Upcoming Resilient Landscapes Projects

The Resilient Landscapes team is poised to complete several major projects and reports in the near future.

Through the Delta Landscapes project, the RL team is developing a set of tools to facilitate landscape-scale restoration of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ecosystem. Funded by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the project is contributing a needed dimension to Delta planning by providing a landscape-scale perspective on restoration opportunities and recommendations that is founded in a sound understanding of ecological functions provided by the Delta prior to substantial human modification. The forthcoming report will present findings from the first detailed landscape analysis of Delta habitat change. We have synthesized historical and contemporary data sets to quantify and understand the Delta’s transformation from the perspective of life-history support for native wildlife and other key ecological functions. These landscape metrics provide a new level of understanding for quantification of change, spatial and temporal variation in processes and functions, and regional vision for future restoration opportunities.

Flood Control 2.0 is an EPA-funded project that aims to develop and implement a set of innovative approaches to flood control management along the San Francisco shoreline. One of the implementation projects for Flood Control 2.0 involves the redesign of the lower Novato Creek flood control channel and the surrounding baylands, in partnership with the Marin County Flood Control and Water Conservation District. In a pair of upcoming reports the RL team examines the historical ecology of the Novato Creek baylands and presents a vision for redesigning the flood control channel to integrate flood protection with ecological benefits.

The Northern San Diego County Lagoons Historical Ecology Project examines the historical ecological patterns and physical drivers that characterized six coastal estuaries in northern San Diego. Funded by the State Coastal Conservancy, the study builds on previous research – including the Southern California Coast T-sheet Atlas – conducted by the RL team and partners in southern California. The forthcoming report illustrates the historical ecological patterns of the six lagoons, examines the significant transformations that have altered the lagoons over the past centuries, and discusses implications and recommendations for wetland restoration planning.