Save The Bay began enlisting volunteers in 2000 to restore transition-zone habitat along the shoreline, benefiting endangered wildlife, enhancing ecosystem health and protecting communities from rising tides The program has grown from modest beginnings to work on more than 10 sites owned by the national wildlife refuge, local park districts and other partners, and involving thousands of community volunteers annually. We remove invasive non-native plants and trash, tend to seedlings in multiple native plant nurseries, and plant natives along the shoreline to support a suite of wetland habitats.
More than helping our habitat restoration efforts, the volunteer programs bring together community members who are making a tangible difference in our region. Volunteers nourish the land, the organization, and themselves while stewarding habitats that support wildlife, clean air and water, and healthy people.
For the 25th anniversary of Save The Bay’s volunteer program, we will be highlighting superstar volunteers throughout the year! This By The Bay we would like you to meet dedicated volunteers Steven Russell, Mary Lee, and Dianne Neal.
In Memoriam: Steven Russell
We’re honored to celebrate the life of Steven Russell, dedicated Save The Bay volunteer and beloved friend to many in our community. Steven had been engaged with Save The Bay since 2007, volunteering with Habitat Restoration Team (HRT) at our restoration sites and during events like Bay Day. He was loved by staff, new and seasoned alike, for always being helpful, welcoming and deferential to staff decision making, despite having a longer tenure and greater knowledge about our work than most Save The Bay staff!
He was incredibly warm with a dry sense of humor, and a joy to spend field days with. We looked forward to hearing stories of his life outside of us, which included world travel in a past corporate life, his leadership in the Brain Support Network, and the innumerable ways he volunteered his time to his community and the people in his life. Steven was a deeply kind and generous person, and we miss him very much. We will think of him when we see especially spectacular murmurations at Eden Landing Ecological Preserve and remember how much he loved spending time on the edge of the Bay.
Volunteer Spotlight: Mary Lee
I grew up in San Francisco where I spent a lot of my childhood at Ocean Beach and Golden Gate Park. I remember being in awe of seeing a Red-tailed Hawk when I was on an elementary or middle school fieldtrip and seeing my first city coyote when I was a teenager. I’ve loved animals, especially dogs, since I was a child so I knew I wanted to work with animals in some capacity. When I finally went to Humboldt State University (now Cal Poly Humboldt) for Wildlife Management & Conservation, I learned about wildlife research and how to apply it to wildlife conservation, and I haven’t looked back since.
My exposure to habitat restoration started in 2017 when I became a regular volunteer with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy in the Presidio National Park. Since then, I’ve actively looked for more ecological restoration-based activities, including working for CA State Parks and Save The Bay. After a winter of contributing to the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project, I returned to aid in wetland restoration and to maintain relationships with employees and super volunteers.
Volunteering with Save The Bay is as rewarding as it can be physically demanding. It fills me with a sense of accomplishment to know that I’ve contributed directly to restoration work while also connecting with the community. It also feels uplifting to know that Save The Bay trusts me enough to work independently and with responsibilities that employees are tasked with.
I am inspired by seeing the returning wildlife, most notably the shorebirds and wading birds, to the restored wetlands. Knowing that I am doing my part, giving back, motivates me to continue coming out. With my regular job monitoring federally listed shorebirds, a big source of inspiration is the annual plover meeting where I can reconnect with people from across the recovery units and see the collective work we have been putting towards the conservation of a species.
What excites me about the future of ecological restoration are the continued and compounding positive effects of our efforts. Restoring wetlands benefits the community in combating sea level rise, but wildlife numbers have also greatly increased because they have forage and refuge again. In my professional work, I’m excited about new tools and methods that are used to aid in wildlife conservation and seeing how their applications would take shape when incorporated into plover conservation.
Volunteer Spotlight: Dianne Neal
After graduating, I worked seasonally in Yosemite and up in Oregon. I did many different jobs, but I finally decided to go back to school — as many of us nature lovers do. I became an elementary school teacher and for 22 years, I wove environmental education into every subject I taught. I would take my kids on lots of field trips, and I wanted them to understand science at an experiential level.
Now, as a volunteer, I feel like I’ve come full circle. Back then, I was the one receiving knowledge and inspiration from naturalists. Today, I’m on the other side. I feel like it’s a time for me to give back something that I gained during those years. To be one of the ones imparting information on a different level.
It’s so imperative, with climate change and with sea level rise, to hold up the banner and to be a beacon of light. Oftentimes people think they can’t make a difference. And I think that showing the communities around the Bay that they can is going to be so important in the future.
When people ask what I do for my volunteer work, I always say “I save the Bay.” And I do it because I really believe in this work.
We can’t wait share volunteer stories with you each By The Bay this year and celebrate the remarkable individuals helping protect and restore San Francisco Bay. If you’d like to become a volunteer, sign up on our calendar.
