Water Board Policy Update: Wetlands and Climate Change Mike Filipoff, CA King Tides Project Christina Toms Ecological Engineer and Senior Environmental Scientist SF Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board Climate Change Threats • More frequent and severe droughts and floods • Sea level rise • Coastal flooding, overtopping, erosion • Higher groundwater tables • Drowning of tidal marshes Photo: Christina Toms 2 Bothin Marsh, Mill Valley What the Water Board Is Doing 1. Collaborating with partners 2. Planning and permitting projects 3. Supporting the Adaptation Atlas 4. Amending our Basin Plan Photo: CA King Tides Project 3 Arrowhead Marsh, Oakland SF Bay Basin Plan • Defines beneficial uses of wetlands & waters • Assigns water quality objectives • Describes implementation plans & policies • Chapter 4.23: Wetland Protection & Management Photo: Sabrina Brennan 4 Oyster Point, South San Francisco Key Beneficial Uses of San Francisco Baylands + Shorelines • Estuarine habitats – mudflats, tidal fresh, brackish, and salt marshes • Habitat for wildlife, including rare and special- status species • Recreation, commercial fisheries, shellfish harvesting Graphics: Baylands Goals 2015 5 Recommendations from the Baylands Goals Update and the Adaptation Atlas • Restore complete baylands ecosystems • Improve delivery of water and sediment to the Bay • Utilize natural and nature- based infrastructure to provide multi-benefit protection from rising sea levels Graphic: Baylands Goals 2015 6 Key Water Board Authorities • Placement of fill in wetlands and waters • Dredging and beneficial reuse • Nearshore discharge of treated wastewater Graphic: Christina Toms 7 CA Wetlands Conservation Policy • “No Net Loss” • Ensures no overall net loss and a long-term net gain in wetlands acreage, functions, and values • Emphasizes regional restoration goals, planning, and strategies Photo: Christina Toms 8 Hill Slough, Suisun Marsh The Complete Tidal Marsh • Important habitats above the high tide line (HTL) The Complete Marsh: extends below and above the tides Not our typical jurisdiction ~HTL Graphic: BEHGU 9 Features Above the High Tide Line Shell Beach, Foster City Sears Point, Sonoma County Muzzi Marsh, Corte Madera marsh mound Photos: Christina Toms, Peter Baye 10 Watershed→Bay Reconnection • Work with nature to move sediment from flood control channels into subsided baylands Graphics: SFEI-ASC, SCVWD, SBSP Dredging and Beneficial Reuse of Sediment Hamilton Wetland Restoration Novato Creek Dredge and Thin-Lift Placement Photos: Roger Leventhal, Google Earth Strategic Sediment Placement • Hydraulic application of clean dredged sediment to raise marsh plain elevations Graphic: USACE, Stantec, SFEI Beneficial Reuse of Treated Wastewater • Horizontal levees, treatment wetlands Graphic: Oro Loma SD Photo: Christina Toms Proposed Basin Plan Amendment San Pedro Road, China Camp State Park 15 Key Regulatory Opportunities 1. Document threats that climate change poses to Bay habitats and beneficial uses 2. Identify benefits of “complete” baylands 3. Identify preferred strategies for SLR adaptation: Baylands Goals, Adaptation Atlas Photo: CA King Tides Project 16 Crown Beach, Alameda Key Regulatory Opportunities 4. Clarify how we will apply “No Net Loss” for • Horizontal and ecotone levees • Living shorelines, beaches, dunes, and nature- based (hybrid green-grey) infrastructure • Strategic/thin-lift sediment placement • Enhanced high tide refugia in marshes Photo: Christina Toms 17 China Camp Marsh, San Rafael Key Regulatory Opportunities 5. Clarify acceptable wetland type conversions 6. Incentivize landward alignments of shoreline protection, movement of natural shorelines 7. Develop framework to address temporal and spatial tradeoffs and uncertainties 8. Address indirect and cumulative impacts Photo: Christina Toms 18 Sonoma Baylands Key Regulatory Opportunities 9. Minimize shoreline hardening 10.Evaluate mitigation on a regional basis 11.Support regional tidal wetland monitoring Photo: CA King Tides Project 19 San Francisco Embarcadero Basin Plan Amendment: Next Steps • Climate change + wetlands policy staff report: http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/sanfranciscobay/wa ter_issues/programs/climate_change/ • 2020-2021: Develop Basin Plan Amendment • Staff writing + review, stakeholder engagement, CEQA, Board adoption, sign-off by EPA and CA Office of Administrative Law Photo: Erik Grijalva 20 Amtrak Capitol Corridor, Suisun Questions? [email protected] 21 Photo: CA King Tides Project Alviso Marina County Park.