Loma Prieta Chapter eNewsletter: October, Volume 2

The San Francisco Bay is far more than a beautiful backdrop to our home. It is the centerpiece of our regional identity and a vital protector of our communities and environment. With sea levels rising, the Bay’s natural defenses, its living shoreline, are as much at risk as our built environment. Squeezed between shoreline development and rising seas, the Bay’s living shoreline is at risk of drowning. Yet we all depend on its invaluable ecosystem services (benefits that nature provides to people) and will increasingly need it as a core asset in our response to sea level rise and climate change. Through nature-based adaptation, we can harness the power of the environment to build resilience, protect communities, and preserve critical ecosystems that we all depend upon. Let’s explore how this approach works and why it’s essential for the Bay Area’s future. Read the full article.

Shown above is the Willet exhibiting the phenomena of male birds watching the nest at night instead of females. Willets are a shorebird species with two distinct populations: the Western Willets, inland breeders that winter on coasts, and Eastern Willets, coastal breeders that winter in the south of the US. The Western Willet population is forecasted by California Audubon to lose 70% of its wintering range by 2080. Willets have lost native grassland to agricultural conversion while also losing coastal wintering sites and wetlands to urban development and sea level rise. To conserve and save these birds, Sierra Club's Bay Alive and 30x30 campaigns promote the use of nature based solutions to protect the San Francisco Bay wetlands, associated habitats and human communities, from sea level rise. The 30x30 campaign works to conserve 30% of California’s lands and waters by 2030. Learn more.

Can our Bay depend on you? Watch the most recent video in our sea level rise educational series. Bay marshlands need space to migrate as sea levels rise. Trapped between rising sea levels and shoreline development, Bay marshlands are being squeezed to death.

Watch the full video series to learn about the threats that come with sea level rise, what's at risk, and solutions we can use to adapt and protect the Bay. Join the Bay Alive Campaign.