Advocates for a restoration plan for Chicken Ranch Beach have been stymied by a mix of legal issues, complexity resulting from multiple property owners and county reluctance for many years. But Tom Gaman, chair of the Tomales Bay Watershed Council, said last week there is now reason for hope: Dennis Rodoni, the new supervisor for District 4. “He has expressed quite an interest in this,” Mr. Gaman said at the outset of a tour of the beach last week, in Inverness. Numerous environmentalists and interested residents, a hydrologist and a representative from the California Coastal Conservancy reviewed the history of past efforts and discussed how to now best approach the project. In 2013, the watershed council released a suite of alternatives for the restoration. Among other things, the alternatives considered redirecting creek flows, improving marsh habitat, removing invasive plants and filling Channel B, one of two channels that cuts across the beach during high tides. Channel B has surfaced as a particular area of concern for some residents: it routinely exceeds state fecal coliform standards for human contact. But in 2015, after the county paid for DNA testing that ruled out the presence of coliform from human waste, representatives for the county said they would not pursue work in the area, particularly given ongoing and expensive efforts for the restoration of Bolinas Lagoon. The county also said that any project at Chicken Ranch would be expensive, perhaps $700,000. But Supervisor Rodoni’s new leadership has potentially brought a new opportunity. “I am looking forward to working with Inverness Association, County Parks, other groups, and agencies to reinvigorate the discussions about restoration opportunities at Chicken Ranch Beach,” Mr. Rodoni wrote in an email. Attendees at last Wednesday’s tour discussed how to pare down the project to make funding it more feasible. Inverness resident and environmentalist Gordon Bennett argued that the project had “gotten way out of control” in terms of its breadth; competition for funding makes a major restoration highly unlikely, he said. Conversations turned to a tentative idea for a project focused specifically on Channel B and creating new wetlands on a parcel at the back of the beach, which is fenced off and owned by the State Lands Commission. But considering the multiple landowners involved, the project still won’t be a piece of cake. “Don’t fool yourself that it won’t be a challenge,” the coastal conservancy representative said.