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Melissa Pitkin

Implementing Climate-Smart Restoration along California's Central Coast
This case study project is on the Upper Pajaro River, which crosses a 9,000-acre natural floodplain in the Central Coast. A portion of the riparian corridor within the floodplain is highly degraded due to intensive agricultural land use that has diminished its wildlife value and severed habitat connectivity. If restored, the corridor would connect 2 million acres of core habitat in adjacent uplands and link exceptionally rich natural communities in three climatically diverse coastal mountain ranges. This project developed a suite of climate-smart restoration practices in the Central Coast Ecoregion and pilot those practices on the Upper Pajaro River as a case study. Project goals are to: 1) Establish native riparian...
Thanks to the generous support of the California Landscape Conservation Cooperative,Point Blue Conservation Science, The Nature Conservancy, and the Elkhorn Slough CoastalTraining Program were able to develop a suite of climate-smart restoration practices in theCentral Coast Ecoregion, pilot those practices on the Upper Pajaro River, and shareknowledge gained and developed with the local community as well as with the broaderrestoration community in California.This report provides high level results of our work with links to the products developed.
Students, teachers, and community members are key to implementing climate-smart restoration. Involving the community, through students, teachers, and families, has been a successful model for the past 15 years of Point Blue’s Students and Teachers Restoring A Watershed Program (STRAW).The following curriculum was designed and implemented with the help of 34 teachers from San Benito, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz counties. The four-lesson program involves three classroom sessions and one restoration day where students are actually doing the professional habitat restoration, working side-by-side with the staff from the STRAW Program.We welcome you to use our curriculum and materials as a model to do climate-smart restoration...
Workshop GoalThis workshop aimed to broaden knowledge about supporting riparian restoration projects that use the principles of climate-smart restoration.Workshop DescriptionThe workshop consisted of a presentation by Point Blue on a set of principles designed to guide restoration planning to incorporate anticipated climate change. Following, we shared case studies where recent funding mechanisms have facilitated climate considered restoration design, and discuss some of barriers our practitioners face when attempting to fund and implement climate considered restoration projects. Through a facilitated discussion, we discussed together possible solutions.
Two great resources for restoration practitioners interested in designing their projects in a way that prepares them for climate change – climate-smart restoration:1) Restoration Checklist: A check-list (Microsoft Word) that can be used to plan and describe climate-smart restoration projects.2) Climate-Smart Restoration Design packets: San Francisco and San Pablo bays, California: A Microsoft Excel workbook and associated “How To” guide (pdf) for marsh-upland transition zone habitat Marin and Sonoma counties: A Microsoft Excel workbook and associated “How To” guide (pdf) for riparian habitat Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz counties: A Microsoft Excel workbook and associated...
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