Restored wetlands welcome wildlife and protect against future floods in San Francisco Bay Area

GWEN IFILL: Much of our reporting on climate change has focused on the impact it could have on people or on the environment in which they live.

But one area that tends to get less attention is how climate change will affect wildlife. Theres a major habitat restoration project in San Francisco Bay thats trying to address that very issue.

The NewsHours Cat Wise has our report.

RACHEL TERTES, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: So, welcome, everyone, to our first morning of trapping.

CAT WISE: On a recent morning, a small group of volunteers clad in rubber boots gathered at a park on the edge of the San Francisco Bay.

RACHEL TERTES: So when the animal walks in, he sets the trap off.

CAT WISE: Theyd come to help U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials gather traps in a restored tidal marsh to determine if an endangered species, found only in this area of the bay, is making a comeback.

Wildlife biologist Rachel Tertes carefully opened the first trap and out spilled a tiny creature, just what they were hoping to find.

RACHEL TERTES: This cinnamon belly would tell us pretty much right away that this is a salt marsh harvest mouse.

CAT WISE: The endangered harvest salt marsh mouse is, well, pretty cute. Its lost about 90 percent of its habitat due to human development along the bay, and now, according to Tertes, it faces a new threat: climate change.

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Restored wetlands welcome wildlife and protect against future floods in San Francisco Bay Area