Adapting to Sea Level Rise in the Bay Area

Protecting Our Communities, Infrastructure and the Bay

Robin Grossinger, Senior Scientist, San Francisco Estuary Institute
Jeremy Lowe, Coastal Geomorphologist, ESA PWA
John Bourgeois, Restoration Ecologist, State Coastal Conservancy, Executive Project Manager of the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project

The rapid changes in climate and sea level projected over the next 100 years threaten not only the natural wetlands but also the communities and infrastructure around San Francisco Bay. How can we proactively create a new, more sustainable shoreline that integrates natural processes and undervalued resources such as sediment and wastewater? The history of the Bay shows how in the past it evolved in periods of rapid sea level rise and gives clues to how we can incorporate natural features into a future Bay to provide benefits not just to the natural ecology but also water quality and flood risk management. Hear three scientists talk about the natural ecology of the historic Bay, the changes we may see in the Bay with rising sea levels, and the role that the restoration of wetlands can play in allowing the Bay to adapt to these changes.

MLF: Asia Pacific Affairs
Location: SF Club Office
Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. program
Cost: $20 non-members, $8 members, $7 students (with valid ID)
Program Organizers: Cynthia Miyashita and Lillian Nakagawa
Also know: Sponsored by Ernst & Young and the Betty and Gordon Moore Foundation.