Field Trip!

As part of my NOAA Coastal Management Fellowship with the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission's Adapting to Rising Tides program, I am leading the Hayward Resilience Study.  The study has conducted sea level rise vulnerability and risk assessments for two parks, extensive marshes, utility lines and transportation assets along the Hayward, California shoreline.  The entire shoreline area is at low elevation (less than 48" above current mean higher high water) and is vulnerable to sea level rise impacts before 2100.  

Erosive fringing marsh at Hayward Regional Shoreline

After we completed the interviews and research for the vulnerability and risk assessment, we went on a field trip to look at the landscape together and think about connections between different agencies and assets.  Working group members had the opportunity to share their own key vulnerabilities such as eroding marsh fronts, levees with overdue maintenance, and water sensitive electronics within the flood plain.  The field trip helped ART staff and working group members understand which adaptation strategies they can do alone and why, for long term resilience, they need to work together to find a shoreline-wide solution.

Hayward Resilience Study working group members

For more information on my fellowship or the Adapting to Rising Tides Program please visit www.adaptingtorisingtides.org or contact me at maggiew@bcdc.ca.gov