Belmont Slough
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| Belmont Slough | |
|---|---|
 Satellite view of Foster City / Brewer Island, which is separated from the mainland by Seal Slough (to the west) and Belmont Slough (to the east/south). The Redwood Shores peninsula is just visible in the southeast corner, with Steinberger Slough separating it from Bair Island. | |
   | |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • coordinates | 37°33′15″N 122°14′40″W / 37.5541020°N 122.2444110°W[1] |
Belmont Slough is a slough on the western shore of San Francisco Bay[2] separating Redwood Shores and Foster City.[3] It provides estuarine and marine deepwater habitats in its subtidal waters, which are characterized as brackish and saltwater.
The head of the slough is in Belmont, California, just east of U.S. Route 101, slightly north of the exit for Ralston Avenue / Marine Parkway. The slough takes a winding course generally northeast from there, passing to the north of the Redwood Shores Oracle campus (completed in 1989, formerly Marine World/Africa USA)[4] and south of Port Royal Park in Foster City. From there, the slough turns almost directly north, then east, then north again, and finally northeast as it enters the tidal exchange zone with the San Francisco Bay, an area characterized by shallow mudflats.
Both the Foster City and Redwood Shores shorelines of Belmont Slough are protected by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife as the 268-acre (108 ha) Redwood Shores Ecological Reserve, which is northwest of the adjacent Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge and Bair Island Ecological Reserve.[5]
History
In the early 1900s the slough was considered the best place to hunt ducks in San Mateo County, with the birds so plentiful, hunters could sneak up on them.[6]
Foster City established the slough as a nature preserve in 1973.[7] The main route of the San Francisco Bay Trail runs along the perimeter of Foster City, including the western border along Belmont Slough.[8] The city maintains several spur trails off the Bay Trail along the western shore of Belmont Slough, including trails that lead to a beach area and the Foster City sign, visible from aircraft landing at nearby San Francisco International Airport. The intake structure for the Foster City Lagoon, which provides flood control and recreational opportunities for the city, is at the western end of Angelo Slough; Angelo Slough is a stub waterway connected to Belmont Slough running east–west, just north of Bat Ray Island.[9]: 10, 20
The California State Lands Commission acquired the shoreline areas along Belmont Slough in an exchange with Mobil Oil Corporation in 1976.[5]
