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Title Description Type of Content
Mountain View’s New Plan for a Thriving Urban Ecosystem Mountain View’s newly adopted Biodiversity and Urban Forest Plan pioneers an approach to managing… News
Mormon Slough Restoration SFEI is supporting Restore the Delta and members of the Mormon Slough Restoration Association in… Project
San Francisco Rain Gardens Filter Microplastic Tire Particles and Dozens of Chemicals from Stormwater A new study shows that rain gardens substantially reduce levels of 21 contaminants in stormwater… News
Urban Nature Collaborative Webinar A conversation about systems change. Event
Nature-Based Approaches for a Resilient San Francisco A new report details tangible lessons for urban greening gleaned from The Sunset Natural Resilience… News
Join the Conversation: Bay Area Urban Nature Collaborative Webinar Please join us Event
Climate Change and Early Childhood Health Outcomes in Urban Low-Income Communities Climate change is affecting early childhood health and development, with urban low-income… Project
Healthy Watersheds and Thriving Cities Healthy Watersheds & Thriving Cities, building upon SFEI’s previous work in the Santa Clara… Project
City of Mountain View Biodiversity and Urban Forest Plan Through the development of the Mountain View Biodiversity and Urban Forest Plan, SFEI will tackle… Project
Changing Course on San Francisco’s Great Highway A fixture of Western San Francisco, the Great Highway is home to a diverse ecosystem of sand dunes,… News
Hidden Nature San Francisco: A conversation about the past, present, and future of nature in San Francisco SFEI and our partners from the Exploratorium, the San Francisco Department of the Environment,… News
Urban Nature Cities are wrestling with many interconnected challenges that will only intensify over the coming… Focus Area
State of Our Estuary The State of Our Estuary (formerly the State of the Estuary Report) evaluates the status and trends… Project
ASLA-NCC Lunch with Leaders Connecting Biodiversity and Health Join us for a lunch webinar on March 20th, 2024, where Vanessa Lee (Associate Environmental… News
New publication from the Urban Nature team uncovers local and landscape scale influences on urban bird and pollinator occupancy SFEI's Resilient Landscapes Program is excited to share a new publication in Ecology and… News
New Ecology for Health report forges tighter connections between human and ecological health In KneeDeep Times, Nate Seltenrich reflects on the release of SFEI's latest report: The same… News
Ecology for Health The Ecology for Health guide is based on an extensive review of ecological literature on the… Project
Making Nature’s City Toolkit Thriving ecosystems are vital to human health and resilience in cities. We showcase findings from… Project
Introducing the Making Nature’s City Toolkit In partnership with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Urban Alliance,… News
Sunset Natural Resilience Project The Sunset Natural Resilience Project (SNRP) consists of six individual but related projects to… Project
Ecological Horticulture at the Presidio Look at any urban landscape in the Bay Area and the imprint of horticulture can be readily seen:… Project
Sunnyvale Shoreline Resilience Vision The Sunnyvale Shoreline Resilience Vision is an ongoing collaborative effort between a group… Project
Newly published research sheds light on the future of the California quail The Journal of Applied Ecology has just published research by Kelly Iknayan of the San Francisco… News
Big updates from Hidden Nature SF, including new interactive content! Hidden Nature SF seeks to uncover the natural history of San Francisco’s past landscape. At the… News
New article published in Nature Sustainability linking COVID-19 to nature equity, showing communities of color face starkest burden Erica Spotswood and a team of scientists published pioneering research in Nature Sustainability,… News
Article: "Nature inequity and higher COVID-19 case rates in less green neighbourhoods in the United States," Nature Sustainability This dataset includes all replication materials for Spotswood et al. 2021 ‘Nature inequity and… Data
Trees, Hydrology, Urban-Greening, and Nature-Based Solutions Two key reports support nature-based solutions. Green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) and… News
New article published in BioScience: Cities contribute more than we think to regional biodiversity Erica Spotswood and a team of scientists published a peer-reviewed scientific paper, just released… News
Next Generation Urban Greening SFEI is working with partners across the Bay Area to design tools to help cities achieve… Project
Google Ecology Advising SFEI collaborates with the Google Ecology Program to advance the science and application of urban… Project
United Nations Global Urban Lecture Released on Making Nature's City SFEI's Urban Nature Lab and the UN-Habitat Global Urban Lectures series have… News
Sunnyvale Moffett Park Specific Plan Urban Ecology The Moffett Park Specific Plan Urban Ecology Guidance shows how we can incorporate a… Project
Integrating Planning with Nature Can we gain the benefits of restoring nature while making our cities denser and protecting natural… Project
East Palo Alto Urban Forest Master Plan This innovative plan updated the street tree inventory, created a revised tree removal permit… Project
Reconnecting Riverside with its River: Integrating Historical and Urban Ecology for a Healthier Future This study focuses on a segment of the Santa Ana River Parkway in and around the City of… Project
Quail in Urban Parks SFEI is using bird observations from eBird to study habitat suitability and build occupancy models… Project
Sports and Urban Biodiversity SFEI collaborated with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the… Project
Making Nature's City Making Nature’s City synthesizes global research to develop a science-based approach for supporting… Project
Urban Ecological Planning Guide for Santa Clara Valley SFEI partnered with Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority to create a guide on how to support… Project
Preparing for the Storm Catalyzed by the extensive damages caused by the Winter 2016-2017 storms and the… Project
Healthy Watersheds Resilient Baylands Through the EPA-funded Healthy Watersheds Resilient Baylands project, SFEI and sixteen partner… Project
GreenPlan-IT GreenPlan-IT is a versatile open-source toolset that helps aid municipalities with their efforts to… Project
Resilient Silicon Valley Drawing on resilience science, regional data, and local expertise, we will develop the vision and… Project
Re-Oaking “Re-Oaking” is an approach to reintegrating oaks and other native vegetation within the developed… Project

Publications

Title Abstract Year of Publication
Load and concentration based performance outcomes for emerging organic contaminants in bioretention stormwater treatment systems The performance capabilities of bioretention systems for a range of stormwater constituents remain lightly characterized, particularly for emerging organic contaminants. To address this gap, we… 2026
The Sunset Natural Resilience Project: Nature-Based Strategies to Support San Francisco's People and Wildlife in a Changing Climate 2026
Regional Framework for the Next Generation of Urban Greening The Regional Framework for the Next Generation of Urban Greening (“the Framework”) provides a roadmap for this alignment, offering nine essential steps to help practitioners navigate the complex,… 2025
Future Opportunities for the Great Highway: What are the Benefits for People and Nature? 2024
Watershed Plan: a case study approach to incorporating multiple benefits into green stormwater infrastructure planning In this Watershed Plan, we demonstrate an approach for assessing potential co-benefits—the additional services and amenities that are provided beyond the intended benefit—in the Islais Creek… 2024
Patterns in bird and pollinator occupancy and richness in a mosaic of urban office parks across scales and seasons Urbanization is a leading cause of global biodiversity loss, yet cities can provide resources required by many species throughout the year. In recognition of this, cities around the world are… 2024
Ecology for Health: Design Guidance for Fostering Human Health and Biodiversity in Cities Greenspaces provide crucial nature contact for urban residents. When we have greater access and exposure to nature in the places where we live, work, learn, and play, we tend to experience better… 2023
Chapter 14, Making Nature’s City: An Applied Science Framework to Guide Evaluation and Planning for Urban Biodiversity Conservation Conserving urban biodiversity will rely on updating our planning paradigms. This work synthesizes urban ecological research and identifies seven elements—patch size, connections, matrix quality,… 2023
Growing Resilience: Recommendations for Dune Management at North Ocean Beach 2023
An Urban Forest Master Plan for East Palo Alto 2022
Nature inequity and higher COVID-19 case rates in less green neighbourhoods in the United States Urban nature—such as greenness and parks—can alleviate distress and provide space for safe recreation during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, nature is often less available in low-income populations… 2021
What makes urban parks good for California quail? Evaluating park suitability, species persistence, and the potential for reintroduction into a large urban national park Preserving and restoring wildlife in urban areas benefits both urban ecosystems and the well-being of urban residents. While urban wildlife conservation is a rapidly developing field, the majority… 2021
Trees and Hydrology in Urban Landscapes Effective implementation of urban greening strategies is needed to address legacies of landscape change and environmental degradation, ongoing development pressures, and the urgency of the climate… 2021
Biophilia beyond the Building: Applying the Tools of Urban Biodiversity Planning to Create Biophilic Cities In response to the widely recognized negative impacts of urbanization on biodiversity, many cities are reimagining urban design to provide better biodiversity support. Some cities have developed… 2021
The biological deserts fallacy: Cities in their landscapes contribute more than we think to regional biodiversity Cities are both embedded within and ecologically linked to their surrounding landscapes. Although urbanization poses a substantial threat to biodiversity, cities also support many species, some of… 2021
Sunnyvale Shoreline Resilience Vision: 2021 Executive Summary 2021
Making Nature's City Executive Summary 2020
Sports and urban biodiversity SFEI collaborated with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to create a guide to incorporating nature into urban sports, from… 2020
Sunnyvale Flood Hazard & Sea-level Rise Adaptation Strategy: Background 2020
Wildlife Habitat and Water Quality Enhancement Opportunities at Castlewood Country Club Meeting human and ecological needs within San Francisco Bay’s watersheds is increasingly challenged by flooding, water quality degradation, and habitat loss, exacerbated by intensified urbanization… 2020
Integrating Planning with Nature: Building climate resilience across the urban-to-rural gradient 2020
Moffett Park Specific Plan Urban Ecology Technical Report 2020
Making Nature's City Cities will face many challenges over the coming decades, from adapting to a changing climate to accommodating rapid population growth. A related suite of challenges threatens global biodiversity,… 2019
Urban Ecological Planning Guide for Santa Clara Valley This document provides some of the scientific foundation needed to guide planning for urban biodiversity in the Santa Clara Valley region, grounded in an understanding of landscape history, urban… 2019
Re-Oaking Silicon Valley: Building Vibrant Cities with Nature In this report, we investigate how re-integrating components of oak woodlands into developed landscapes — “re-oaking” — can provide an array of valuable functions for both wildlife and people. Re… 2017
Landscape Resilience Framework: Operationalizing Ecological Resilience at the Landscape Scale 2015
Re-Oaking the Valleys: Bringing Native Trees Back into California’s Suburban Landscapes 2009
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