San Francisco Bay

Global impacts of marine heatwaves on coastal foundation species

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | June 13th, 2024

Goal-based water trading expands and diversifies supplies for enhanced resilience

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | February 11th, 2019

In response to rising water scarcity concerns around the world, water utilities are expanding and diversifying their water supply portfolios, including attempting to valu

In response to rising water scarcity concerns around the world, water utilities are expanding and diversifying their water supply portfolios, including attempting to value and reuse every drop throughout the water cycle. This transition is creating new hybrid infrastructure systems that combine centralized and decentralized sources at various scales. To help strategize and manage these emerging hybrid systems, we introduce a flexible goal-based water-trading framework using a combination of regulatory and market incentives. We apply this framework in a simulation of the San Francisco Bay Area, and test the effects of policy parameters, local preferences and collaboration between utilities. Results show that the option of engaging in an open trading scheme can lead to a more strategic and holistic path to higher regional resiliency through increased diversity in water portfolios, at lower costs than if utilities were tasked with pursuing goals independently. Highest benefits are observed when utilities cooperate in the exchange of information, which highlights the importance of transparency and trust operating in conjunction with regulatory and market forces.

Goal-based water trading expands and diversifies supplies for enhanced resilience

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | February 11th, 2019

In response to rising water scarcity concerns around the world, water utilities are expanding and diversifying their water supply portfolios, including attempting to valu

In response to rising water scarcity concerns around the world, water utilities are expanding and diversifying their water supply portfolios, including attempting to value and reuse every drop throughout the water cycle. This transition is creating new hybrid infrastructure systems that combine centralized and decentralized sources at various scales. To help strategize and manage these emerging hybrid systems, we introduce a flexible goal-based water-trading framework using a combination of regulatory and market incentives. We apply this framework in a simulation of the San Francisco Bay Area, and test the effects of policy parameters, local preferences and collaboration between utilities. Results show that the option of engaging in an open trading scheme can lead to a more strategic and holistic path to higher regional resiliency through increased diversity in water portfolios, at lower costs than if utilities were tasked with pursuing goals independently. Highest benefits are observed when utilities cooperate in the exchange of information, which highlights the importance of transparency and trust operating in conjunction with regulatory and market forces.

Gone with the flow

Bay Institute | August 1st, 2010

The Bay Institute's primer Gone with the Flow describes in plain language how runoff flowing from the mountain watersheds ringing California’s Central Valley provided c

The Bay Institute's primer Gone with the Flow describes in plain language how runoff flowing from the mountain watersheds ringing California’s Central Valley provided coldwater paradises for salmon returning to their native streams; turned lowland rivers and their floodplains into a rich source of food and shelter for young fish; mingled in the Delta’s complex maze of marshes and sloughs; and created a vast expanse of brackish water habitat essential for estuarine creatures in the upper reaches of San Francisco Bay. The primer also explains how the lack of access to most upland streams now forces migratory fish to cope with undesirable, often lethal flow conditions; how runoff in lowland rivers has been shifted from spring to summer, or even almost completely cut off in the San Joaquin basin, with disastrous consequences for the environment; how reverse flows in Delta channels kill hundreds of millions of aquatic organisms each year; and how the Bay is now in a permanent ecological drought because of the diversion of half its freshwater inflow.

Goodbye to “Rough Fish”: Paradigm Shift in the Conservation of Native Fishes

American Fisheries Society (AFS) | July 21st, 2021

While sometimes difficult to admit, perspectives of European and white males have overwhelmingly dominated fisheries science and management in the USA. This dynamic is ex

While sometimes difficult to admit, perspectives of European and white males have overwhelmingly dominated fisheries science and management in the USA. This dynamic is exemplified by bias against “rough fish”—a pejorative ascribing low-to-zero value for countless native fishes. One product of this bias is that biologists have ironically worked against conservation of diverse fishes for over a century, and these problems persist today. Nearly all U.S. states retain bag limits and other policies that are regressive and encourage overfishing and decline of native species. Multiple lines of evidence point towards the need for a paradigm shift. These include: (1) native species deliver critical ecosystem services; (2) little demonstration that native fish removals deliver intended benefits; (3) many native fishes are long-lived and vulnerable to overfishing and decline; and (4) fisher values and demographics shifting towards native fish conservation. Overall, existing native fish policies are unacceptable and run counter to the public trust doctrine where government agencies manage natural resources for public use. We encourage agencies to revisit their policies regarding native fishes and provide suggestions for developing more holistic, protective, and inclusive conservation policy.

Governing Nature: Bambi Law in a Wall-E World

Social Science Research Network (SSRN) | January 28th, 2021

Humanity has disrupted many of the fundamental processes that shape nature worldwide. Virtually no places remain unchanged. Many ecosystems have moved far from their hist

Humanity has disrupted many of the fundamental processes that shape nature worldwide. Virtually no places remain unchanged. Many ecosystems have moved far from their historic conditions and no longer support native species or traditional human uses. In the Anthropocene, a new geologic era dominated by the human impact on Earth, these problems will continue to get worse. In response, humans are intervening in ecosystems at a massive scale. This Article argues that, even as humanity engages in an unprecedented level of ecosystem management, existing environmental governance structures are ill suited to manage this new nature. Ecologists who focus on restoring ecosystems have begun to abandon efforts to recreate idealized historical ecosystems, recognizing that such efforts will fail. Instead, they embrace new approaches that acknowledge continuing human impacts and seek to shape impacted habitats in a way that benefits both human and other life. This Article examines the new ecological approaches, using their migration of purpose and approach to illuminate ecosystem management in the Anthropocene and the new obligations it places on environmental law. To sharpen this focus, the Article considers three case studies of managed ecosystems, detailing the extent to which humans are controlling nature. The case studies suggest that the existing literature seriously underestimates the magnitude of the questions society will soon face. The Article concludes that although we face the daunting prospect of reshaping the very fabric of nature, we lack the governance structures to decide what shape it should take. Society will need environmental law governance that can answer fundamental questions about humanity’s role in managing nature at all scales. This Article proposes several starting principles to encourage legal scholars to address this need.

Governor's Commission to Review California Water Rights Law Summary Final Report

State of California | December 1st, 1978

Grand Challenges to Delta Science: Planning for Science in a Dynamic System (Draft)

Delta Stewardship Council (Delta Council) | May 23rd, 2024

The Delta Science Program is in the process of updating the Delta Science Plan for the third iteration. The Delta Science Plan is a collaboratively developed plan, stipul

The Delta Science Program is in the process of updating the Delta Science Plan for the third iteration. The Delta Science Plan is a collaboratively developed plan, stipulated in the Delta Plan, that aims to provide the vision, principles, and approaches for coordinating Delta science actors and communicating the outcomes of science activities and their management implications to decision-makers.

Green Infrastructure Planning for North Richmond Pump Station Watershed with Green Plan-IT

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | November 1st, 2018

Contra Costa County and the City of Richmond, via the San Francisco Municipal Regional Stormwater Permit (MRP), are required to develop and implement a Green Infrastructu

Contra Costa County and the City of Richmond, via the San Francisco Municipal Regional Stormwater Permit (MRP), are required to develop and implement a Green Infrastructure (GI) Master Plan to reduce mercury and PCB loads in stormwater runoff from each jurisdiction. This project used GreenPlan-IT, a planning tool developed by the San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) and regional partners, to identify feasible and cost-effective GI locations within the North Richmond Pump Station watershed (an unincorporated community of Contra Costa County and partial jurisdiction of the City of Richmond) to support the development of GI Plans for permit compliance. 

Green Infrastructure Planning for the City of Oakland with GreenPlan-IT

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | July 2nd, 2018

The City of Oakland, via the San Francisco Municipal Regional Stormwater Permit (MRP), is required to develop and implement a Green Infrastructure (GI) Master Plan to red

The City of Oakland, via the San Francisco Municipal Regional Stormwater Permit (MRP), is required to develop and implement a Green Infrastructure (GI) Master Plan to reduce stormwater mercury and PCB loads. This project used GreenPlan-IT, a planning tool developed by the San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) and regional partners, to identify feasible and cost-effective GI locations within the City boundary to support the development of GI Plans for permit compliance.  GreenPlan-IT comprises four distinct tools: (a) a GIS-based Site Locator Tool that combines the physical properties of different GI types with local and regional GIS information to identify and rank potential GI locations; (b) a Modeling Tool that is built on SWMM5 to establish baseline conditions and quantify anticipated runoff and pollutant load reductions from GI implementation; (c) an Optimization Tool that uses an evolutionary algorithm to identify the best combinations of GI types and numbers of sites within a study area for achieving flow and load reduction goals; and (d) a Tracker Tool that tracks GI implementation and reports the cumulative programmatic outcomes for regulatory compliance and other communication needs.