San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science

China Camp State Park is primarily a forested area with a fringing saline marsh while the Rush Ranch Open Space Preserve has large brackish marshes backed by grass-covered hills. The emphasis of this chapter is on small mammals common to both areas, i.e. endangered salt marsh harvest mice and several rare shrews. Both China Camp and Rush Ranch contain significant stretches of intact marsh–upland ecotone that provide refuge for small mammals during periods of high water. This refuge habitat will become even more important as accelerating sea level rise increases marsh inundation and reduces other available cover. Future efforts to conserve populations of salt marsh harvest mice and shrews around San Francisco Bay should focus on protection and expansion of the marsh–upland ecotone.