Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Sea level rise pole at
Crissy Field lagoon, on the
San Francisco shore. Col-
ored balls depict different
levels of projected rise,
from red (19 feet, 8
inches, if the Greenland ice
cap melts) through yellow
(4 feet, 7 inches, the high
end of predicted sea level
rise by 2100) and blue (low
end of predicted rise).
(Ariel Rubissow Okamoto)
Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC; regional transit and
roads), and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. “ABAG is
building the houses, and MTC the freeways, that are going to get flooded,
and the air board is responsible for reducing the greenhouse gases causing
the problem. So it's a good idea for us all to work together on climate
change,” says Will Travis.
As part of estuary planning, CASCaDE scientists hope to model struc-
tural changes in the watershed such as the building of a peripheral canal or
the flooding of multiple delta islands after an earthquake. “Climate change
is not an isolated mechanism of ecosystem alteration. It interacts with
land-use change and water management. It's just the outer layer of the
onion,” says Cloern.
Engineers and ecologists are already talking about three shoreline tri-
age options: to hold the line, retreat, or change the land use. Phased aban-
donment of low- and medium-density urban areas at high risk is on the
table to discuss, as well as banning new development in future flood zones.
There's also talk of improving the California coast's “armor” to the tune of
$14 billion and 1,100 miles of new or improved levees and sea walls, and of
prohibiting development in natural lands adjacent to wetlands, to give
them room to retreat from advancing seas.
