[CPEO-MEF] Skaggs Island today

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California
SONOMA-INDEX TRIBUNE
Skaggs Island today
By Patricia Henley Assistant News Editor
05/27/03 - (Editor's note: This is the first in a two-part series about
Skaggs Island, looking first at how it is today and then sketching its
probable future.)

A decade after the gates were padlocked at Skaggs Island Naval Base,
planning is finally under way for its next incarnation - as part of the
San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

Although the date when the Navy will transfer ownership is still
uncertain, San Pablo Bay Wildlife Refuge Manager Christy Smith is
working with Caltrans engineers to evaluate the current conditions on
Skaggs Island Naval Base, planning the steps needed to begin restoring
it to a more natural state.

Located just north of Highway 37 at the southern end of the Sonoma
Valley, the 3,300 acres of the former naval base on Skaggs Island today
is a study in contrasts. At one end of the scale, life abounds; the air
is filled with a symphony of birds' songs; lizards warm themselves in
the sun; snakes slither across roadways; and hawks soar overhead, ready
to feed on the plentiful rodent populations.

On the 60 acres that was once the human heart of Skaggs, everything has
been abandoned by its former occupants and is being reclaimed by nature.
A huge fennel plant fills the open bay door of the fire station where
fire engines used to be meticulously maintained by firefighters. A barn
owl swoops and soars through a massive multipurpose room that years ago
teemed with children and adults playing sports or attentively watching
performers on its wooden stage.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.sonomanews.com/articles/2003/05/26/news/topstories/news02.txt

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