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Publications & Reports

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

Select the program or topic of your interest among the nested filters below. 

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…

Guadalupe River Watershed Reassessment 2022: 10-Year Reassessment of the Ecological Condition of Streams Based on the California Rapid Assessment Method

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…

Restoration Plan for the Laguna de Santa Rosa

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…

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Restoration Vision for the Laguna de Santa Rosa

Author(s): Amy Richey | Scott Dusterhoff | Sean Baumgarten | Emily Clark | Matthew Benjamin | Samuel Shaw | Ruth Askevold | Katie McKnight

2020

 The Laguna de Santa Rosa, located in the Russian River watershed in Sonoma County, CA, is an expansive freshwater wetland complex that hosts a rich diversity of plant and wildlife species, many of which are federally or state listed as threatened, endangered, or species…

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Building Ecological Resilience in Highly Modified Landscapes

Author(s): Erin Beller | Erica Spotswood | April Robinson | Mark Anderson | Eric Higgs | Richard Hobbs | Katharine Suding | Erika Zavaleta | Letitia Grenier | Robin Grossinger

2018

Ecological resilience is a powerful heuristic for ecosystem management in the context of rapid environmental change. Significant efforts are underway to improve the resilience of biodiversity and ecological function to extreme events and directional change across all types of…

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The Historical Ecology of the Tijuana Estuary & River Valley (Restore America's Estuaries 2018 Conference Presentation)

Author(s): Samuel Safran | Sean Baumgarten | Erin Beller | D. Bram | Jeff Crooks | Shawna Dark | Robin Grossinger | Travis Longcore | Julio Lorda | Eric Stein

2018

This talk was given at the 2018 Restore America's Estuary Conference in Long Beach, CA as part of a special session titled "Restoration Perspectives from the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve." It is based on information from the…

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Petaluma Valley Historical Hydrology and Ecology Study

Author(s): Sean Baumgarten | Emily Clark | Scott Dusterhoff | Robin Grossinger | Ruth Askevold

2018

This study reconstructs the historical landscape of the Petaluma River watershed and documents the major landscape changes that have taken place within the watershed over the past two centuries. Prior to Spanish and American settlement of the region, the Petaluma River…

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Historical Ecology and Landscape Change in the Central Laguna de Santa Rosa

Author(s): Sean Baumgarten | Robin Grossinger | Erin Beller | Wendy Trowbridge | Ruth Askevold

2017

This study synthesizes a diverse array of data to examine the ecological patterns, ecosystem functions, and hydrology that characterized a central portion of the Laguna de Santa Rosa during the mid-19th century, and to analyze landscape changes over the past 150 years. The…

Re-Oaking Silicon Valley: Building Vibrant Cities with Nature

Author(s): Erica Spotswood | Robin Grossinger | Steve Hagerty | Erin Beller | Letitia Grenier | Ruth Askevold

2017

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-oaking can increase the biodiversity and ecological resilience of urban…

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Tijuana River Valley Historical Ecology Investigation

Author(s): Samuel Safran | Sean Baumgarten | Erin Beller | Jeff Crooks | Robin Grossinger | Julio Lorda | Travis Longcore | D. Bram | Shawna Dark | Eric Stein | Tyler McIntosh

2017

The Tijuana River Valley Historical Ecology Investigation addresses a regional data gap by reconstructing the landscape and ecosystem characteristics of the river valley prior to the major modifications of the late 19th and 20th centuries. The research presented here…

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Ecological implications of modeled hydrodynamic changes in the upper San Francisco Estuary: Phase II Technical Memorandum

Author(s): Samuel Safran | Letitia Grenier | Robin Grossinger

2016

The physical and ecological environment of the upper San Francisco Estuary has been profoundly altered since the early 1800s. Recent efforts have utilized maps of the upper estuary’s historical habitat types to infer associated changes in desired ecosystem processes and…

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From past patterns to future potential: using historical ecology to inform river restoration on an intermittent California river

Author(s): Erin Beller | P.W. Downs | Robin Grossinger | B.K. Orr | Micha Salomon

2016

Context  Effective river restoration requires understanding a system’s potential to support desired functions. This can be challenging to discern in the modern landscape, where natural complexity and heterogeneity are often heavily suppressed or modified.…

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Mission Bay Historical Ecology Reconnaissance Study: Data Collection Summary (Technical Report)

Author(s): Samuel Safran | Emily Clark | Erin Beller | Robin Grossinger

2016

The goals of the Mission Bay Historical Ecology Reconnaissance Study were to collect and compile high-priority historical


data about the Mission Bay landscape, identify sources that could help to develop a deeper understanding of early


ecological conditions,…

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San Francisquito Creek Baylands: Landscape Change Metrics Analysis

Author(s): Micha Salomon | Scott Dusterhoff | Ruth Askevold | Robin Grossinger

2016

Major Findings


Over the past 150 years, lower San Francisquito Creek and the adjacent baylands have been modified for the sake of land reclamation and flood control. This study focused on developing an understanding of the magnitude of habitat change…

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Novato Creek Baylands Historical Ecology Study

Author(s): Micha Salomon | Sean Baumgarten | Scott Dusterhoff | Erin Beller | Ruth Askevold

2015

Project Background


Over the past century and a half, lower Novato Creek and the surrounding tidal wetlands have been heavily modified for flood control and land reclamation purposes. Levees were built in the tidal portion of the mainstem channel…

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Shifting Shores: Marsh Expansion and Retreat in San Pablo Bay

Author(s): Julie Beagle | Micha Salomon | Robin Grossinger | Sean Baumgarten | Ruth Askevold

2015

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY


As sea level rise accelerates, our shores will be increasingly vulnerable to erosion. Particular concern centers around the potential loss of San Francisco Bay’s much-valued tidal marshes, which provide natural flood protection to…

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The Tijuana River Valley: An Ecological Look into the Past

Author(s): Samuel Safran

2015

Hot springs in the Tijuana River? Antelope by the beach? Zip-lines over the international border?


Come find out what the Tijuana River Valley looked like in the not-so-distant past and how the river, estuary, and surrounding areas have changed over the past two…

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Natural Flow Hydrodynamic Modeling Technology Support Phase 1 Technical Memorandum

Author(s): SFEI | Samuel Safran

2014

This technical memorandum summarizes the work to date carried out by the San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) to generate a bathymetric-topographic digital elevation model (DEM) of the historical Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (representative of early 1800s conditions).…

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Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Historical Ecology Investigation: Exploring Pattern and Process

Author(s): Alison Whipple | Robin Grossinger | D. Rankin | B. Stanford | Ruth Askevold

2012

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has been transformed from the largest wetland system on the Pacific Coast of the United States to highly productive farmland and other uses embodying California’s water struggles. The Delta comprises the upper extent of the San Francisco…

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Shifting Baselines in a California Oak Savanna: Nineteenth Century Data to Inform Restoration Scenarios.

Author(s): Alison Whipple | Robin Grossinger | F. Davis

2010

For centuries humans have reduced and transformed Mediterranean-climate oak woodland and savanna ecosystems, making it difficult to establish credible baselines for ecosystem structure and composition that can guide ecological restoration efforts. We combined historical data…