Endangered Alameda terns get a secure home
By Richard Bangert
Alameda’s nesting colony of endangered California Least Terns has a new government landlord – and a secure home for the future.
After years of negotiations, the U.S. Navy transferred 624 acres of its former airfield at Alameda Point to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on Monday, November 3.
The transfer includes the former airstrip that was adopted by Least Terns for nesting in the 1970s and that has become the most productive breeding site in California for that species. More than 500 acres – including the area used by the terns – will be preserved as a wildlife reserve.
Golden Gate Bird Alliance and its Friends of the Alameda Wildlife Reserve committee have advocated for decades to protect the terns, whose total population as a species stood at only about 600 pairs in the mid-1970s.
GGBA Executive Director Cindy Margulis congratulated the VA on the transfer and said she looked forward to working together on wildlife protection.
“Locating this state-of-the-art care facility next to this vital permanent wildlife sanctuary containing endangered species calls for all of us to be creative, resourceful, and cooperative,” Margulis said. “This site evokes the spirit of America the Beautiful and should be a very special place for those who serve our country and also steward its natural resources.”
Navy Property Caretaker Doug Delong; US FWS site manager Susan Euing; Leora Feeney from GGBA/Friends of the Alameda Wildlife Reserve; and VA project manager Larry Janes in the Alameda Theater lobby following the Alameda Point transfer ceremony on November 3. / Photo by Richard Bangert
GGBA volunteers clean and prepare the tarmac nesting site for the terns’ arrival in 2009
Tern feeding chick next to shelter / Photo by Richard Bangert
The VA plans to construct an outpatient clinic that includes ambulatory surgical care, an office to assist veterans in obtaining benefits, and a national cemetery. The design phase of the $208 million project is expected to be completed in the spring of 2015, with subsequent phases dependent upon Congressional budget authorizations.
Kimberly Ostrowski, the Navy’s keynote speaker at the transfer ceremony, noted that the project faced significant hurdles over the past decade — one of which was the proximity of the VA facilities to the terns’ nesting site. That ultimately led to moving the clinic further away from the nesting area. Master of Ceremonies Dr. Ronald Chun, manager of the Oakland VA clinic, acknowledged the terns’ partnership in the VA’s future by bringing a model of a Least Tern to the podium.…