In spite of its urbanized periphery, Richardson Bay supports extensive eelgrass areas and sizable undisturbed intertidal habitats.

It is a feeding and resting area for a panoply of estuarine and pelagic birds, while its associated marshes and littoral zones support a variety of animal and plant life.

The bay's waters are subject to a "no discharge" rule to protect the elaborate and fragile ecosystems present, including a complex fishery, diverse mollusk populations and even marine mammals such as the harbor seal.

Owing to its lack of depth and complicated channel structure, Richardson Bay is limited in boating uses to kayaking and small sailing craft.

[3] On August 22, 1822, an English whaler, the Orion, put into Yerba Buena Cove in San Francisco for supplies; the captain was William Anthony Richardson, described as tall, fair haired, blue-eyed and young, was sighted by Maria Antonia, daughter of the Commandante of the Presidio of San Francisco, Ygnacio Martinez.

The Tiburon Peninsula on the northeast side of the bay was part of Rancho Corte Madera del Presidio granted to John Thomas Reed in 1834.

[11] Richardson Bay is developed on surficial sediments of clays, silts and minor sands and gravels deposited in a primarily marine and estuarine environment during periods of previous high stands of water relative to the present shoreline.

This section, in turn, overlies shale of the Franciscan Complex, a heterogeneous mixture of sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rock gathered together in the course of the tectonic evolution of the region from the Late Jurassic to the Middle Miocene.

[13] Birds are abundant in Richardson Bay, with over one million migratory visitors each winter, many of whom utilizing the upper mudflats and Bothin Marsh associated with the area west of the U.S. Route 101.

In addition to being designated a high score IBA, Richardson's Bay has been dedicated as a Hemispheric Reserve of the Western Shorebird Network.

A special resident[3] of Bothin Marsh, Blackies' Creek mouth and DeSilva Island is the California clapper rail, a non-migratory endangered species.

Herring spend most of their lives in the open ocean and come to Richardson Bay and other estuaries for winter spawning in the shallow protected waters.

A field survey conducted on a broad mudflat along the Strawberry/Belvedere shoreline found species associated with rocks including: bivalves, (Macoma balthica, Mya arenaria and Mytilus edulis); the sea snail Littorina planaxis; the crab Hemigrapsis oregonensis; the isopod Sphaeroma quoyanum; the barnacles Balanus glandula and Balanus amphitrite; the nemertean Lineus ruber; and the anemones Diadumene leucolena and Haliplanella luciae.

This eelgrass occurrence in Richardson Bay is considered one of the most sizeable stands in Northern California, and it is being restored, leading to further extent of this habitat.

The Audubon Society manages the whole Richardson Bay Sanctuary subject to governance by the Joint Powers Agency of the four peripheral cities.