Skaggs Island was once a thriving tidal marsh next to San Pablo Bay.

It is part of the Pacific Flyway for migratory birds and was used extensively by Native Americans until the 1800s, when federal legislation allowed the State of California to fill in wetlands.

Senator John P. Jones, of Nevada, purchased 10,000 acres (40 km2) for development by his brother.

Chinese laborers, freed from railroad building work,[1] were employed to construct levees to control flooding by Sonoma Creek.

[3] On March 31, 2011, Skaggs Island became part of the 13,000-acre (53 km2) San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge, created in 1974 to protect migratory birds, wetland habitat and endangered species.