Almost half of the world’s human population lives in coastal areas, and associated coastal development has significantly degraded or destroyed many coastal ecosystems. Burgeoning human populations and rising sea levels only further constrain the availability of habitat that coastal species depend on.
California’s 1,100 mile coast has more than 200 threatened, endangered or rare species living in coastal habitats. There are hundreds of coastal estuaries that provide critical rearing habitat for marine species, and are also important for recreation, water filtration, and carbon sequestration.
Only 10 percent of California’s historic coastal wetlands remain. Without intervention, we are at risk of losing 40 percent of our remaining coastal wetlands to sea level rise over the coming decades. Conservancy scientists are working to reverse these trends.
Taylor-Burns, R., Heard, S., Beck, M. W.
There is growing evidence for the beneficial role that wetlands can play in reducing flood risk, but in many urban estuaries, coastal development has resulted in dramatic habitat loss and fragmentation. In the past several decades, marsh restoration has emerged as a core management objective…
Grace C. Wu, Ryan A. Jones, Emily Leslie, James H. Williams, Andrew Pascale, Erica Brand, Sophie Parker, Brian Cohen, Joseph Fargione, Julia Souder, Maya Batres, Mary G. Gleason, Michael H. Schindel, Charlotte K. Stanley
This paper presents the results of the Power of Place-West project. The authors combined energy modeling with ecosystem and wildlife habitat data to determine the costs and impacts associated with deploying clean energy infrastructure across 11 states in the American West. The results of…
Vienna R. Saccomanno, Tom Bell, Camille Pawlak, Charlotte K. Stanley, Katherine C. Cavanaugh, Rietta Hohman, Kirk R. Klausmeyer, Kyle Cavanaugh, Abby Nickels, Waz Hewerdine, Corey Garza, Gary Fleener, Mary Gleason
Kelp forests are complex underwater habitats that provide valuable services for both people and nature. Despite their importance, increasingly severe stressors have resulted in declines in kelp forests in many regions including the North Coast of California. Given the significant and sustained loss of kelp…
Elliot Hall, Bryan DeAngelis
Oyster reefs are one of the most imperiled habitats on earth. However, current rates of restoration are too slow. We must radically increase the pace, scale, and impact of restoration to recover the abundance, resilience and benefits of these invaluable coastal ecosystems. Fortunately, incredible transformations…
Tamaki Bieri, Alyssa Mann
James A. Fitzsimons, Simon Branigan, Chris L. Gillies, Robert D. Brumbaugh, Jun Cheng, Bryan M. DeAngelis, Laura Geselbracht, Boze Hancock, Andrew Jeffs, Tein McDonald, Ian M.McLeod, Bernadette Pogoda, Seth J. Theuerkauf, Marine Thomas, Stephanie Westby, Philine S.E. zu Ermgassen
Widespread global declines in shellfish reefs have led to growing interest in their restoration and protection. With restoration projects now occurring on four continents and in at least seven countries, this project developed global restoration guidelines for these ecosystems, developed based on experience over the…
Philine S. E. zu Ermgassen, Ruth H. Thurstan, Jorge Corrales, Heidi Alleway, Alvar Carranza, Norbert Dankers, Bryan DeAngelis, Boze Hancock, Flora Kent, Ian McLeod, Bernadette Pogoda, Qing Liu, William G. Sanderson
Bivalve habitat restoration is growing in geographic extent and scale globally. Stakeholders and funders are increasingly drawn to shellfish restoration for the many ecosystem services these habitats provide. Ecosystem services, however, remain largely unquantified or even undescribed for the majority of species targeted for restoration.…
Philine S. E. zu Ermgassen, Bryan DeAngelis, , Jonathan R. Gair, Sophus zu Ermgassen, Ronald Baker, Andre Daniels, Timothy C. MacDonald, Kara Meckley, Sean Powers, Marta Ribera, Lawrence P. Rozas & Jonathan H. Grabowski
Seagrasses, oyster reefs, and salt marshes are critical coastal habitats that support high densities of juvenile fish and invertebrates. Yet which species are enhanced through these nursery habitats, and to what degree, remains largely unquantified. Quantitative estimates of production enhancement within specific embayments can be…
Bryan M. DeAngelis, Ariana E. Sutton-Grier, Allison Colden, Katie K. Arkema, Christopher J. Baillie, Richard O. Bennett, Jeff Benoit, Seth Blitch, Anthony Chatwin, Alyssa Dausman, Rachel K. Gittman, Holly S. Greening, Jessica R. Henkel, Rachel Houge, Ron Howard, A. Randall Hughes, Jeremy Lowe, StevenB. Scyphers, Edward T. Sherwood, Stephanie Westby, Jonathan H. Grabowski
This study examined three case studies involving large-scale and long-term restoration efforts including the seagrass restoration effort in Tampa Bay, Florida, the oyster restoration effort in the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and Virginia, and the tidal marsh restoration effort in San Francisco Bay, California.The studyfocused…
J. Fitzsimons, S. Branigan, R.D. Brumbaugh , T. McDonald, and zu Ermgassen, P.S.E. (eds), Bryan M. DeAngelis, chapter author
The purpose of this guide is to provide guidance in decision-making for establishing shellfish reef restoration projects and examples of different approaches undertaken byexperienced practitioners in a variety of geographic, environmental and social settings. This publication is intended to provide foundational information to serve as…
Carrie Schloss, Liz O’Donoghue, Dan Rademacher, Patric Huber, Jodi McGraw, Kim Becerril, Janine Knapp
Every year, infrastructure agencies and developers spend hundreds of millions of dollars to mitigate for impacts to sensitive species and habitats. These mitigation sites are often piecemeal projects, which can result in islands of mitigation. Regional advance mitigation programs seek to change this paradigm so…
Aaron M. Eger (University of New South Wales), Cayne Layton (University of Tasmania), Tristin A. McHugh (TNC), Mary Gleason, and Norah Eddy (TNC)
Kelp forests around the world are experiencing significant declines due to a variety of factors, driving the need for more active kelp restoration efforts. The science and practice of kelp forest restoration is still in its infancy and there remains a wealth of knowledge to…
Moses Katkowski, H. Scott Butterfield, John Knapp, Kelly Easterday, Laura Riege, Mark Reynolds
This 5-year action plan describes the vision for invasive plant species mapping, monitoring and treatment at the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve in Sourthern California. The plan is adaptive and will updated as new species, management approaches (including new and emerging technologies), and monitoring results…
S. L. Hamilton, V. R. Saccomanno, W. N. Heady, A. L. Gehman, S. I. Lonhart, R. Beas-Luna, F. T. Francis, L. Lee, L. Rogers-Bennett, A. K. Salomon and S. A. Gravem
The sunflower sea star (Pycnopodia helianthoides) is an important mesopredator in kelp forest ecosystems that was devastated by the outbreak of sea star wasting disease (SSWD). This study quantifies how SSWD impacted this iconic animal across its range and documents that the outbreak occurred more…
Environmental Science Associates (ESA) for The Nature Conservancy and Naval Base Ventura County
Charlotte Stanley, Alyssa Mann, Walter Heady
The United States operates thousands of military installations in the U.S. and worldwide, worth about $1.2 trillion. These facilities are where personnel train and test weaponry, with the specific aim of ensuring the nation’s security. With climate change, coastal installations are now being impacted by rising sea levels, erosion and…
Walter Heady, Alyssa Mann, Stacey Solie, Bob Battalio, James Jackson, Kendall Lousen, and Bob Barnes
The U.S. Congress and the Department of Defense (DoD) have determined that climate change is a threat to national security and have required military installations to develop plans to improve the climate resilience of both military installations and key supporting civilian infrastructure. This report, co-authored…
Alyssa Mann, Walter Heady, Charlotte Stanley
TNC and the United States Navy partnered together to prepare for the impacts of climate change on Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC), Point Mugu in California. NBVC is a critical and strategic asset of the U.S. Navy. It is also home to Mugu Lagoon, the…
Alyssa Mann, Walter Heady, Charlotte Stanley
Mary G. Gleason, Jennifer E. Caselle, Walter N. Heady, Vienna R. Saccomanno, Julie Zimmerman, Tristin Anoush McHugh, Norah Eddy
Global kelp forests are biodiverse and productive nearshore ecosystems that provide a wide range of ecosystem services, but they are at risk from both local stressors and global drivers of kelp loss. A structured decision making (SDM) framework can help guide kelp management and restoration…