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BAECCC-Affiliated Projects
One mechanism BAECCC uses to achieve its goals is fostering collaboration among BAECCC participants who are conducting projects relevant to the impacts of climate change on Bay Area ecosystems. Such projects, called “BAECCC-Affiliated Projects,” are featured in this section of the website.
More information about BAECCC affiliation, including how your project can become affiliated with BAECCC, is available here. The California Landscape Conservation Cooperative, a key partner with BAECCC, is funding several of the projects listed below.
CASCaDE: Computational Assessments of Scenarios of Change for the Delta Ecosystem
CASCaDE is a model-based project developed by the USGS that is applying our scientific understanding to develop a holistic view of the Bay-Delta-River-Watershed system. CASCaDE I developed a set of linked models to assess Delta ecosystem response to climate change. CASCaDE II will refine and extend those modeling capabilities to assess Delta ecosystem response to changes in climate and physical configuration. With a new state-of-the-art hydrodynamic and sediment model at its core, CASCaDE II will link models ofclimate, hydrology, hydrodynamics, sediment, geomorphology, phytoplankton, bivalves, contaminants, marsh accretion, and fish.
The tools developed will provide an objective basis for anticipating and diagnosing Delta ecosystem responses to planned and unplanned changes. Experiments using the linked models are designed to address questions such as: How will climate change, together with new conveyance structures or increased flooded island habitat, alter water flow and drinking water quality? With projected changes in residence time, turbidity, temperature, and salinity, how will primary productivity, invasive bivalves, marsh processes, contaminant dynamics, and fish populations respond?
Determining Climate Change Indicators for the North-Central California Coast
This two-year postdoctoral research project is part of the Postdocs Applying Climate Expertise (PACE) Fellowship program. Dr. Benét Duncan, who is based at the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary Ocean Climate Center, is working to develop a set of linked environmental and biological climate change indicators for the north-central California coast, extending from Bodega Head to Año Nuevo. The indicators will be integrated into a collaborative monitoring plan to help track and address the effects of climate change on the region. This first-of-its-kind effort within the National Marine Sanctuary System will produce a regionally-specific set of indicators to ultimately help inform management decisions. In Phase I of the project, a comprehensive review of existing published and unpublished literature, indicator reports, and monitoring plans will provide the foundation for defining a clear selection process and indicator selection criteria. Phase II is focused on determining the environmental and biological climate change indicators. Workshops with regional experts, numerical computer modeling, and data analysis will maximize confidence in the chosen indicators. In Phase III, the final climate change indicators will be described in two reports that are tailored for management and peer-reviewed journals, respectively. Phase IV will utilize a working group to define regional monitoring goals, and to incorporate the climate change indicators into a comprehensive monitoring plan for the north-central California coast.
Sea-Level Rise Modeling Across the California Salt Marsh Gradient for Resource Managers: Evaluation of Methodology
This project, conducted by the USGS, uses bottom-up modeling at a parcel scale to measure the effects of sea-level rise on coastal ecosystems and tidal salt marshes. At selected tidal marshes within the California LCC, the project team will measure several parameters, including: 1) detailed elevation data; 2) inundation frequency and microclimate; 3) sediment supply; 4) plants and 5) vertebrates. These will be incorporated into ArcGIS models creating comparable datasets across the Pacific coast tidal gradient. The goal of this project is to provide science support tools for local adaptation planning from the bottom-up that may be implemented under a structured decision-making framework.
A Broad-Scale, Multi-Species Monitoring Protocol to Assess Wintering Shorebird Population Trends in Response to Future Land Use and Climate Change
Shorebird populations in the Pacific Flyway have experienced recent declines due to environmental changes including habitat loss and degradation. The impacts of climate change will add even more pressures. PRBO Conservation Science, along with partners, is developing a broad-scale monitoring program to detect trends and quantify habitat relationships for Pacific Flyway shorebird populations, the Pacific Flyway Shorebird Survey (PFSS). The PFSS has the primary goals of: (1) developing an efficient, sustainable yet statistically robust sampling design and monitoring protocol for the Pacific Flyway; (2) establishing a framework to capture, manage, analyze, and share these monitoring data; and (3) understanding critical associations between habitat management, habitat change, and spatial scale on the abundance of shorebirds. Our project will provide baseline data and ongoing evaluation of wintering shorebird trends and habitat use to update management recommendations and inform conservation actions in response to current and future land-use and climate-related changes.
The San Francisco Bay Area Conservation Commons
The San Francisco Bay Area Conservation Commons is an effort dedicated to making environmental information more accessible and useful for conservation of our region's natural resources. The goal of this project is to establish a common interface for finding, using, and communicating about San Francisco Bay Area environmental data. Services and shared data produced by this effort will support environmental conservation, research, and education. Recently the Commons effort received funding from the California Landscape Conservation Cooperative (CA-LCC) to build the Climate Adaptation Commons, a climate data sharing site that will serve the CA-LCC region.
Innovative Wetland Adaptation Techniques in Lower Corte Madera Watershed
This project is one of the first efforts along the San Francisco Bay shoreline examining how to reduce the vulnerability of tidal wetlands to sea level rise. Results from this project are expected to improve understanding of (1) the flood control and wave attenuation benefits of tidal wetlands, (2) the vulnerability of tidal wetlands to sea level rise, and (3) potential strategies that will improve the resiliency of tidal wetlands to sea level rise so that the flood control and wave attenuation benefits are maintained. The study, which is being managed by BCDC, is being performed along the Corte Madera shoreline in Marin County by researchers from the USGS, University of San Francisco and private consultants, in partnership with the Marin County Flood Control District.
How Do We Monitor the Ecological Consequences of Environmental Change? Developing an Environmental Change Network in the California LCC: Phase II
This project continues the effort to establish an Environmental Change Network (ECN) within the boundaries of the California Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC). An ECN is an integrated, multidisciplinary network of long-term environmental monitoring stations that gather information using standardized protocols. Users of this web portal can view predicted distributional changes in landbird, habitat, and climate under future climate conditions and find out general information on the progress and evolution of the network. The goal of the LCC ECN is to guide and prioritize conservation activities that benefit biodiversity while conserving ecosystems and ecosystem services.
San Francisco Bay Sea Level Rise: Climate Change Scenarios for Tidal Marsh Habitats
This on-line decision support tool for managers, planners, conservation practitioners, and scientists shows side-by-side maps of current and future tidal marsh distribution for SF Bay. Developed as part of an assessment of future extent and quality of tidal marsh habitats, it allows users to select climate change scenarios, sediment supply assumptions, and data layers. A new project funded by the Landscape Conservation Collaborative of the US Fish and Wildlife Service will allow improvements to this on-line tool to support the Baylands Habitat Goals Report Update.
Sustaining Healthy Ecosystems in the Face of Sea Level Rise: Ensuring the Baylands Ecosystem Habitat Goals Report Continues to Inform Acquisition, Restoration, and Management of the Region's Baylands
The Baylands Ecosystem Habitat Goals Report was produced in 1999 by the San Francisco Bay Area Wetlands Ecosystem Goals Project, a coalition of public agency, private and non-profit partners that included numerous current BAECCC partners. The 2011-2013 technical update to the Goals Report will incorporate an improved understanding of the processes affecting bay habitats resulting from climate change. The main goal of this project is to assure that the technical update uses the latest information about the current and future status of San Francisco Bay tidal marsh ecosystems, particularly in the context of sea-level rise. PRBO Conservation Science's (PRBO) work to describe the state of the Bay's tidal marsh habitats and their futures under the range of possible sea-level rise, sediment, salinity and organic materials scenarios has yielded many results of high relevance to the Goals Report. The main product of this project will be an improved version of PRBO's Sea Level Rise Tool, specifically upgraded to inform the Goals Report technical update.
Our Coast–Our Future: Planning for Sea Level Rise and Storm Hazards Along the Bay Area's Outer Coast
With a changing climate, the North-central California coast faces challenges from sea level rise, increased storm frequency and intensity, and coastal erosion. The project goal is to provide Bay Area natural resource managers, local governments and others with science-based, decision-support tools to plan for and respond to sea level rise and storm hazards along the region's outer coast.
Adapting to Rising Tides: Bay Area Communities Working Together
The bay is rising and this is projected to continue. In fact, today's flood is expected to be the future's high tide. Areas that currently flood every ten to twenty years during extreme weather and tides will begin to flood regularly. These areas are home to over 160,000 residents, critical infrastructure, diverse habitats, and valuable community resources.