Guest Blogger: Lisa Owens Viani of the San Francisco Estuary Partnership.
As sea level rises, and the climate changes, how will the San Francisco Bay Estuary and its wetlands, watersheds, and wildlife—including the ever-so-clever, charismatic Martinez beavers—respond? Sea—and Bay and Delta—levels—are predicted to rise as much as four and a half feet by the year 2100. One way of responding to this threat is to make our watersheds more resilient, or better able to withstand change. To do that, we need less hardscape—concrete and pavement—and more green, as in trees, shrubs, reeds, and rushes.
We need to slow, spread, and sink our stormwater runoff (to quote my friend Brock Dolman, of the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center) instead of shooting it straight into the Estuary; by slowing, spreading, and sinking all of that water, we replenish groundwater, reduce flashy runoff and erosion, filter pollutants, and create more resilient, more flexible watersheds. We can daylight creeks (dig up and bring those in pipes back above ground), revegetate the ones in concrete channels, open up and restore creek mouths where they enter the Bay in pipes, restore more wetlands—nature’s “sponges” and buffers against sea level rise—and create many more “green stormwater” projects. Beavers, too, could play a big part in a more resilient landscape, helping to recharge groundwater, slow flashy flood flows and stream bank erosion, and restore habitat for our threatened salmonids.
On September 29-October 1, 2009, the Estuary Partnership will examine some of these questions—and many more issues affecting the Estuary—during its 9th biennial State of the Estuary conference, entitled “Our Actions/Our Estuary.” In addition to keynote speakers from Stanford University, NOAA, and the Pacific Institute who will address climate change, other sessions at the conference will focus specifically on the status of the fish, birds, and other wildlife that use the Estuary, and the status of their habitat. On the second day, watershed restoration activities being promoted by cities surrounding the Bay will be highlighted. Featured cities include San Mateo, Emeryville, Hercules, and San Francisco. Guest speaker Tom Liptan, from Portland, will describe his city’s groundbreaking green stormwater projects, and the Ella Baker Center’s Jakada Imani will talk about how we can put people back to work again around the Bay through green jobs. Time Magazine’s Michael Grunwald gives the keynote address that day, sharing lessons learned in the Everglades.
On the third day, scientists and others will address new contaminants of concern in the Bay, how to retrofit our older urban and suburban landscapes in order to tackle water and air quality concerns, and how to deal with the trash epidemic in the Estuary and Pacific Ocean. We’ll learn about the latest efforts to restore subtidal (beneath the water) habitat in the Bay, and from a variety of environmental groups about how they are engaging local communities and students in their watersheds. Click here for the entire program or to register.
