Tag: Fight or Flight

Letting the Cliff Crumble 

As a community of nature-minded, eco-friendly folks, Santa Cruz has been working on climate adaptation plans for many decades. But no one anticipated the storms of early 2023.

Retreat By Any Other Name

“Retreat can conjure failure, and nobody wants to be managed,” explained the study’s lead author Amanda Stolz at the California Social Coast Forum this March. Part of the problem is the term itself. One Pacifica resident quoted in the study commented, “Managed retreat’ is a code word for give up — on our homes and the town itself.”

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Letting the Cliff Crumble 

As a community of nature-minded, eco-friendly folks, Santa Cruz has been working on climate adaptation plans for many decades. But no one anticipated the storms of early 2023.

Retreat By Any Other Name

“Retreat can conjure failure, and nobody wants to be managed,” explained the study’s lead author Amanda Stolz at the California Social Coast Forum this March. Part of the problem is the term itself. One Pacifica resident quoted in the study commented, “Managed retreat’ is a code word for give up — on our homes and the town itself.”

Warming to Managed Retreat

To own beachfront property was once a crown jewel of the California dream. Now, many homes at or near the water’s edge are doomed as sea level rises, and for residents, evacuations will be inevitable. In Pacifica, there is talk of moving an entire beachfront neighborhood, and near Bodega Bay, homes have already been abandoned, and roadway managers are breaking ground on rerouting a short but vulnerable stretch of the coastal highway.

Grants Underwrite Fire Resistance

Looking to get out ahead of what is quickly shaping up to be a long and brutal wildfire season, the State Coastal Conservancy wasted no time distributing $12 million in fire prevention money it received as part of the $536 million in wildfire resilience funds Governor Newsom announced in April. Following a lightning speed grant process that featured a two-week request for proposals period, 17 Bay Area governments, tribes, fire districts, parks, and other agencies are set to receive more than $6 million—to be spent before the official start of the 2021 fire season.

Mega Developments Hedge on Sea-Level Rise

On September 3, 2019, Golden State Warriors CEO Rick Welts stood proudly in front of the newly inaugurated $1.4 billion Chase Center basketball arena. “A brand new journey starts today,” he promised the assembled luminaries and fans. Having built on Mission Bay’s watery footprint, the Warriors defended their new arena against sea-level rise, saying in an official statement it will stay dry in 2100 “even with the anticipated 36 inches of sea-level rise.”

Resisting Retreat for Coastal Communities?

In the coastal getaway town of Stinson Beach, king tides and storm surges regularly put roads and parking lots underwater: wintertime events that give locals an unnerving idea of what rising sea level will look like for the small community. “We know sea-level rise is coming, but here, we say we’ve already got it,” says Stinson Beach homeowner Jeff Loomans, also the president of the Greater Farallones Association, which has been active in sea-level rise planning.

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