"Over the last 150 years, approximately 90% of the tidal marshes that fringed San Francisco Bay have been destroyed as a result of progressive diking and filling for agricultural, salt pond, and commercial development. Within the last three decades, however, there has been a dramatic change in public attitudes towards wetlands. They are now valued as uniquely productive natural resources and public policy now seeks not only to protect existing marshes, but also to restore former marshes as functioning wetland ecosystems."

Design Guidelines for Tidal Wetland Restoration in San Francisco Bay was created for use by restoration scientists and management agencies through a partnership of The Bay Institute, Philip Williams & Associates, Ltd., Phyllis M. Faber, and the California State Coastal Conservancy, which funded the development of the document. The handbook presents an analysis of data collected over 15 years at several tidal wetland restoration sites and one natural site in order to help optimize the design of new restoration projects.