Category: Nature-Based Infrastructure
Sonoma Taps Undeveloped Land in Climate Fight
This fall, Sonoma County officially enlisted its abundance of undeveloped lands in the fight to adapt to climate change. Last month, the county approved a “Climate Resilient Lands” strategy.
30 East Bay Partners Gel on Adaptation Path
On an overcast June afternoon at Bay Farm Island’s Veterans Court, Danielle Mieler explains that if it weren’t for low tide, water might be at her feet.
Cruising the San Pablo Spine — A Green Streets Test Lab
From tattoo parlors to senior housing, San Pablo Avenue has it all. Now the busy thoroughfare is also a testbed for a distributed network of rain gardens.

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How Far Can Metro Harbors Go on Nature-Based Shore Protection?
Typical flood protections rely on engineered structures. But there’s a new push at the national level of the US Army Corps of Engineers to prioritize working with nature. Storm surge plans currently underway in New York, Miami and San Francisco highlight a range of nature-based fixes.
Sonoma Taps Undeveloped Land in Climate Fight
This fall, Sonoma County officially enlisted its abundance of undeveloped lands in the fight to adapt to climate change. Last month, the county approved a “Climate Resilient Lands” strategy.
30 East Bay Partners Gel on Adaptation Path
On an overcast June afternoon at Bay Farm Island’s Veterans Court, Danielle Mieler explains that if it weren’t for low tide, water might be at her feet.
Cruising the San Pablo Spine — A Green Streets Test Lab
From tattoo parlors to senior housing, San Pablo Avenue has it all. Now the busy thoroughfare is also a testbed for a distributed network of rain gardens.
A South Bay Levee Breaks Ground, And Records
On a drizzly Thursday in April, dozens gathered beside a weedy San Jose shoreline to break ground on four miles of new levee and 2,900 acres of restored habitats, a future buffer from the rising Bay.
Planting the Edgy Bits of Giant Marsh
Two days on the ground filming and talking with work crews planting new zones of the Giant Marsh Living Shoreline. “We need habitat to mature enough to function fast,” says Jeanne Hammond.
Half a Dozen Horizontal Levees in the Works
The specter of sea level rise, perpetual drought, and disappearing wetlands has put many sizes and shapes of horizontal levee on the region’s shoreline adaptation maps. What’s next?
Bi-Coastal Experiment with Oysters & Infrastructure
While the weather is top of mind for many, others are riveted to congressional antics over the long-awaited massive spending bill designed to fix the nation’s roads, bridges, and broadband as September evaporates. We’ve rarely heard the word “infrastructure” bandied about so much. But for those devoted to designing all things climate-ready and habitat-friendly, infrastructure brings to mind oysters, marshes and willow-topped levees, not potholes.
Enough Mud to Fill 670 Skyscrapers?
How much mud do we need to save Bay Area marshes from rising seas and how will we move it into position? If the future is drier there’s one answer, and if it’s wetter another (see chart), but the ballpark is 477,000,000 cubic yards. That’s the amount of sediment needed to sustain the ring of wetlands now protecting shoreline communities and infrastructure from a rising Bay, according to a new SF Estuary Institute report.
