Session Coordinators: Dane Behrens, ESA,  and Jim Robins, Alnus Ecological

 

Coastal lagoons are a vital part of the California coastline, acting as links in the sediment supply chain that form sandy beaches along the shoreline, and as critical habitat for native species. Because of their location, they are frontlines for climate change impacts from both the coastal side (sea-level rise) and from the upstream side (increased runoff variability). Climate change is anticipated to create extensive change to the long-term function and fate of these systems. At the same time, the historical backdrop includes a host of legacy impacts to the hydrograph and sediment supply, as well as development encroachment within the floodplain. While this is the reality for most of coastal California, there is a particular urgency in central California, where a small number of coastal lagoon systems have disproportionate importance as homes for threatened and endangered species, such as the California Central Coast Steelhead, California Central Coast coho salmon, and tidewater goby.

This session will showcase novel approaches for restoration, monitoring, and long-term management that are being developed in central California. Speakers will include: restoration practitioners that will highlight recent efforts to improve habitats and add long-term resilience to climate change, local fisheries biologists that will discuss recent advances in monitoring methods and how they are being implemented in the field local resource agency staff that will discuss how long-term planning approaches are evolving to meet the challenge of climate change. This session will integrate with site tours of local sites, including Scotts Creek and Pescadero.