Nearshore Linkages
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Timeline MAY 2012 The San Francisco Bay Living Shorelines: 2011 2012 2013 Nearshore Linkages Project Winter Spring Summer Fall Winter Spring Summer Fall Winter Spring Summer Fall Restoration efforts in San Francisco Bay will advance in of native vegetation, natural materials, and reinforcing rock Draft Design Project Summer 2012 as the San Francisco Bay Living Shorelines: or shell for native shellfish settlement enhance habitat Final Design Development Nearshore Linkages Project is implemented. The overarch- values by creating new living space. The techniques also Permitting ing project goal is to analyze subtidal restoration increase connectivity of wetlands and deeper intertidal and Pre-project Monitoring San Rafael techniques and restore critical eelgrass and oyster habitat, subtidal lands while providing a measure of shoreline Bay Project Construction (Phase 1) while learning more about the potential physical benefits protection. The approach has been implemented primarily Post-deployment Monitoring (Phase 1) 2017 of biological reefs along the shoreline. An interdisciplinary on the East and Gulf Coasts, such as in the Chesapeake Pre-project Monitoring team of scientists will test the effectiveness of restoration Bay and along the Alabama-Mississippi coastline. Hayward Project Construction (Phase 1) techniques on subtidal habitat values and begin to evaluate Shoreline Post-deployment Monitoring (Phase 1) 2017 connectivity between submerged areas and adjacent tidal Living Shorelines and Climate Change Project Construction (Phase 2) wetlands and creeks. This type of work is new to San Adaptation Post-deployment Monitoring (Phase 2) 2017 Francisco Bay but will build on the lessons learned from The California Climate Change Adaptation Strategy other restoration efforts in the estuary and around the recommends the use of Living Shorelines as a potential Volunteer Opportunities nation. The pilot project will be conducted in two Contact Us adaptation method to reduce the need for engineered hard We welcome community volunteers to participate in locations: in San Rafael Bay and along the Hayward Project Manager: Marilyn Latta, shoreline protection devices and to provide habitat monitoring activities with the project. Please contact Project shoreline. Through frequent monitoring, information will [email protected], 510-286-4157 functions and values. The State Manager Marilyn Latta if you are interested. be generated about how the project can be scaled up to Science Lead: Katharyn Boyer, Coastal Conservancy Climate balance shoreline protection, environmental impacts, and Change Policy also recommends Literature Cited [email protected], 415-338-3751 habitat needs. 1 - Merkel, K.W. and Associates. 2003. San Francisco Bay eelgrass inventory. Living Shorelines to reduce erosion Submitted to Caltrans and NOAA Fisheries. Photo credits and trap sediment, allowing for 2 - Merkel and Associates, Inc. 2009. San Francisco Bay Eelgrass Atlas. October– .Lorenz & Avelar, www.Lorenz-Avelar.com November 2009. Submitted to California Department of Transportation and National .San Francisco State University, Romberg-Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies What is a Living Shoreline? buffering of tidal wetlands and Marine Fisheries Service. (Wim Kimmerer, Katharyn Boyer’s lab) Living Shoreline projects use a suite of bank stabilization migration of habitats. Both 3 - Merkel and Associates, Inc. 2004. Baywide eelgrass inventory of San Francisco Marin Rod and Gun Club and Berkeley Marina native oyster restoration and habitat restoration techniques to reinforce the shore- policies have a goal of improved Bay: Pre-survey Screening Model and Eelgrass Survey Report. Report to Projects (Robert Abbott, Jerry McEwen, Rena Obernolte) California Department of Transportation. .USGS (Susan de la Cruz) line, minimize coastal erosion, and maintain coastal estuarine habitat resiliency in the .ESA PWA (Doug George) 4 - Barrett, E.M. 1963. The California oyster industry. CDFG Fishery Bulletin 123: processes while protecting, restoring, enhancing, and future to cope with sea level rise 1-103. creating natural habitat for fish and aquatic plants and and other environmental changes 5 - Baker, P. 1995. Review of ecology and fishery of the Olympia oyster, This document was produced for the State Coastal Conservancy wildlife (NOAA Restoration Center). The term “Living related to climate change. Ostrealurida with annotated bibliography. Journal of Shellfish Research, Vol. by ESA PWA, 2012 14, no.2, pp. 501-518 Shorelines” was coined because the approach provides living space for estuarine and coastal organisms. Strategic placement IslaIsla ArenaArena C O N S U L T I N G 12 . Native Oysters Ecological Engineers: Native oysters, by attaching to hard substrates, form beds Permitting Partners that increase living space for many other species, thus Eelgrass and Native Oysters promoting increased diversity and providing food for fishes and other inverte- The State Coastal Conservancy looked to other restoration Eelgrass brates. Historically, efforts for guidance about regulatory overview to bring Eelgrass is a foundation species that support diverse com- native Olympia Living Shorelines to San Francisco Bay. Project managers munities of invertebrates, fishes, and waterfowl and oysters were an provides attachment locations for algae and encrusting abundant and used a Joint Aquatic Resource Permit Application (JARPA) ecologically impor- invertebrates. Eelgrass is the most widely distributed to engage several federal and state agencies simultane- seagrass in the Northern Hemisphere and occurs along the tant part of the fauna Pacific Coast of North America from the Bering Strait to and fishery in West ously. Questions regarding bay fill, impacts to existing 4,5 lower Baja California. An estimated 3,400 km2 of seagrass Coast estuaries . wetlands, interference with navigation, and public access The popularity of the fishery that began in the 1850s and other habitat impacts and notices were addressed during the consultation resulted in the collapse of native oyster populations along process. the West Coast of the U.S. during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The fishery was lost as were the key ecosys- tem services provided by native oysters. The project is being managed by the State Coastal Conser- vancy, in collaboration with funding partners including the Connecting the Pieces: Environmental Protection Agency, San Francisco Estuary San Francisco Bay Partnership, Wildlife Conservation Board, and NOAA Fisheries. Consultants leading the project include San Subtidal Habitat Goals Francisco State University, UC Davis, USGS Western Ecological Research Center, ESA PWA, ENVIRON, and The 2010 San Francisco Bay Subtidal Habitat Goals Report Isla Arena Consulting. have been lost globally between 1879 and 2006, largely due (see www.sfbaysubtidal.org) recommends that the next to human activities. The risk to vital habitat has generated generation of projects consider the possibility of integrating Regulatory agencies for this project include the San much interest in slowing or reversing this trend. In the soft multiple habitat types to improve linkages among habitats Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board sediments of San Francisco Bay, eelgrass provides valuable and promote potential synergistic effects of different habitat ecological services, yet eelgrass beds cover less than 4,000 features on each other as well as associated fauna. In (RWQCB), US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), CA Dept acres, or approximately 1% of submerged land in the bay 1,2. addition, the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project of Fish and Game (DFG), National Marine Fisheries Service Biophysical models estimate that nearly 30,000 acres of includes multiple wetland restoration sites, and project (NMFS), San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development bottom area in San Francisco Bay may be suitable habitat3. leaders have expressed interest in the potential to integrate deeper habitats into the matrix of newly restored areas. Commission (BCDC), and State Lands Commission (SLC). San Francisco Bay Subtidal Habitat Goals for Subtidal-Wetland Design Integration Science Goals Restoration Goals 1. Understand the ecosystem services supported by marsh 1. Explore the integration of upland, intertidal, and subtidal subtidal integration and living shorelines, and in what habitats in San Francisco Bay. quantities. 2. Integrate habitat flexibility to increase resilience in the face of 2. Develop best practices for integrating subtidal restoration long-term change at habitat restoration sites around the bay. with adjacent wetlands. 3. Explore the use of living shoreline projects as a way to 3. Develop best practices for pilot projects to create living achieve multiple benefits in the future. shorelines. 2 11 Potential Impacts Monitoring Living Shorelines in San Francisco Bay The small amount of disturbed habitat and the habitat- Before the project begins, bathymetric surveys are planned promoting nature of the project make it unlikely to adversely to establish baseline conditions. Other pre-project monitor- affect endangered and threatened species. Since the project is ing will include collecting sediment cores to assess benthic While not a new concept, Living Shoreline projects are new located offshore, no adverse impacts are expected for invertebrate species richness and density and observing bird, ^_ to San Francisco Bay, where pilot restoration work on non-aquatic species. Also, by design, recreational use