Bay Area Greenprint Infrastructure Use Case: Water and Transportation Projects
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Infrastructure Use Case: Water & Transportation Workshop - Liz O’Donoghue, Director, Infrastructure and Land Use, The Nature Conservancy - Matt Freeman, Assistant General Manager/Project Director, Santa Clara County Open Space Authority - Brian Mendenhall, Project Manager Stream Stewardship Unit, Santa Clara Valley Water District - Kearey Smith, Senior Planner/Analyst, Metropolitan Transportation Commission - Emily Tibbott, Senior Program Advisor, California Strategic Growth Council This presentation was given during a workshop at the Bay Area Greenprint Launch Event on June 21, 2017 at the David Brower Center in Berkeley, CA. More info on the Bay Area Open Space Council's blog: http://openspacecouncil.org/the-bay-area-greenprint-has-launched/
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Bay Area Greenprint Infrastructure Use Case: Water and Transportation Projects
- 1. Bay Area Greenprint Infrastructure Use Case: Water and Transportation Liz O’Donoghue The Nature Conservancy
- 2. Why Infrastructure and the Greenprint? • Early warning signal – reduce risks to project and future obligations • Effectively engage with natural resources agencies and stakeholders • Develop partnerships to achieve shared goals and leverage funding • Incorporate enhancements to the natural environment • Direct strategic mitigation
- 3. Water, Conservation and the Greenprint Santa Clara Valley Water District Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority
- 4. Key Questions: - What are the best locations for conservation investments in multi-benefit projects? - Where are the best opportunities for habitat restoration compatible with improving recharge and flood risk reduction?
- 5. One Water Plan: Flood Risk Reduction + Water Supply + Stewardship ONE WATER Identify multi-benefit projects to improve watershed health Prepare for grants and funding Establish priorities for future funding Improve community and agencies partnerships
- 7. Identify Opportunities to Meet Multiple Objectives
- 8. The Coyote Valley: Toward A Shared Conservation Vision Image source: SusCon
- 13. o Natural groundwater recharge. o Additional stormwater capture, providing opportunities to mitigate and reduce downstream flood risk. o Expanded riparian corridor and hundreds of acres of new wetlands, wet meadows, and valley oak savannah. o Improved water quality. Coyote Valley Linkage Co-Benefits: Water Resources Emerging Findings
- 14. Transportation and the Greenprint High Speed Rail Authority Alignment MTC, SGC
- 15. Plan Bay Area 2040 Projects
- 16. Gilroy High Speed Rail Station Area Planning • State policy support for conservation • Urban Growth and Conservation Program • Gilroy: A tale of two station areas (and alignments) • State support at the City and County levels • Potential benefits of Bay Area Greenprint • Science + visuals for decision makers • Synthesize with economic and other data • Pair with urban planning tools
- 17. Key Question: • What are the differences in impacts and benefits of two high speed rail alignments near Gilroy?
- 19. Questions?
- 20. Thank you to: Brian Mendenhall Matt Freeman Kearey Smith Emily Tibbott
Editor's Notes
- Our work to date with SCVWD is fairly conceptual Within the Linkage Vision area and surrounding locations, we’d like to drill down and ID more specific project locations where we should focus our work Where are the best locations for multi-benefit projects where OSA and SCVWD can pool resources to get the highest return on investment? Projects that promote habitat restoration that advance SCVWD’s mission for flood risk reduction and recharge?
- Within the Upper Coyote Creek Watershed is the 7400-acre Coyote Valley itself A top conservation priority for the SCVOSA and partners due to multiple outstanding resource values… OSA is engaged in many assessments and studies to better understand these conservation values which include water, wildlife, and working lands among others… with the aim of identifying multi-benefit projects with high ROI
- Landscape connectivity is one of the most important conservation values of the CV One of only 2 locations that connect over 1 million acres of core habitat in the SCz and Diablo Range mountains, ID’d in numerous studies including BACL as essential to support biodiversity and long-term ecosystem resilience in the face of climate change View from San Jose looking south. Diablo Range on the left, SC Mts. On the right. Highlights that CV is one of two critical linkages (the other is Pajaro to the south). CV is the point where the Santa Cruz Mountains with the Diablo/Hamilton range are the closest together – they almost touch. Without this connection, certain iconic local wildlife could face extinction. You can see from this map how the SC Mts will become an island without linkages connecting it to other mountain ranges. The 7,000 acres of natural and agricultural lands is mostly undeveloped, and represents some of the last remaining valley floor habitat in the Bay Area. This makes protecting this linkage crucial for genetic diversity and the ability of species to adapt to climate change. We could face local extinctions if animals become isolated, and there is evidence that this is already occurring. With just a few thousand acres, we are able to connect over 1 million acres of core habitat (as defined by the BACL) that includes almost 500,000 acres of protected lands, and a conservation investment of $3.5 billion on land acquisition (not counting stewardship and public access). Protecting this linkage is essential to the long-term ecological health and resilience of our area.
- Also working to ID priorities for ag conservation Partnering with Santa Clara County to develop Climate and Ag Protection Plan, which includes the Coyote Valley Regional ACE program will be one element of the CAPP, where ag easements can help reduce sprawl-type development and reduce GHGs This image shows over 3700 acres of remaining farmland in the Coyote Valley, the second largest contiguous block in al of SCl County, and more than 10% of all that remains in active production today
- OSA is also focusing on water resources, and we’re partnering with SCVWD to better understand how the watershed functions, and where the OSA can work on land conservation projects to assist SCVWD with its mission to protect water supplies, provide flood protection, and promote environmental stewardship.
- On 6/15/17, OSA released the Coyote Valley Landscape Linkage report, which serves as a vision to protect and restore areas within northern CV that provide connectivity, habitat restoration for RTE species, ag viability, and some restored floodplain functionality. The linkage is intended to connect upland habitat in the Santa Cruz Mountains to the Diablo Range at the narrowest point where these ranges meet. The design takes advantage of the horseshoe of uplands and protected lands that surround the Northern Coyote Valley and encompasses the two well documented movement corridors including Fisher Creek, the Coyote Creek Parkway, and adjacent network of protected lands. Based on Valley’s historical ecology… The backbone of the linkage is Fisher Creek and associated flood plain. FC is a documented wildlife movement pathway and is important for connectivity. By restoring Fisher Creek to it’s historical alignment, we have an opportunity to restore the hydrology of Laguna Seca, the largest natural, seasonal fw wetland in the South Bay. Laguna Seca could have seasonal and perennial features that will be very important for species as the climate changes. Laguna Seca could support CTS, CRLF, WPT, wetland and waterbirds, including those migrating on the Pacific flyway, nesting habitat for tricolored blackbirds, and water for live-in and move-through mammal species. Other elements: wet meadow, valley oak savannah, willow riparian: opportunities to restore habitat for RTE species Wildlife friendly agriculture is an important component of the linkage design as low intensity crops have been documented to be important habitat for raptors & tricolored blackbirds, as well as cover for terrestrial species moving through. A co-benefit of this is that it supports the local farming economy.
- OSA is partnering with the SCVWD on and other technical partners (Alnus, SFEI) to use CV as a case study for the SCVWD One Water Master Plan. Great alignment between opps in CV and goals and objectives in One Water Plan. These are the emerging findings. Hydrology research should complement the efforts the WD is doing with it’s watershed planning.