The massive infrastructure project to extend BART through Downtown San José and into Santa Clara is inching closer to getting underway. … The restoration project plans to convert 15,000 acres of former Cargill salt ponds — sold to federal and state wildlife agencies in 2003 — back into marshes, which provide a slew of benefits to the region. … And while Bay restoration projects have often made good use of dirt from other construction and infrastructure projects previously, this is the first time the region has seen the use of what’s known as “tunnel muck” specifically to raise the bottoms of a former salt pond.

Related articles: 

• Mercury News: A unique Bay Area wildlife refuge is beginning to thrive again — but its most fascinating endangered species is still in peril
• Santa Barbara Independent: Santa Barbara Botanic Garden receives $818,000 to transform Cuyama Valley from a dry wasteland to biodiversity hot spot