Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge protects a vast wetland landscape along the southern San Francisco Bay, including open water, marshes, mudflats, salt ponds, uplands, and vernal pools. Established in 1974 as the nation’s first urban national wildlife refuge, it grew from public resistance to bay fill and later expanded through purchases of former industrial salt ponds. A major restoration effort began in 2004 to return many evaporation ponds to tidal marsh while balancing habitat protection and recreation. On the Pacific Flyway, it supports more than 280 bird species, endangered wildlife, and heavy public use, while also reflecting the South Bay shoreline’s long Indigenous, industrial, and environmental history.