How Restoring Wetlands Will Prepare Us for Sea Level Rise

by Robin Meadows, Bay Area Monitor

Last October, an excavator breached an old levee at Sears Point to initiate restoration of farmland back to tidal marsh. Photo courtesy Sonoma Land Trust/Corby Hines.

After California’s worst drought in 500 years, we’re finally enjoying a rainy winter thanks to one of the strongest El Niños on record. Droughts interspersed with drenchings are nothing new for us — these extremes are part of our normal weather cycle — and periodic wet years are nothing we can’t handle. But that’s about to change. In coming decades, sea level rise will amplify the storm surges and ultra-high “king” tides that send waves crashing over levees.

Making matters worse, sea level rise will also weaken the Bay Area’s resilience to floods. Tidal marshes edging the bay take the oomph out of waves and soak up water like sponges. However, according to a 2015 State Coastal Conservancy-led report, we stand to lose most of this natural flood protection to rising seas. The cost of an extreme storm to the Bay Area is estimated at $10 billion.

Continue reading at the Bay Area Monitor.