Review our work products
We provide easy access to thousands of SFEI’s reports, journal articles, books, conference papers/proceedings, factsheets, hearing summaries, maps, and more.
These printable and downloadable materials connect our science to action, cover a broad range of topics, and have many applications. This library is searchable and filterable. If you have difficulty finding the information you are looking for, please contact us at [email protected].
Programs & Topics
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Restoring Sediment Pathways: A Resilient Landscape Vision for the Adobe Creek Baylands
Author(s): Emma Sevier | Katie McKnight | Kendall Harris | Scott Dusterhoff | Ruth Askevold | Ben Satzman
2026
Restoring Sediment Pathways: A Resilient Landscape Vision for the Adobe Creek Baylands synthesizes science and community priorities into a nature-based approach for improving the resilience and ecological functioning of, and community and Tribal access to, the Adobe…
Baylands Habitat Map 2020 Webinar Series Part 2: Tidal Marsh Extent Webinar
Author(s): Cristina Grosso | Lisa Beers | Kelly Iknayan
2025
The WRMP held a webinar on April 16, 2025 to discuss how we answered the question: How much tidal wetland do we have in San Francisco Bay?
…
From site-scale to landscape-scale: stormwater benefits of urban trees with SWMM-Canopy
Author(s): Tan Zi | Alison Whipple | Pete Kauhanen | Melissa Foley
2025
Urban trees can reduce stormwater runoff through canopy interception and enhanced infiltration, yet their benefits are often underrepresented in conventional models. This study introduces Storm Water Management Model-Canopy (SWMM-Canopy), a process-based tool that simulates…
EcoAtlas Essentials Webinar Showcases Practical Tools for Ecological Planning
Author(s): Cristina Grosso | Todd Hallenbeck | Lisa Beers | Sarah Pearce | Pete Kauhanen | Erica Johnson | Heidi Williams
2025
On October 1, 2025, the San Francisco Estuary Geospatial Workgroup (SFEGWG) hosted EcoAtlas Essentials: Practical Tools for Effective Ecological Planning, a webinar designed to guide participants in exploring how …
Author(s): WRMP
2025
To develop effective climate vulnerability assessments and adaptation plans, coastal resource managers need to understand how shoreline topography, hydrology, and habitats change over time. The California Ocean Protection Council funded the San Francisco Estuary Institute and…
Lake Silveira CRAM Assessments: Mitigation Monitoring Report Post-Construction - Year 5 (2025)
Author(s): Sarah Pearce | Sarah Lowe | David Peterson
2025
The Santa Clara Valley Water District’s (Valley Water) Upper Llagas Creek Flood Protection Project (Project) aims to increase flood protection within the City of Morgan Hill and surrounding unincorporated areas. Project impacts are being mitigated by permittee-responsible…
Regional Framework for the Next Generation of Urban Greening
Author(s): Lauren Stoneburner | Melissa Foley | Cate Jaffe | Kendall Harris
2025
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, cross-cutting challenges of urban greening. Each step is supported by practical…
Baylands Habitat Map Landscape Change Analysis Methods Technical Memo
Author(s): Alex Braud | Pete Kauhanen | Katarina Palermo | Cristina Grosso
2025
The purpose of this report is to describe the methods for the Baylands Habitat Map (BHM) change analysis, highlight key observations from a preliminary test case study in the Belmont-Redwood Operation Landscape Unit (OLU), provide recommendations for conducting the change…
Author(s): Sarah Pearce | Kyle Stark
2025
Sediment is a critical yet often overlooked component of healthy stream, wetland, and bayland ecosystems. In the Petaluma River Operational Landscape Unit (OLU), decades of development, land-use changes, and channel modifications have disrupted natural sediment transport and…
Tracking Tidal Wetland Extent in San Francisco Bay: A 2020 Mapping Update
Author(s): WRMP | April Robinson | Lisa Beers | Denise Walker | Jennifer Symonds | Cristina Grosso | Alex Braud | Kelly Iknayan
2025
The tidal wetlands of San Francisco Bay provide numerous benefits to the region, including carbon sequestration, flood protection, providing habitat for native and endangered species, protecting shoreline communities and infrastructure from wave impact, improving water…
Author(s): David Peterson | Kyle Stark | Sarah Pearce | Scott Dusterhoff
2025
Over the past several decades, the average annual sediment supply from the Petaluma River watershed to the channel network is estimated to be 59,100 t/yr, equivalent to an average annual sediment yield of 184 t/km2/yr. This sediment source assessment quantifies average annual…
Future Climate Impacts to Riparian Condition & Functions in the Petaluma River Watershed
Author(s): Emma Sevier | David Peterson | Kyle Stark | Alison Whipple | Lydia Vaughn | Rachael Pentico | John Stella
2025
This technical memorandum describes an assessment of future climate impacts to riparian ecosystem conditions and functions in the Petaluma River watershed and adjacent drainages (the Petaluma Operational Landscape Unit). Four bias-corrected, downscaled global climate models…
Author(s): Ellen Plane | Alex Braud | Annie Sneed | Jeremy Lowe
2025
Our region faces an immense challenge in adapting to sea level rise. Without action, the San Francisco Bay Area (Bay Area) risks losing shoreline habitats and the critical services they provide, from flood protection to wildlife support to carbon sequestration.
Nature…
Author(s): Annie Sneed | Katie McKnight | Ruth Askevold
2025
The San Francisco Bay Shoreline Adaptation Atlas, developed by SFEI and SPUR in 2019, provides a framework for addressing sea-level rise through nature-based solutions. By defining Operational Landscape Units (OLUs)—planning units based on natural processes rather than…
Author(s): San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI)
2025
The Landscapes Scenario Planning Tool (LSPT) is a standardized, science-based resource for analyzing and comparing land-use scenarios in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Suisun Marsh. The tool takes data from detailed landscape maps and calculates metrics related to…
Author(s): Sarah Pearce | Sarah Lowe | David Peterson | Denise Walker | Pete Kauhanen | Zooey Diggory | Douglas Titus
2024
The baseline survey of ecological condition of streams within the Guadalupe River watershed was completed in 2012, and this reassessment survey was completed ten years later in 2022. The survey focuses upon stream conditions in the watershed as a whole, and in two primary…
Author(s): Kyle Stark | David Peterson | Alicia Gilbreath | Emma Sevier | Scott Dusterhoff
2024
SFEI worked in partnership with Balance Hydrologics, Inc. to collect flow and sediment data on Pescadero Creek during Water Years 2023 and 2024, focused on high-flow periods. SFEI then developed a discharge-SSC rating curve for Pescadero Creek. Sediment loads on Pescadero…
Author(s): David Peterson | Kyle Stark | Alicia Gilbreath | Scott Dusterhoff
2024
This low-flow conditions report of Pescadero Creek was created to improve our understanding of flow and sediment dynamics during low-discharge periods near the mouth of Pescadero Creek to support management related to the 2018 Pescadero-Butano Sediment TMDL Habitat…
Implementing Nature-based Solutions for Wastewater Management: San Francisco Bay Area Examples
Author(s): G. Miller | Annie Sneed | Ellen Plane | Ian Wren
2024
Prepared by the San Francisco Estuary Institute for the Bay Area Clean Water Agencies.
Prepared in partnership with City of Hayward, City of Petaluma, East Bay Dischargers Authority, East Bay Regional Park District, Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District, Mountain…
Author(s): Lydia Vaughn | Steven Deverel | Stephanie Panlasigui | Judith Drexler | Marc Olds | Jose Diaz | Kendall Harris | James Morris | Letitia Grenier | April Robinson | Donna Ball
2024
In the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta (Delta), widespread drainage of historical wetlands has led to extensive subsidence and peat carbon losses, as well as high ongoing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Large-scale wetland restoration and conversion to rice fields has the…
Author(s): Kelly Iknayan | Sacha Heath | Scott Terrill | Daniel Wenny | Stephanie Panlasigui | Yiwei Wang | Erin Beller | Erica Spotswood
2024
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 adopting strategies to increase biodiversity. These efforts would benefit from a…
Petaluma River Watershed Contemporary Riparian Condition Assessment
Author(s): David Peterson | Sean Baumgarten | Kyle Stark | Lydia Vaughn | Scott Dusterhoff
2024
This technical memorandum describes the current channel and riparian conditions and their drivers in the Petaluma River watershed and adjacent drainages (the Petaluma Operational Landscape Unit). We combine spatial analysis of current riparian zone characteristics with a…
Robertson Park and Medeiros Parkway sUAS Surveys for the Sycamore Pilot Implementation Project
Author(s): Katarina Palermo | Pete Kauhanen
2024
This memo summarizes the use of small Unoccupied Aerial Systems (sUAS) to survey Robertson Park and Medeiros Parkway and analysis of how this type of technology can be used to support site scale level mapping.
Author(s): Bronwen Stanford | Kelly Iknayan | Robin Grossinger | Erin Beller | Matthew Benjamin | Letitia Grenier | Micaela Bazo | Nicole Heller | Myla Aronson | Peter Groffman | Erica Spotswood
2023
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, habitat diversity, native vegetation, special resources, and stewardship and…
Author(s): David Peterson | Kyle Stark | Jim Robins | Scott Dusterhoff | Kendall Harris
2023
SFEI developed a protocol for field-based techniques to quantify in-stream large wood for Pescadero and Butano creeks and their tributaries in San Mateo County, California. The protocol was designed to capture multifaceted data and can be used to assess large wood loading…
Author(s): Sarah Pearce | Julie Beagle | Katie McKnight | Alison Whipple
2023
The reach of ADLL between the Arroyo Del Valle confluence (at the Interstate 680 crossing) and Verona Road is currently experiencing significant changes to its channel morphology, namely incision and widening, leading to bank erosion and bank failures. Many of the parcels…
Conceptual Understanding of Fine Sediment Transport in San Francisco Bay
Author(s): Katie McKnight | Alex Braud | Scott Dusterhoff | Letitia Grenier | Sam Shaw | Jeremy Lowe | Melissa Foley | Lester McKee
2023
Sediment is a lifeblood of San Francisco Bay (Bay). It serves three key functions: (1) create and maintain tidal marshes and mudflats, (2) transport nutrients and contaminants, and (3) reduce impacts from excessive human-derived nutrients in the Bay. Because of these…
Ecology for Health: Design Guidance for Fostering Human Health and Biodiversity in Cities
Author(s): Joe Burg | Jennifer Symonds | Vanessa Lee | Bronwen Stanford | Brandon Herman | Stephanie Panlasigui | Karen Verpeet
2023
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 human health outcomes. Urban parks, trees, and vegetation encourage physical…
Author(s): Sarah Lowe | K. Huck | A. Misico | L. Scirbe | D. Sussman
2023
This 20-year water quality monitoring status and trends report for the Lahontan Water Board’s Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program (Regional SWAMP) provides an overview of the environmental settings across the Region to give the reader a sense of the diverse ecological…
Author(s): Scott Dusterhoff | Alison Whipple | Sean Baumgarten | April Robinson | Samuel Shaw | Kyle Stark | Ruth Askevold
2023
The Laguna de Santa Rosa is an expansive freshwater wetland complex that hosts a rich diversity of plant and wildlife species, and is also home to a thriving agricultural community. Since the mid-19th century, modifications to the Laguna and its surrounding landscape have…
Sycamore Alluvial Woodland Pilot Study Implementation Guidelines
Author(s): H.T. Harvey & Associates
2023
This document supports planting-based approaches for sycamore enhancement by providing site-level revegetation techniques for installing, maintaining and monitoring sycamore plantings.
Sycamore Alluvial Woodland Restoration and Enhancement Suitability Study
Author(s): Sarah Pearce | Alison Whipple | Kendall Harris | Vanessa Lee | Ryan Hegstad | Charles McClain
2023
The “Sycamore Alluvial Woodland Restoration and Enhancement Suitability Study” addresses distribution and regeneration patterns and restoration strategies of sycamore alluvial woodland (SAW) habitat, a unique and relatively rare native vegetation community adapted to…
Translating Sediment Science Into Action: Documenting Beneficial Sediment Reuse
Author(s): Sarah Pearce | Kyle Stark
2023
The Preparing for the Storm project, led by Zone 7 Water Agency (Zone 7) and funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Water Quality Improvement Fund, aims to develop science-based plans, strengthen existing and new partnerships, and pilot new methodologies for…
Author(s): Cristina Grosso | Sarah Lowe | Sarah Pearce | Kevin O'Connor | Lindsay Teunis | Eric Stein | Jennifer Siu | Melissa Scianni
2023
The goal of this Training and Outreach Plan is to increase the overall awareness and use of the WRAMP datasets and tools in support of wetland resource planning, management, and project performance tracking in California. Specifically, a near-term …
Author(s): James Morris | Judith Drexler | Lydia Vaughn | April Robinson
2022
Quantitative, broadly applicable metrics of resilience are needed to effectively manage tidal marshes into the future. Here we quantified three metrics of temporal marsh resilience: time to marsh drowning, time to marsh tipping point, and the probability of a regime shift,…
Building Capacity of the California Wetland Program Plan to Protect and Restore Vernal Pools
Author(s): Sarah Lowe | Sarah Pearce
2022
This report describes the updates to the vernal pool habitat map, the development of the ambient baseline ecological condition survey of vernal pool systems within the Central Valley, and the development and results of the habitat development curve. A fictional project…
Author(s): Sean Baumgarten | Vanessa Lee | Micaela Bazo | Erica Spotswood
2022
The Presidio of San Francisco—the nation’s largest urban national park—is located in an area of exceptional ecological diversity. Historically, many different habitat types thrived in the mix of windswept dunes, riparian forests, and curious dwarf…
Author(s): Lydia Vaughn | Ellen Plane | Kendall Harris | April Robinson | Letitia Grenier
2022
The 2022 update to California’s climate change Scoping Plan incorporates management actions in the state’s forests, shrublands/chaparral, grasslands, croplands, developed lands, deltaic wetlands, and sparsely vegetated lands. Missing from this list are the tidally-influenced…
Resilient Staten Island: Landscape Scenario Analysis Pilot Application
Author(s): Alison Whipple | Letitia Grenier | Samuel Safran | Dawit Zeleke | Emily Wells | Steven Deverel | Marc Olds | Spencer Cole | José Rodríguez-Flores | Alexander Guzman | Josué Medellín-Azuara
2022
A central motivating question for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta science and management community is what should be done, where and when, to support future Delta landscapes that are ecologically and economically viable and resilient to change. Actions must be taken that…
Author(s): Lester McKee | Alicia Gilbreath | Lisa Sabin
2022
Stormwater agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area are identifying watershed areas that are polluted with PCBs in order to prioritize management efforts to reduce impairment in the Bay caused by PCBs carried in stormwater. Water sampling during storms has been used to…
Author(s): Megan Wheeler | Lauren Stoneburner | Erica Spotswood | Robin Grossinger | Darya Barar | Carol Randisi
2022
- East Palo Alto Urban Forest Master Plan High Res
- East Palo Alto Urban Forest Master Plan Low Res
- East Palo Alto Urban Forest Master Plan Summary and Vision (Spanish)
- Appendix I. Urban Forest Assessment Methodology
- Appendix II. East Palo Alto Tree Ordinance Text
- Appendix III. Community Survey Detailed Results
- Appendix IV. Species Selection Guidance
Author(s): Erica Spotswood | Erin Beller | Robin Grossinger | Letitia Grenier | Nicole Heller | Myla Aronson
2021
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 which have larger populations, faster growth rates, and higher productivity in…
Author(s): Stephanie Panlasigui | Erica Spotswood | Erin Beller | Robin Grossinger
2021
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 urban biodiversity plans, primarily focused on improving biodiversity support and…
Author(s): Sarah Lowe | Sarah Pearce | Pete Kauhanen | Josh Collins | Douglas Titus
2021
This report describes the amount and distribution of aquatic resources in the Coyote Creek watershed, Santa Clara County, California, and presents the first reassessment of stream ecosystem conditions using a watershed approach and the California Rapid Assessment Method (CRAM…
Green Stormwater Infrastructure Planning-level Analysis for Livermore-Amador Valley
Author(s): Tan Zi | Pete Kauhanen | Alison Whipple | Lester McKee
2021
This effort is intended to provide planning-level regional guidance for placement of green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) in Livermore-Amador Valley. This work identifies potential GSI locations and quantifies contaminant load and stormwater runoff volume reduction benefits…
Author(s): James Cloern | Samuel Safran | Lydia Vaughn | April Robinson | Alison Whipple | Katharyn Boyer | Judith Drexler | Robert Naiman | James Pinckney | Emily Howe | Elizabeth Canuel | Letitia Grenier
2021
Humans are changing the Earth's surface at an accelerating pace, with significant consequences for ecosystems and their biodiversity. Landscape transformation has far-reaching implications including reduced net primary production (NPP) available to support ecosystems, reduced…
Nature inequity and higher COVID-19 case rates in less green neighbourhoods in the United States
Author(s): Erica Spotswood | Matthew Benjamin | Lauren Stoneburner | Megan Wheeler
2021
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 and communities of colour—the same communities hardest hit by COVID-19. In…
Author(s): Pete Kauhanen | Sarah Lowe
2021
This document presents potential products and methods for monitoring a suite of tidal wetland habitat indicators designated for the Montezuma Wetlands Project using remote sensing technology. This document can also serve as a starting place for the Technical Advisory…