About the State of Our Estuary

State of Our Estuary uses the best available scientific information on clean water, healthy ecosystems, and thriving communities to assess the health of the San Francisco Bay and Delta

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Aerial view of the San Joaquin River and Hog Island. California Department of Water Resources.

Our Approach

Recognizing the Estuary’s importance, state and regional government agencies have developed common goals to improve its health. The State of Our Estuary shows progress toward these goals by summarizing the status and trends for 24 indicators grouped into five categories representing ecosystem health: Clean Water, Quality Habitat, Resilient Processes, Flourishing Wildlife, and Thriving Communities. The indicator pages provide detailed information on the findings, including technical appendices that document the methods and analytical approaches.

Ensuring Information Integrity

The analysis and summaries of the State of Our Estuary are developed by dozens of scientists collaborating with government agencies to synthesize the best available science and communicate it in the most useful way possible for managers and anyone else concerned with the health of the Bay and Delta. The information developed by the Contributing Scientists goes through multiple stages of review by members of the Science Review Team and the Core Team.

View of the downtown San Francisco waterfront. Alex Braud, SFEI.

History of the State of Our Estuary

The names have changed, but scientific assessments of the Estuary’s health have been published regularly since 1992 (see Timeline below). The first iteration was a section of the San Francisco Estuary Partnership’s (Estuary Partnership) first Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan for the Estuary. Soon after, the Bay Institute and partners developed a scorecard that concisely summarized in-depth scientific research on the Bay’s health. The Estuary Partnership adopted the scorecard approach in 2011, and the first standalone State of San Francisco Bay was released. In 2025, the report transitioned to a dynamic website and became the State of Our Estuary.

The effort to develop a consistent, accessible approach to report on the health of the Estuary was paired with work to set regional goals for the conservation and restoration of the Estuary, such as the Estuary Blueprint and Baylands Ecosystem Habitat Goals. The State of Our Estuary helps monitor progress towards those goals.

A Timeline of Science-Informed Management for the San Francisco Estuary

1992

First Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan for the Estuary, including a State of the Estuary chapter, published by the Estuary Partnership

1998

First Pulse of the Estuary on water quality monitoring is published by San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI)

2003

Ecological Scorecard is published by The Bay Institute

2010

Subtidal Habitat Goals Report is published by the California Coastal Conservancy and Ocean Protection Council, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service and Restoration Center, San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, and the San Francisco Estuary Partnership

2015

First State of the Estuary is published

2022

Restoring the Estuary – A Framework for the Restoration of Wetlands and Wildlife in the San Francisco Bay Area is published by San Francisco Bay Joint Venture

1987

Congress establishes the National Estuary Program. The same year, the United States Environmental Protection Agency names San Francisco Estuary an Estuary of National Significance

1996

A “Conceptual Framework for Choosing Indicators of Ecological Integrity: Case Study of the San Francisco Bay–Delta–River System” is published, authored by the Bay Institute, UC Berkeley, and Environmental Defense Fund

1999

First Baylands Ecosystem Habitat Goals is published, representing the work of more than a hundred scientists and managers

2004

Development of Environmental Indicators of the Condition of San Francisco Estuary is prepared for SFEP by SFEI, the Bay Institute, and Center for Ecosystem Management and Restoration

2011

State of San Francisco Bay is published by the San Francisco Estuary Partnership

2019

State of the Estuary update is published

2025

State of Our Estuary debuts online