SAN
FRANCISCO, July 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this summer approved a pair
of grants to the San Francisco Estuary Partnership (SFEP) to
advance projects to protect and restore watersheds in Hayward, Richmond, San
Pablo, and North Richmond.
Local partners contributed matching funds to supplement the new
grants, which were awarded through the EPA San Francisco Bay Water
Quality Improvement Fund program. Hosted by the Association of Bay
Area Governments (ABAG), the San Francisco Estuary Partnership is a
collaboration of local, state and federal agencies;
non-governmental organizations; and academic and business leaders
working to protect and restore the San Francisco Bay-Delta
Estuary
"This combination of local and federal funds not only focuses on
supporting projects that improve local water quality, mitigate the
impacts of flooding, and strengthen climate resilience for
underserved communities, but also looks at ways to expand local and
regional expertise in advancing nature-based solutions. Funding for
this forward-looking approach allows us to further fortify our
efforts to protect and restore the San Francisco Estuary," said
SFEP Director Caitlin Sweeney.
The Estuary Partnership's watershed protection and restoration
projects include:
Restoring Wildcat Creek: Community-Led Watershed Health
Update and Priority Project ($12.2
million — includes $6.1
million from EPA plus $6.1
million from West County Wastewater)
The Wildcat Creek project in North
Richmond and San Pablo
seeks to create a watershed-scale restoration action plan,
implement critically needed restoration in the lower part of the
watershed, and create design plans to address critical gaps in the
Wildcat Creek Trail that hinder underserved communities from
accessing the bay shoreline and the extensive San Francisco Bay
Trail network.
This four-year project will expand the reach of the existing
Wildcat Creek Watershed Restoration Action Plan (WRAP) from solely
within the city of San Pablo to
the entire 13-mile length of the creek, connecting multiple cities.
The Re-WRAP will outline a series of restoration actions along
Wildcat Creek to reduce flooding, improve habitat quality, and
increase access to recreational resources. The project also
includes restoring a mile of Wildcat Creek and 10 acres of adjacent
habitat, improving fish passage, and stockpiling sediment removed
from the system for future shoreline climate adaptation projects in
North Richmond. The removal of
50,000 cubic yards of sediment from this system will result in
decreased flooding risk in the low-elevation community of
North Richmond.
The Estuary Partnership will lead project management,
administration, reporting, and financial tracking and accounting
while working in partnership with community-based organizations and
public partners including The Watershed Project, Urban Tilth, Trout
Unlimited, Contra Costa County Flood Control and West County
Wastewater to support restoration of the creek, trail design and
future construction of the North Richmond Living Levee.
"This funding offers the opportunity to not only restore and
safeguard green spaces for future generations, but to continue to
collaborate with regional partners including the San Francisco
Estuary Partnership, to create spaces that expand nature access and
lower the impact of climate change for our vulnerable communities
now," said Juliana Gonzalez, Executive Director of the
Watershed Project.
Pivot Points: Moving Nature-based solutions for Water Quality
Improvements and Shoreline Adaption ($9
million — includes $4.5
million from EPA plus $4.5
million in matching funds from project partners)
The Pivot Points project continues work that meets significant
environmental outcomes for San Francisco Bay, including continued
progress to restore 830 acres of tidal marsh, getting the First
Mile Levee in Hayward to a
shovel-ready state, and reducing nitrogen loads to the Bay, thereby
ensuring improved habitat health, higher water quality, and
protection of vulnerable East Bay communities from sea level
rise.
The Pivot Points project also advances multi-benefit
nature-based solutions (NBS) for a resilient shoreline by filling
important gaps in taking NBS from the planning to the
implementation stage. To remedy these gaps, the project will apply
holistic methods that include addressing permitting barriers,
establishing long-term governance and management plans, and
ensuring technology transfer. The Pivot Points project will
increase regional expertise of how to apply NBS to support
sustainable solutions to environmental challenges while advancing
the on-the-ground implementation of the First Mile Horizontal
Levee. SFEP will team with the East Bay Dischargers Authority, East
Bay Regional Park District, Save The Bay, the Hayward Area
Shoreline Planning Agency and other partners.
"The Pivot Points project employs nature to protect the
shoreline and communities from rising tides and storms –
multi-benefit solutions to climate impacts that will benefit people
and wildlife," said David Lewis,
Executive Director of Save The Bay.
The San Francisco Estuary Partnership for over 30 years has
worked with local communities and federal and state agencies to
improve the health of California's
most urbanized estuary. The San Francisco Estuary is named in the
federal Clean Water Act as one of 28 "estuaries of national
significance." Millions of people, hundreds of communities,
and many industries rely on the San Francisco Estuary for fresh
water, recreation, agriculture and more. Thousands of wildlife
species rely on the estuary for habitat.
For more information about the San Francisco Estuary Partnership
and awarded projects, visit:
https://www.sfestuary.org/our-programs/.
Connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
To learn more about the Wildcat Creek project, visit: Wildcat
Creek Trail Visioning Project – Urban Tilth, Wildcat-San Pablo
Creeks Watershed Council.
To learn more about the First Mile project, visit: First Mile
Horizontal Levee - San Francisco Estuary Partnership
(sfestuary.org).
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SOURCE Association of Bay Area Governments