Where creeks meet baylands: opportunities to re-establish freshwater and sediment delivery to the baylands of San Francisco Bay

As baylands restoration and climate change alter the ecosystems of the Bay, novel restoration approaches are needed to meet growing challenges. Paramount among these challenges for the baylands is a projected lack of inorganic sediment to help wetland elevations keep pace with sea-level rise over the coming decades. One restoration approach that may address this challenge is to diversify the way that creeks are connected to baylands, returning those connections to the adaptive, resilient nodes of habitat complexity that they were historically. In this way, the templates of landscape connectivity from the past can guide how our present landscapes adapt to the pressures of climate change. The intended outcome of this effort is to aid in the long-term resilience of baylands as sea level rises by working with natural processes to deliver sediment while providing additional benefits, like flood risk management, to nearby communities.

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