety Division):

    1.     Rail Crossing Safety: CPUC has exclusive jurisdiction over all rail crossings in California. The CPUC inspects existing crossings (sometimes with the Federal Railroad Administration) and reviews proposed intersections.

    2.     Railroad Safety: The CPUC’s federally certified inspectors ensure railroads comply with all laws and safety regulations.

• East Palo Alto

  • East Palo Alto has a population of 30,000 people and an area of 2.64 square miles, .12 of that area is water (Census Bureau Quick Facts). It sits halfway between San Jose and San Francisco, in San Mateo Country, and was incorporated in July 1983. East Palo Alto sits North of the City of Palo Alto and is often thought to be part of Palo Alto, even though it is a different city. East Palo Alto has several major employers, such as Amazon, Ikea, Target, and the 4 Seasons Hotel. These significant employers have started to eliminate the economic disparities that have and continue to plague East Palo Alto. They were started in the 1950s due to discriminatory planning practices such as redlining and deed restrictions based on race (Russo). Redlining was when planners drew red lines around areas of a city they felt should not be focused on. These areas of color were often marginalized, ignored, or not invested in. The Dumbarton Corridor rail line sits just outside East Palo Alto’s city limits, but they want to see a station built near University Avenue.

• Federal Railroad Administration

  • The Headquarters of the FRA is in Washington DC, and the San Francisco Bay Area’s field office is in Sacramento (Federal Railroad Administration). They were formed on April 1st, 1967, by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. The Federal Railroad Administration enforces railroad-related regulations and assists and conducts research and development for railroad safety (Federal Railroad Administration). The FRA oversees freight and passenger rail connected to the nationwide rail network, such as Caltrain and Amtrak. The FRA does not regulate closed rail systems like VTA and Bart. The Federal Railroad Administration has its fleet of rail vehicles, such as the: DOTX-18 Gage Restraint Measurement Vehicle and the DOTX-220 Track Geometry car that inspects railroad tracks.

Resource Agency

A resource agency is a state or federal agency that has an administrative role over areas such as navigation (United States Coast Guard), flood control (Army Corps of Engineers), fish and wildlife (Fish and Wildlife Service), water resources (Water Resource Control Board), or cultural/historical maintenance, and preservation (State Office of Historic Preservation).

Note: Each of the permits listed here falls under the stages section of this report and website, but they have been listed here under the appropriate resource agencies.

• National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries)

  • The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) started in 1871 as the “United States Fish Commission when President Grant named zoologist Spencer Baird, National Museum Director, as the first commissioner.” NMFS is the oldest conservation and environmental research agency in the United States (Hobart, 1995). The Commission had three research categories: 1) studying the waters, fish, and biological problems, 2) studying past and present fishing methods, and 3) trade statistics and the propagation of food fishes throughout the nation (Hobart, 1995). In 1903, U.S. Fish Customs became the Bureau of Fisheries, and in 1939 it was transferred to the Department of the Interior. One year later, the Bureau of Fisheries merged with the Bureau of Biological Surveys to become the Fish and Wildlife Service (United States Code). 1956 brought on the department's current name, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. This reorganization split the service into two components: the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries and the Bureau of Sports Fisheries and Wildlife. The Department of Commercial Fisheries focuses on commercial fisheries, whales, sea lions, and seals. The Bureau of Sports Fisheries dealt with migratory birds, wildlife refuge, game management, and sports fishing (United States Code).

    President Nixon would transfer the Commercial Fisheries branch from the Fish and Wildlife Service to the Department of Commerce, which would then be renamed the National Marine Fisheries Service. It is under the control of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), also part of the Department of Commerce known as NOAA Fisheries. They aim to protect national marine resources by conserving and managing fisheries to promote sustainability and prevent lost economic potential associated with overfishing and habitat degradation. They do this by working with government agencies in the USA and foreign governments to address illegal and unregulated fishing. Any fishing vessels caught illegally fishing could lose access to U.S. ports. NMFS also inspects and certifies seafood for domestic consumption and exportation (Department of State).  NMFS’s regulation is one of the largest in the United States. Hundreds of regulations are enacted yearly and can target anything from fishery conservation, marine mammal protection, habitat protection, endangered species, and fisheries. These regulations are published in the Federal Register. The National Marine Fisheries Service’s involvement in the Dumbarton Project comes in the form of a resource agency. They have several permits that need to be applied, such as the Endangered Species Act – Biological Opinion, Section 7 consultation, Essential Fish Habitat Consent, Incident Harassment Authorization, or Letter of Authorization.

• Endangered Species Act: Section 7 Consultation/Biological Option

  • The Endangered Species Act is the United States' primary law that protects endangered or critically imperiled species from extinction. The Endangered Species Act was needed to ensure the safety and protection of endangered animals that could be affected by economic growth. The Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries administer the Endangered Species Act (Endangered Species Act). The Fish and Wildlife Service deals with land-based animals and freshwater fish species, while NOAA Fisheries' responsibility is marine species. The need for a conservation law arose due to the near extinction of the bison, the Passenger Pidgeon (which went extinct in 1914), and the whooping crane (Endangered Species Act). The first version of this federal law was called the Lacy Act, which regulated commercial animal markets. In 1966 Congress passed the Endangered Species Preservation Act to give the Fish and Wildlife Service the power to start conservation and protection measures. The 93rd United States Congress repealed and replaced the Endangered Species Preservation Act with the Endangered Species Act, which President Nixon signed on December 28th, 1973. The Endangered Species Act comprises multiple sections, with Section 7: Consultation and Biological Option about the Dumbarton Corridor.

    Section 7.1 requires lead agencies, federal agencies, and developers to work together to conserve endangered species. Section 7.2 requires the lead agency to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries if an endangered species exist within the project area (Endangered Species Act). If it is deemed that there are little to no impacts, then the project moves forward. If it is deemed that there is a significant impact on endangered species, then a biological assessment must be prepared. The Biological review outlines the potential effects, the species, and conservation measures. Usually, the US FWS or NOAA Fisheries will visit the site to study which endangered species are present. The Biological Assessment ends with one of three options:

    1.     No Effect: No adverse effects on the endangered species or their habitat. The Assessment is closed, and the project continues.

    2.     Likely no effects: Negligible effects on the endangered species. The Biological assessment is concluded, and the project continues.

    3.     Adverse effects: There could be harmful effects on the endangered species or their habitats. Adverse Effects trigger a formal consultation. A formal consultation is triggered when the lead agency or developer and either of the two federal agencies disagree with the Biological Assessment findings.

    A formal consultation is a more detailed study of the project’s effects on the listed species. It will focus on how the project could reduce the species' survivability and recovery (Endangered Species Act). NOAA Fisheries and United States Fish and Wildlife Service look at information such as population sizer, critical habitat, threats the species faces, project effects, why the species was listed on the endangered species list, and current conditions of the species. The formal consultation process can take up to 90 days before a new biological opinion is released. The biological option will say whether the action will likely have minimal effects on the habitat and endangered species or, if there are significant effects, what conservation and mitigation measures are needed to minimize these effects. The biological option has to be written within 45 days of the initiation of the formal consultation process (Endangered Species Act).

• Essential Fish Habitat Consent

  • Any projects that affect essential fish habitats require consultation with National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration Fisheries will need to be consulted. Consultations will be necessary if any federal agency is involved in the project. This could come from funding, authorizing any part of the project, or issuing permits. Consultations with NOAA Fisheries are also required if there will be any adverse effects or alterations on essential fish habitats such as the waters, habitats, fish species, their habitats, or other parts of their ecosystem (NOAA).

• Incident Hazard Authorization or Letter of Authorization

  • Incidental Hazard Authorization (IHA) and Letter of Authorization (LOA) are the two kinds of Incidental Take Authorizations that the National Marine Fisheries Services issues if the project could result in the “taking” of marine mammals. Taking is defined by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration as “to harass, hunt, capture, kill, harm, pursue, shoot, wound, trap, capture or to engage in such behavior of any marine mammals.” This includes the collection of dead animals, detention, tagging, disturbing, molesting, or even the feeding of marine mammals. Incident Hazard Authorization (IHA) is effective for one year and will only result in harassment or potential injury or disturbance of mammals. A Letter of Authorization is required if harassment or severe injury of marine mammals is likely and is effective for up to 5 years.

• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

  • The Army Corps of Engineers was formed on June 16th, 1775, by the Continental Congress, with Colonel Richard Gridley as the first chief engineer (Army Corps of Engineers). Their primary mission during the Revolutionary War was to build fortifications around Boston and Bunker Hill. King Louis XVI secretly sent engineering officers to advise the engineering corps on engineering and building techniques. The original Corps was disbanded in 1783 but was reconstituted by President Washington.

    President Thomas Jefferson established the modern-day Corps of Engineers on March 16th, 1802, through the Military Peace Establishment Act. He wanted the Corps to be stationed at West Point, a military academy with the superintendent being an engineering officer from the Corps of Engineers (Army Corps of Engineers). In 1824, the Corps of Engineers’ mission would begin to change with the General Survey Act, which allowed the Corps to survey roads and canal routes and keep the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers clear of navigational hazards such as sand bars. The Corps of Engineers would again, on July 4th, 1838, evolve into a new entity when the Topographical Engineering Corps was merged into the Corps of Engineers. The Topographical Engineering Corps designed, mapped, and constructed Federal Civil Works Projects. In the 1920s, the Corps of Engineers Became the lead agency for navigational and flood control projects. As a result of the 1927 Mississippi Floods, the Corp’s role in natural disasters grew, and in the 1960’s they added environmental preservation and restoration to their mission set.

    Several of their most notable projects are:

    ·       Washington Monument (1884)

    ·       Panama Canal (1914)

    ·       Manhattan Project (1942-1946) (Army Corps of Engineers). 

    ·       The Pentagon (1943)

    ·       King Khalid Military City (1973-1987) (MIT)

    The Corps of Engineers is Headquartered in Washington, D.C., and comprises several permanent and provisional divisions. Each is composed of multiple districts. The boundaries for these districts are watersheds for civil projects and political boundaries for military projects. The San Francisco Bay Estuary falls within the South Pacific Division, headquartered in San Francisco (MIT).  The United States Army Corps of Engineers is the Engineering Component of the United States Army. They have three core missions: Engineering Projects, Military Regiment, and Civil Works projects, and are overseen by the Commanding General or Chief of Engineers. The Chief of Engineers commands the engineer’s regiment, composed of several specialty units such as combat engineers, rescue teams, and construction and dive units (Army Corps of Engineers). Civil Works projects fall under the command of the Commanding General and the Assistant Secretary of the Army. These civil works projects fall under three categories: navigation, flood and storm damage prevention, and aquatic ecosystem restoration.  The Corps of Engineers has 37,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the largest of all agencies that deal with public engineering, construction management, and design (Army Corps of Engineers).  Their role in the Dumbarton Project is as a resource agency that will approve or deny various permits such as the Joint Aquatic Resources Permit, the Nationwide Section 14 permit, and the Section 10 Permit (Dumbarton Meeting Notes).

• Nationwide 14 Permit

  • The Nationwide 14 Permit is required for any construction, expansion, modification, or

    improvement projects that cross waterways. This includes roadways, highways, railroad lines, trails, and airport runways. The Nationwide 14 Permit also allows for temporary structures or any work needed for these projects. However, all appropriate measures must be taken to ensure that the water flow is not affected and that issues such as flooding and erosion are mitigated.

    Once construction is completed, all temporary structures must be removed, and the affected areas must be returned to their preconstruction states (Army Corps of Engineers).

• Section 10 Permit of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899

  • The Rivers and Harbors Act is one of the oldest environmental laws in the United States. The Rivers and Harbor Act states that discharging any refuge material into any navigable waterway without a permit is a misdemeanor. This particular portion of the act is called the Refuse Act (Army Corps of Engineers). The Rivers and Harbor Act also makes it illegal to excavate, fill or alter the conditions or capacity of any waterway, harbor, or port in any areas covered by the Rivers and Harbors Act (Army Corps of Engineers). Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbor Act prohibits the construction of any structure over a navigable waterway. Section 10 also prohibits the excavation, dredging, or depositing any material in these waterways (Army Corps of Engineers).  SamTrans cannot alter the flow of the San Francisco Bay in any way, shape, or form without the approval of the Corps of Engineers.

• Joint Aquatic Resources Permit

  • The Joint Aquatic Resource Permit is one permit application that includes multiple applications for multiple agencies. The general purpose of JARPA is to help speed up the permitting process by allowing SamTrans to file one application for multiple permits. Once submitted, the permit application gets sent to all of the agencies included in the application. Included in the JARPA application are the following (Army Corps of Engineers):

    ·       San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board: Clean Water Act Section 401.

    ·       United States Army Corps of Engineers: Section 10 Permit

    ·       United States Environmental Protection Agency: Clean Water Act Section 404

    ·       National Marine Fisheries Service: Section 7 Consultation

    ·       United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Section 7 Consultation

    ·       United States Coast Guard: Section 9 Bridge Permits

• Coast Guard

  • On August 4th, 1790, Alexander Hamilton (Secretary of Treasury) and Congress created the Revenue Cutter Service, whose job was to collect customs duties at all United States Ports. The Revenue Cutter Service was under the control of the Department of Treasury. On January 28th, 1915, the Revenue Cutter Service merged with the United States Life Saving Service to become the United States Coast Guard.  In 1939 the United States Lighthouse Service and the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation merged with the United States Coast Guard. In 1967, the Coast Guard was transferred to the Department of Transportation, where it would remain until 2002. When they moved to the Department of Transportation, they assumed the responsibilities of Section 9 permits from the United States Army Corps of Engineers. On November 25th, 2002, President Bush signed the Homeland Security Act, which placed the Coast Guard under the administrative control of the newly created Department of Homeland Security.

     

    The United States Navy assumes administrative control when Congress authorizes a declaration of war or under the direction of the President. While the Coast Guard is a law enforcement agency with the power to arrest people, they also have been deployed in every major conflict the United States has been involved in, dating back to the 1790s. The Coast Guard is one of the six armed services and one of eight uniformed services. There are 44,500 active duty and 700 reserve Coast Guardsmen in the Coast Guard, with 8,577 civilian employees. The Coast Guard also has 250 cutters, patrol ships, buoy tenders, ice breakers, 2000 small boats, and 2000 aircraft and helicopters.

    The Coast Guard has several non-homeland security missions U.S. Code):

    1.     Fisheries Law Enforcement

    2.     Ice Operations and Internal Ice Patrol

    3.     Marine Environmental Protection

    4.     Marine Safety

    5.     Navigational Aid (such as taking care of the navigational buoys)

    6.     Search and Rescue

    They also have several homeland security missions (U.S. Code)

    1.     Defense Readiness

    2.     Maritime Law Enforcement

    3.     Migrant Interdiction

    4.     Coastal Security (including ports, harbors, and waterways)

    5.     Drug Interdiction

    The Dumbarton Bridge falls under the United States Coast Guard’s 11th District in Alameda at Coast Guard Island. The location serves California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. The Coast Guard issues Section 9 Permits, and they assist in the design of the bridges. South of the Dumbarton Bridge, they might need to assist vessels, perform maritime inspections, tend to navigational buoys, or conduct search and rescue. Coast Guard law enforcement teams could need to travel south of the bridge to deal with law enforcement matters, such as drug smugglers. If the situation is extremely dangerous, the Coast Guard could send their Special Operations Law Enforcement Units: The Maritime Security Response Team and Maritime Safety and Security Team, to deal with the issues (Smith, 2019). The Coast Guard has bridge design requirements that ensure adequate clearance for vessels traveling north or south of the bridge safely. The Coast Guard wants to ensure bridge removal or construction does not block, hinder, or create navigational hazards for ships.

• Section 9 Permit of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899.

  • Section 9 is part of the Rivers and Harbor Act, which states that no bridge construction or modification over navigable waterways in the United States can occur with Out the United States Coast Guard’s approval. In the Case of the Dumbarton Bridge, SamTrans needs to get the support of the Coast Guard before they remove the old Dumbarton Rail Bridge and install a new bridge. Section 9 was originally under the jurisdiction of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, but the Department of Transportation Act of 1966 transferred jurisdiction to the Coast Guard (Coast Guard).  The reasoning behind this jurisdictional transfer was that the Corps of Engineers owns many bridges and might have conflicts of interest regarding bridge repairs. Since the United States Coast Guard did not own the bridges, the federal government felt they could be impartial when issuing permits.

• San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission

  • By the 1960s, the San Francisco Bay had decreased from 600 square miles to 400 square miles, and the water was contaminated (BCDC).   People were becoming outraged with the losses of the San Francisco Bay wetlands through filling, landfills, and pollution. Due to public outrage, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission began as a temporary state agency involved in planning long-term uses of the San Francisco Bay on September 17th, 1965 (BCDC). The Bay Conservation and Development Commission became a permanent state agency in 1969.  The California Natura Resources Agency oversees the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. The San Francisco Bay, Conservation and Development Commission issued the 401 Water Quality Certification Permit.

• 401 Water Quality Certification

  • Section 401 of the Water Quality Act regulates wastewater discharge into state waterways and is

    issued to any applicant whose activities could result in the discharge into state waters. The discharge could be wastewater or water containing dredged materials such as dirt, sand, or debris from construction projects (California State Water Resources Control Board).

• San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board

  • The San Regional Water Quality Control Board is one of the regional offices of the California State Water Resources Control Board. Also, they are one of six branches of the California Environmental Protection Agency. They were established in the 1950s as the State Water Pollution Control Board through the Dickey Water Pollution Act. In 1963 they changed their name to the State Water Quality Control Board. In 1967 they again were renamed the State Water Rights Board. 1969’s Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act gave the Water Boards broad duties and enforcement powers to protect California’s Waterways. The Porter-Cologne Act was the basis for the Federal Clean Water Act. The State Water Board has regulatory authority over 1,600,000 acres of lakes, 1,300,000 acres of Bay and Estuary, 211,000 rivers and streams, and 1,100 coastlines. The State Water Board allocates the state's water for various uses, such as agriculture, hydroelectric dams, and water supplies. The Water Board also helps with financial assistance for the building and rebuilding water treatment plants and fixing underground tanks. They also help monitor, protect, and restore wetlands when needed. The San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board’s jurisdiction stretches from Tomales Bay to Pescadero Creek, including all rivers that drain into San Francisco Bay except the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. They issue the 401 Water Quality Certification Permits.

    Section 401 of the Water Quality Act
    See the above 401 Water Quality Control Act (San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission) for the definition.

• State Historic Preservation Office

  • The State Office of Historic Preservation was formed in 1953 as the Historical Section of the Division of Beaches and Parks, now known as the California State Parks Department. The Office of Historic Preservation’s mission is to provide leadership and promote preserving California’s Historical and Cultural heritage. To do this, the preservation office partners with local, state, federal, and tribal agencies to protect resources and carry out mandated public and administrative e programs under state and federal historic preservation laws. The Office of Historical Preservation has several responsibilities, including identifying and evaluating historic properties to ensure compliance with federal and state laws such as CEQA and NEPA through a section 106 Review of the National Historic Preservation Act (Office of Historic Preservation).

• National Historic Preservation Act

  • The National Historic Preservation Act is a federal law enacted by the 89th Congress and became law on October 15th, 1966. The National Historic Preservation Act aims to protect historical and archaeological sites in the United States (National Historic Preservation Act).  The National Historic Preservation Act also led to the creation of the National Register of Historic Places, a list of National Historic Landmarks, and created the State Historic Preservation Office. The National Historic Preservation Act requires federal agencies to evaluate any impacts of federally funded or permitted projects on historical land or properties. This evaluation process is known as a Section 106 Consultation.

• Section 106 Consultation

  • Section 106 Consultation requires the lead agency to seek ways to avoid, mitigate, or minimize adverse effects on historical items, property, or land. The Consultation process is accomplished in 4 steps:

    1.     Imitation of the Section 106 Review

    2.     Identification of Historic Properties

    3.     Assessment of Adverse Effects

    4.     Resolution of adverse effects.

    If it is deemed that there are no adverse effects or no historic property, then the Section 106 consultation is closed. If it is thought there are adverse effects on the historic property. The lead agency, SamTrans, or consulting agency needs to work with the State Historic Preservation Office to find ways to mitigate or avert the adverse effects (Advisory Council on Historic Preservation).

• Environmental Protection Agency

  • President Nixon, on July 9th, 1970, proposed an independent government agency tasked with protecting the environment, consolidating all governmental environmental responsibilities. The Environmental Protection Agency became operational on December 2nd, 1970.  The Environmental Protection Agency has many enforcement powers, such as issuing fines and citations. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the EPA has 14,581 employees from over ten regional offices and 27 laboratories (EPA). The EPA conducts environmental assessments, research, and education and is responsible for maintaining and enforcing national standards under various federal environmental laws. While they have many responsibilities regarding the Dumbarton Corridor, they oversee anything relating to the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act Section 309 Consultation; they review all Environmental Impact Statements (EPA).

• Clean Water Act

  • Water Conservation laws started in 1948 with the Federal Water Pollution Control Act but were revised in 1972 by the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendment to become the Clean Water Act (Keiser, 2019). President Nixon vetoed the Clean Water Act, but Congress overruled that veto.  The Clean Water Act is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency, which works with state governments to implement various regulations regarding clean water. The United States Army Corps of Engineers oversees the rules relating to dredging and filling. Clean Water Act is the United States' primary law that deals with water pollution. Since 1972, over one trillion dollars has been invested in pollution abatement programs to restore and maintain our waterways and water supplies' chemical, physical, and biological components (EPA).  Polluted waters can cause various health issues such as constipation, colon cancer, male fertility, and Parkinson's. The Clean Water Act was ambitious for its time, attempting to make all waters both fishable and swimmable by 1983, and It went on to try to reduce all pollution discharge to zero by 1985. The Clean Water Act covers all navigable waterways, and as the waters surrounding the Dumbarton are considered navigable, the project falls under the clean water act (Keiser, 2019).

• Clean Air Act: Section 309 Consultation

  • The Clean Air Act is the United States' primary Air Quality Law intended to reduce and control air pollution and is administered by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Since the industrial revolutions, the world has seen increasing air pollution due to factories and coal burning in the United States and Europe (Greenbaum, 2018). Smog sent thousands of people to the hospital with respiratory diseases, and the death rate increased. In 1948, smog killed 20 people and caused respiratory issues for 6,000 in Donora, Pennsylvania. These issues eventually led to the British Clean air act in 1956 and the United States Pollution Control Act of 1955 (Greenbaum, 2018). States started passing air quality laws, and Congress began looking at potential legislation that could be passed. At the time, the United States Bureau of Mining began to look at smoke abatement for coal burning, while the Bureau of Public Health became increasingly concerned with lung problems (Oxford, 2021). Congress passed the Air pollution control act, giving over three million dollars yearly, for five years, to the Public Health Service for air pollution research programs. Congress, in 1963, expanded the air pollution control laws to the entire United States. The hopes were that this would speed up the elimination of air pollution (EPA). In 1970, anti-pollution programs got transferred from the Public Health Service to the Environmental Protection Agency. The Clean Air Act was the first federal legislation that allowed the United States Government to take direct action to try to control climate change and has led to a 73% decrease in particulate matter, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur oxides, and lead. This has been accomplished while the United States has seen a 250% increase in gross domestic product. Part of the Clean Air Act is a Section 309 consultation. Section 309 requires the Environmental Protection Agency to review all draft Environmental Impact Statements. The Environmental Protection Agency also is required to make these reviews public (EPA).

• State Lands Commission

  • The State Lands Commission was established in 1948 to manage over 4 million tidal lands, along with the beds of rivers, lakes, bays, estuaries, straights, and streams. The commission issues a lease for use or development on or near these lands, ensuring that these lands stay protected along with providing safe public access. The State Lands Commission also protects state waters from invasive species (State Lands Commission).

• State Lands Lease Agreement

  • A Lands Lease Agreement would allow SamTrans and the developers to rent vacant land from the state for any purposes (California State Lands Commission Leases). Some land use examples are storing construction material, equipment, temporary rail spurs, permanent railroad tracks, and rail maintenance facilities.

• United States Fish and Wildlife Service

  • The original Fish and Wildlife Commission was started in 1871 by Congress, called The United States Commission on Fish and Fisheries (United States Fish Commission), to protect against the decline in fish food stocks (Fish and Wildlife Service). 1903 the commission became the Bureau of Fisheries under the Department of Commerce and Labor administration. The Bureau of Fisheries remained with the Department of Commerce when, in 1913, the Department of Commerce and Labor split up. The Bureau of Fisheries focused on fishery science but would gain other roles, such as enforcing regulations for seal hunting (Fish and Wildlife Service). In 1940, the Bureau of Fisheries merged with the Bureau of Biological Surveys (formerly the Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammology) to become the Fish and Wildlife Service. The Fish and Wildlife Service split its operations into the Bureau of Sports Fisheries and Wildlife and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. Commercial Fisheries merged the Sport Fisheries and Wildlife saltwater laboratories to become the National Marine Fisheries Service, a component of NOAA. The remaining Bureau of Sports Fisheries and Wildlife departments continued as the Fish and Wildlife Service.

    The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is part of the Department of the Interior and manages fishes, wildlife, and natural habitats. Their mission is to work with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and habitats for the benefit of the public (Fish and Wildlife Service).  Fish and Wildlife does this by enforcing federal wildlife laws, protecting endangered species, managing migratory bird species, restoring fisheries, and restoring and conserving wildlife habitats. The Headquarters of the Fish and Wildlife Service is in Falls Church, Virginia, with eight regional offices and over 700 field offices. The Fish and Wildlife Service manages approximately 560 refuge systems, including Don Edwards. These refuge systems include all kinds of habitats: wetlands, prairies, coastal and marine areas, tundra, and boreal forests.

• Endangered Species Act: Section 7 Consultation/Biological Option

  • See National Marine Fisheries Service Endangered Species Act Section 7 consultation for this definition.

• Encroachment Permit

  • The Fish and Wildlife Service and Don Edwards National wildlife refuge issue an encroachment permit. This permit authorizes the lead agency (SamTrans) to conduct construction maintenance or any other construction work on any linear, fixed, or temporary structure in or near either agency's land.

• Depredation Permit.

  • The Fish and Wildlife Service and Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge also issue a depredation permit. According to various local, state, and federal regulations, a Depredation Permit allows the killing certain birds and animals to protect crops, livestock, and domestic animals. In this case, SamTrans would need to either apply for the permit outright or conduct a study to see if applying for the permit would be warranted. A few examples of a depredation permit are:

    1.     The Federal Government allows farmers to shoot migratory birds on farmland.167

    2.     California allows farmers to shoot bears, bobcats, and beavers.

    3.     National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration allowed 400 Stellar and California sea lions to be killed in Oregon because they decimated the fish population.

• Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge

  • Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge, headquartered in Fremont, is under the administrative control of the United States Fish and Wildlife. It was established in 1974 as the first urban wildlife refuge to protect and preserve wildlife, habitat, migratory birds, and endangered species while providing recreational activity and biodiversity education space (Wayback Machine, 2013). Much of the complex stretches from Dumbarton (north) to Alviso (south) in Alameda Country, but there is a small part of the Refuge in San Mateo County at Bair Island. As of 2004, the refuge has over 30,000 acres of various habitats, such as salt ponds, marshes, and vernal pools.  Cargill Salt manages nine thousand acres of land for salt-making purposes.124 These salt ponds concentrate the brine required for their salt making, eventually used for food, industrial and medicinal uses. Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge is an essential stop on the Pacific Flyway, providing habitat for millions of birds. The Refuge also provides critical habitat for animals such as the Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse and the California Clapper Rail.125 Don Edwards fully supports rebuilding a Dumbarton Rail line and is even interested in seeing a pedestrian-use bike bath built as part of a bridge that links to all their trails. Since the rail corridor is on and near land owned by Don Edwards, they are responsible for issuing encroachment permits.

• Encroachment Permit

  • Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge is governed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the owner of lands within 300 feet of the Dumbarton rail line. As a result, they need to approve the encroachment permits (see the definition under United States Fish and Wildlife Service).