WETLANDS
SHIP STRIKES
SHIP STRIKES
San Francisco Bay needs more than 545 million tonnes of dirt by 2100 to offset projected sealevel rise of 2 meters
In San Francisco Bay, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and its partners have embarked on a marsh restoration pilot project called 'shallow placement' which is basically dropping dredged sediment onto the bay floor. The plan is to allow the tides do the work of moving the mud around with the goal to increase the vertical growth of the marsh without drowning out vegetation and altering its composition.
SHIP STRIKES
SHIP STRIKES
SHIP STRIKES
50,000 ships
20,000 whales
On any given day, approximately 50,000 commercial maritime vessels navigate the world’s seas and waterways providing food and supplies to global communities.
Every year, cargo, cruise, and fishing vessels kill an estimated 20,000 whales. These ship strikes are a result of the overlap between whale feeding grounds and maritime shipping lanes, and an increase in vessels on the ocean.
SEA LEVEL RISE
SEA LEVEL RISE
SEA LEVEL RISE
"The whole issue of climate change and historic preservation intersects right at the waterfront," said Elaine Forbes, executive director of the Port of San Francisco. The agency manages a 7.5-mile stretch of the city's Bay-facing waterfront.
"To prepare for sea level rise, which is coming, we may need to lift this building up to seven feet,"
SOLUTIONS
SEA LEVEL RISE
SEA LEVEL RISE
"(to build a seawall) — the sense of interwoven city and nature would be destroyed, no matter how many “access points” were carved out along the way. But that’s the sort of option that City Hall and the port will juggle as San Francisco and the Army Corps try to settle on long-term plans for the City's bay shoreline during the next two years - " - John King, SF Chronicle
TREASURE ISLAND
TREASURE ISLAND
TREASURE ISLAND
Treasure Island + Future Mean Sea Level
With ever more sophisticated climate predictions, the outlook for sea level rise has continued to darken, indicating that current trends will likely accelerate through the end of the century and much of the island could find itself underwater frequently.
The Bay Conservation and Development Commission, the agency most empowered to weigh in on new waterfront building, is hamstrung by a legal mandate to regulate only what happens 100 feet inland, regardless of elevation
San Francisco Public Press, April '23
SEAWALL
TREASURE ISLAND
TREASURE ISLAND
MUD
"The three-mile-long rock-and-concrete shelf dug into the “soft mud” of the bay, which stretches from Fisherman’s Wharf in District 3 to Heron’s Head Park in District 10, is unlikely to withstand another earthquake, and is in “desperate need of repair,” according to the Port.
"...the seawall itself ends, glaringly, right where Bayview Hunters Point begins. And there’s no intention to extend it. "
(above) Flooding near Candlestick Point, south of Hunter's Point, April 2023
Mission Local - April 2023
HISTORY
TREASURE ISLAND
HISTORY
Filling in Yerba Buena Cove
Launched in 1818, the three-masted sailing vessel, that the Candace, was buried in mud and sand 168 years at Spear and Folsom Streets.
The bones of the Gold Rush ships (over 40 known) lie beneath the streets of the Embarcadero and Financial District.
“So much of San Francisco is its relationship to the water." - Archeologist James Delgado
Hugo sees the Candace - cut in two pieces and currently stored on Pier 50 - could be part of a rebirth of the Central Waterfront -
not unlike Fort Bragg and the blue whale