Hearts & Minds

Residents Chose Different Ways to Respond to Contra Costa Flood Challenges

by | Jun 17, 2026

A man with short hair wearing a blue short sleeve button down speaks to a seated audience while standing at a podium and gesturing to a slideshow that says "Refineries, Sea Level Rise & Community Impact."

Leadership trainee Aashish Khanal. Photo: Richard H. Grant

As the valley heat along a Delta slough broke a sweat on the morning of June 13, about 50 people gathered in the Big Break Visitor Center in Oakley to discuss a cooler climate challenge: flooding. 

At the event, 21 graduates of a six-month shoreline leadership academy proposed different ideas for addressing rising water levels along the Contra Costa County shoreline. Proposals ranged from new sidewalk exhibits in unexpected places to finishing a cleanup of a local Superfund site, a “Love the Earth” coloring book for kids, and a plan to make oyster reef balls out of ceramics rather than concrete. 

“I was blown away by all the different presentations,” said Louis Flores, a community organizer with 350.org, who came to see what his neighbors had come up with to save their shore from the effects of fossil fuel burning and the resulting expanding ocean. “If these people continue down this road, it will be pretty inspirational.”

And continuing down this road is what the organizers are hoping for. 

This 90-mile stretch of Contra Costa shore is home to small towns, big oil refineries and ports, mom & pop marinas, and people in harm’s way. As local and regional governments make plans to protect it from rising sea levels, they need residents to both understand the challenges and be part of the response. That’s why the Bay Conservation and Development Commission and local partners have hosted three shoreline leadership academies since 2021, one in East Oakland, one in San Francisco for high schoolers, and this latest one focused on Contra Costa County. 

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Retiree and participant Sonja Shephard, who lives in Pittsburg, demonstrated sea level rise with a toy boat, a pitcher of water, a bowl, and even a bunch of ice cubes to evoke melting glaciers. Photo: Richard H. Grant

“My daughter has asthma, and we don’t have a history of asthma in our family,” said participant Aashish Khanal, who is worried his home near the Chevron Richmond Refinery may have something to do with it. His proposal urged a stronger commitment to renewables. He cited data projecting that 13 major coastal refineries face a severe threat of flooding with just one meter of sea level rise. “If we delay converting to renewables, there will be a lot more environmental pollution and health care costs.”

Lunch and networking for the new shoreline leaders after their graduation from the academy. Photo: Richard H. Grant

The academy offered 12 learning sessions and eight field trips, and paid participants a modest stipend. 

At the Big Break event on June 13, each of the newly-minted community leaders received a certificate. In addition to continuing to champion their own projects, they will now be invited to participate in more focused planning groups and share what they think is important to protect in their communities, according to Natalie Matias of The Watershed Project. The latter is one of several project partners, including the Contra Costa County Department of Conservation & Development, the local Resource Conservation District, the Delta Stewardship Council, and the Exploratorium. 

“This is now an opportunity to go from the planning phase to the action phase,” said Matias. 

16+ Big Ideas and The People Behind Them 

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Two woman stand at a podium presenting a slideshow on a screen to the right that says "Increasing Access to Shoreline Education Opportunities"
Project: A multi-lingual crash course in shoreline sustainability, relocation, and community health. UC Davis graduates Jasmine Oropeza and Brenda Cruz proposed pairing professionals with students, creating other mentorship opportunities, and researching which languages are spoken most in the county. Photo: Richard H.Grant
A man with curly hair wearing a black short sleeve shirt speaks at a podium with a slide on a screen behind him that says "Harmful Algal Blooms"
Project: Spread the word about harmful algal blooms, a microcosm of larger environmental justice inequities. “There’s no way right now to post signs about HAB dangers in the Delta,” said SNAG activist Andres Mota. “Water connects us all and we cannot continue to stand by and watch it degrade.” Photo: Richard H.Grant
A young Asian woman with large round glasses and dark hair speaks to a crowd, with the backs of some audience members' heads blurred in the foreground.
Project: Shoreline storytelling through community sourced photography. Academy graduate Kristin Tam explored the history of Martinez and shared 27 photos she took with a disposable camera as part of a related Exploratorium project. “The shoreline has brought me a lot of peace, and it’s great to see families out there enjoying time together,” said Tam. Photo: Richard H.Grant
A white man with gray hair and a short gray beard wearing a blue and white Hawaiian shirt stands in front of some chairs and a board with questions about the Delta
Project: Use beneficial fill to build more setback levees and habitat shelfs in the Delta. Bethel Island resident and retiree Tony Berzinas spoke about vulnerable Delta islands with homes right next to levees, and advocated planting in the “toe” of the levee on shelfs so that roots create more stability. “I’d like to see more beneficial fill in the Delta like they have in the Bay,” he said. Photo: Richard H.Grant
A white man with short dark hair wearing a dark blue button down speaks at a podium in front of an introductory slide about pesticide manufacturing.
Project: Clean up the marine soils at United Heckathorn, the only one of three Contra Costa Superfund sites on the shore. UC Davis graduate Camden Kujanek proposed a three-step plan, including dredging to remove contaminated material, capping, and remediation. “Using plants to do phytoremediation could protect both the ecosystem and human health,” he said. Photo: Richard H.Grant
A woman with dark hair wearing a gray button down and a black blazer poses with a "certificate of excellence" in front of her presentation about beetles.
Project: More citizen monitoring and field surveys of endangered tiger beetles. UC Berkeley entomologist Maryam Saad Eldin explained how these insects live in “vertical, salty, moist burroughs” and snatch their prey from the openings. They’re so rare they’re hard to find, but “even one sighting recorded on I-Naturalist” can help save healthy habitats from rising sea levels, she said. Photo: Richard H.Grant
A white woman with blonde hair wearing a green top speaks at a podium in front of a slideshow showing a sample coloring book page
Project: A Shoreline Stewards booklet to help students understand local climate issues. Academy graduates Tina Marie Santos and Olivia Young explained that this was “much more than a coloring book in kid-friendly language.” They’re hoping to distribute the new booklet to scouts groups, libraries, schools, and more. “It’s an invitation for children to love earth and respect nature,” said Santos. Photo: Richard H.Grant
An Asian man with gray hair and glasses wearing a blue short sleeve button down speaks at a podium, with a screen to the right showing a slide that says "Perspective on Sea Level Rise in the City of Oakley"
Project: A survey of what Oakley residents think about sea level rise. Participant Michael Maeda, a retired BART employee, collected 99 responses from 180 surveyed. Respondents saw sea level rise as a mid-term problem, he found, “close enough for current planning but not urgent enough for daily action.” No respondents thought Oakley was well-prepared. Photo: Richard H. Grant
Two Black women, one on the left wearing a dark gray fleece and one on the right wearing a denim top, pose outside with their "certificate of excellence" in front of grass and shrubs in the background.
Project: Nature-based flood protection, ranging from horizontal levees to wetlands, and related educational displays. “I envision installations not just along trails or in libraries, but also in places you don’t usually think of because so many residents don’t understand how sea level rise will affect their communities,” said academy graduate Monique Grant, a lab tech, pictured here with her mother Rene. Photo: Richard H. Grant
A white woman with dark hair wearing a dark short sleeve shirt speaks at a podium, with a slide to the right that says "Permit Transparency Tool"
Project: A permit transparency tool and process tracker with a visual timeline for local flood resilience projects. “The permitting process is very hard for the everyday person to understand,” said participant Natalie Rodriguez, a senior at UC Santa Cruz. She compared BCDC’s tracking tools with other states and suggested improvements. Photo: Richard H. Grant
A woman wearing a yellow sleeveless top and glasses speaks to a seated audience, with a slide to the right titled "Project Focus" with a paragraph about businesses and sea level rise.
Project: Investigate how businesses along the West Contra Costa shore understand sea level rise threats. Academy graduates Marianna Bernsten-Perez and Matthew Kritscher (a local renewables consultant) contacted 15 businesses. “A common thread was that the small businesses don’t have the resources to survive, once the water gets too high, but the big businesses can just relocate. It’s an opportunity for a more targeted place-based approach, perhaps with liaisons assigned to help the mom-and-pop folks adapt,” said Kritscher. Photo: Richard H. Grant
A white man with short hair wearing a blue T-shirt speaks at a podium, with a slide to the right saying 'Building Community Awareness Through Social Media."
Project: A social media campaign that turns complex science issues into visuals. Once folks see their neighbors speaking about sea level rise in their Facebook or Instagram groups, they’ll want to get more involved, said participant Bob Russey, a board member of the Rodeo Sanitary District. “The goal isn’t just views, it’s action.” Photo: Richard H.Grant
A white woman with curly gray hair wearing glasses and a beige top speaks at a podium with a presentation shown on the screen to the right, with the slide saying "Water Wise Gardening."
Project: A flyer about water-wise gardening. “People need to see the why and how,” said participant Carol Prell, a Concord resident who works in veteran services. She found sea level rise overwhelming and wanted to focus on explaining a small step people could take in their own backyards. “Tackling sea level rise is like eating an elephant,” she said, “you have to do it one bite at a time.” Photo: Richard H.Grant
A woman with short dark hair wearing a pink top stands at a podium to the left as a man with dark hair and a beard wearing a black short sleeve button down speaks while gesturing to a slideshow that says "Oyster Exhibit Proposal Refugia"
Project: Create an exhibit on oyster restoration, and host an arts and ecology lab. “Oysters connect a lot of the things we talked about in the academy, and filter pollutants out of the water,” said academy graduate Lydia Lapporte. “We want to involve local indigenous artists in creating a new and different design for reef balls, using ceramics not concrete,” said her project partner Jimmy Ramirez, who runs a local initiative called Tule Root. Photo: Richard H.Grant
About two dozen people pose for a photo in front of wallpaper featuring a photo of birds flying through tall grasslands
The graduating class of the third shoreline leadership academy. Photo: Richard H.Grant
Five people pose for a photo while standing at a museum exhibit
Project partners, from left: Ryan Hernandez, Contra Costa County; Dalila Adofo, BCDC; Natalie Matias, The Watershed Center; Susan Schwartzenberg, Exploratorium; and Christopher Lim, Contra Costa RCD. Photo: Richard H.Grant

About The Author

Ariel Rubissow Okamoto

is KneeDeep’s managing editor. She is a Bay Area environmental writer, former editor of Estuary News magazine, and a co-author of a Natural History of San Francisco Bay (UC Press 2011). For the last decade, she’s been reporting on innovations in climate adaptation on the bayshore. She is also an occasional essayist for the San Francisco Chronicle. In other lives, she has been a vintner, soccer mom, and waitress. She lives in San Francisco. See her work at bayariel.com and follow her at @sfbayariel.bsky.social

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