Rivers in the Bay and The Once and Future Delta

In the first article, I was surprised to read that most of the bay is shallower that 18 feet, even though we discussed this previously in class. I was also surprised that the prehistoric bay would, in fact, be a small creek due to the Ice Age rather than a larger body of water as some other sources suggested. This article really gave a sense of how ever-changing the environment of the San Francisco Bay is, and that although it seems like the current version of our bay is permanent, it will surely change over time as it has in the past. My question is how will it change? How will this change impact our environment?

The second article painted a very clear image of an abundant and ecologically rich ancient environment. It is amazing that this environment still serves as an incredible resource for those who live in it-hundreds and hundreds of years later, in some completely different ways than it used to. It also shows clearly how negatively industrialization and the introduction of technology impacted this ultra-rich delta. It is too bad that people couldn't recognize the value of the ecological systems already in place in the delta and the resources that they could provide without human interference. It is also incredible how quickly the delta changed in terms of tidal patterns, water intake and output, and general environment in a relatively short amount of time. I wonder if there is any way we can go backwards and at least somewhat return the delta to something that resembles more closely the ancient, ecologically rich area it once was.