The over 3-meter-high unstable banks of Meadowview stream were a serious public safety concern to the nearby community. To create a safer environment, the community installed a 3:1 slope planted with Californian native plants along the stream bank that was stabilized with compost rolls seeded with native grasses.

The Paiute Cutthroat Trout (PCT) Restoration Project was established in 2000 as a partnership between California Department of Fish and Wildlife, USFWS, and USFS. Their goal is to recover the PCT population in the Silver King Creek through non-native fish removal and PCT reintroduction.

To reduce the damage of future wildfires, the Paradise Recreation and Park District (PRPD) established multi-benefit greenspaces, or natural areas for recreational and aesthetic purposes (e.g. parks), within Paradise’s eastern and southern borders. These greenspaces will help increase community wellbeing and prevent trauma associated with wildfire by providing a multitude of recreational activities, conservation benefits, and local economic opportunity.

This project explored the potential of using Wildfire Risk Reduction Buffers (WRRBs) between the urban area and the wildlands for fire risk reduction. The team selected Paradise, CA as its prioritization site due to its fire risk, opportunity, and recreation value. They created five buffers totaling 34,553 acres and conduct habitat-sensitive fuel reduction and open space management.

The Chaparral Lands Conservancy is conducting a project to restore and enhance imperiled vernal pools and species on a City of San Diego preserve in Proctor Valley, which has been degraded by off-road vehicle activity. The Valley contains unique and imperiled vegetation, including coastal sage scrub, vernal pools, native grasslands, and chaparral, as well as numerous rare species. 

To recharge water into the groundwater basin, the Stockton East Water District (SEWD) led the Farmington Groundwater Recharge Program (Farmington Program), which replenishes groundwater through excavated fields called spreading basins. These basins capture stormwater and enhance precipitation infiltration into the aquifer.

Human development and climate change have led to the loss of wetland vegetation and altered hydrology in the Amargosa River watershed. This project conducted scientific research to support the conservation of the Amargosa vole population and the restoration of their wetland habitats.

Batiquitos Lagoon’s diverse ecosystems was degraded in the 20th century because of heavy agricultural and residential, and transportation runoff. Restoration efforts began in 1997 by local government. Major constructions involved dredging sand from central basin for beach replenishment (1994 – 1995) and placing fine sediment materials from the western into central basin to construct lagoon mouth jetties (1995 – 1996).

Until it was added to Red Rock Canyon State Park in 1989, the South Flat area had been heavily used by off-higway vehicles (OHVs) as a campground with large motor homes, leading to significant vegetation damage. The project goal was to revegetating the area with perennials.

The Bolsa Chica wetland restoration was the largest coastal wetland restorations ever undertaken in Southern California (Amigos, 2008). The project restored full and muted tidal wetlands function to almost 600 acres of the Bolsa Chica Wetlands that were degraded by agricultural and urban development.

Coastal erosion has repeatedly damaged bike paths and parking lots near Ventura, California. Local groups took a decade to agree on the decision to retreat from the ocean to rehabilitate the beach instead of constructing harden structure that limit recreational opportunities.

The Sonoma Baylands project recreated tidal wetlands that were diked and drained around 1900 and later separated by two major transportation corridors. The project used 2.0 million cubic meters of dredged material to create an intertidal template that accelerated tidal marsh restoration.

This project is a five-year program that restored the abandoned landing strip and tank trail at the Vertical Short Takeoff and Landing (VSTOL) site. The project tested various procedures such as site preparation, soil manipulation, irrigation methods, and plant protection to develop the most efficient methods for the restoration of native plant communities in disturbed areas while simultaneously controlling erosion and dust.

The San Francisco Bay Living Shorelines Project is implementing oyster reef and eelgrass bed restoration at two locations to demonstrate the ability of living shorelines to protect coastal infrastructure and communities while enhancing biodiversity. The oyster reefs and eelgrass beds successfully reduce wave energy, minimizing erosion and decreasing flood risks for the coastline. 

The San Francisco Parks Alliance, San Francisco Department of the Environment, and San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department received EPA Brownfield grants to clean up a former boatyard and revitalized the bayside property into a public park and greenspace. They also conducted a study to assess the property’s vulnerability to sea-level rise. 

This project restored 3 acres of shoreline and dune vegetation on Santa Monica Beach to enhance dune habitat and biodiversity along the shore. These enhanced dunes will protect the beach and nearby infrastructure from flooding and sea-level rise. This promotes recreation on the beaches and improves tourism to Los Angeles’ iconic beaches. 

As sea level rises, wetlands and marshes must move inland, or drown. Conservation groups in the San Francisco Bay region sought to preserve the shoreline of the 1000-acre tidal marsh. They designed a modelling tool to visualize changes in tidal marshes and bird population under various sea levels and sediment supply scenarios.

Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge in Orange County, California is primarily comprised of tidal salt marsh that is struggling to keep up with sea-level rise. This project placed 10 inches of cleaned dredged material (from a nearby harbor) over 8 acres of the lowest-elevation salt marsh. 

The tidal marshes at Sears Point in San Pablo Bay, CA have been subsiding for the past century due to draining and diking for development. Marsh restoration occurred by returning tidal flow to the area and building marsh mounds. This allowed for natural sediment accretion, revegetation, and newly created habitat for wildlife.  

The coast of Orange County, California, one of the few remaining tidal salt marshes in Southern California, is threatened by global sea level rise and local subsidence. Concerned by USGS’s modelling results of marsh loss, county managers and refuge managers collaborated to use county’s dredge sediment from an adjacent waterway to build up the refuge’s salt marshes.