This area, previously used for agriculture, will now provide important habitat to birds that migrate through here each year. Improvements will include new ponds and restored vegetation – valuable enhancements for waterfowl, shorebirds and other wetland-dependent wildlife.
With the goal of creating future stewards of the planet, the Pacific Flyway Center will give children and students a place not just to learn about this environment, but to explore it, which is how children learn best. There will be interactive bird, plant and wildlife identification apps using electronic technology, dipping ponds where they can gather and examine invertebrates that are vital to the marsh, and nature hikes.
The Walk in the Marsh will offer access for visitors. Stretching almost a mile and taking visitors deep into the wetlands, the Walk will be an extensive series of winding paths with interpretive displays and raised boardwalks featuring viewing hides for bird and wildlife watching.
The vision of Kenneth H. Hofmann a visionary and philanthropist, he was also a San Francisco Bay Area developer, sports teams owner, an avid sportsman and loved the outdoors.
Mr. Hofmann’s dream was to create a world-class conservation and education institution that would inspire and educate for generations. Establishing the Pacific Flyway Center in the Suisun Marsh was part of Mr. Hofmann’s desire to do something great “for the planet!”
Mr. Hofmann’s passion for waterfowl, wetland and wildlife conservation led him to purchase the famed Rancho Esquon in the Sacramento Valley, now a 10,000-acre rice and almond farm. During ownership, he restored a wetland area to a pristine 900 acres. Mr. Hofmann’s passion for youth education brought a heightened awareness to provide services with no financial barriers to those in need. By donating his beloved Rancho Esquon to the Community Youth Center, its operations provide funding for several youth-oriented charities for the financially disadvantaged. Also, through his Hofmann Family Foundation, he developed and funded many other conservation, education and youth-oriented programs.
The Center’s mission is to inspire conservation of the Pacific Flyway. It sits at an ideal interface between human culture and a major, globally significant, natural wetland area. Suisun Marsh comprises approximately 116,000 acres and alone represents over ten percent of California’s remaining natural wetlands. Rarely does a property of this size with such rich wildlife, scenic beauty, natural history and public accessibility become available to showcase nature’s grand display. The marsh is full of prolific wildlife, highlighted by countless migrating waterfowl that had once darkened the skies from horizon to horizon in days gone by.
Suisun Marsh is at the juncture of San Francisco Bay and freshwater Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. It is a collection of some of the most important and delicate wildlife communities in California. The prominent placement of the Pacific Flyway Center on the edge of the marsh, highly visible from a major freeway, will be a permanent reminder to preserve, protect, educate and inspire our visitors to take care of the planet for lifetimes to come.
