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U.S. National Park Service, Pacific West Region

The North-central California coast and ocean is a globally significant and extraordinarily productive marine and coastal ecosystem that boasts an array of local, state and federal protected areas and other managed lands. Despite this richness and attention to conservation, this region is still vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council (Council) convened the multi-agency Climate-Smart Adaptation Working Group (Working Group) in response to the need to develop climate-smart adaptation strategies to enable coastal and marine resource managers to respond to, plan, and manage for the impacts of climate change. Working Group members sought to provide...
North-Central California Coast and Ocean Climate-Smart Adaptation Project
The North-central California coast and ocean is a globally significant, extraordinarily diverse and productive marine and coastal ecosystem that is home to abundant wildlife, valuable fisheries, two national marine sanctuaries, two national parks, and a national wildlife refuge. It is a treasured resource of the San Francisco Bay Area’s seven million residents that rely on this unique marine ecosystem for their livelihoods and recreation. Significant coastal areas, including Tomales Bay, Bolinas Lagoon, Estero Americano, and Estero de San Antonio, support a diversity of habitats, including eelgrass beds, intertidal sand and mud flats, and salt and freshwater marshes that provide numerous ecosystem services such...
The goal of the North-central California Coast and Ocean Climate-Smart Adaptation Project is to collaboratively develop and implement adaptation actions in response to, and in preparation for, climate change impacts on habitats, species and ecosystem services (termed focal resources). Vulnerability to climate and non-climate stressors was assessed for select focal resources in the region during Phase 1 of the project through two decision-support workshops. Climate-smart adaptive management actions will be developed and prioritized by the Climate-Smart Adaptation Working Group in Phase 2 of the project.
The Greater Farallones NMS Climate Adaptation Plan is the result of a 2-year process to characterize climate impacts and vulnerabilities to Sanctuary resources along the North-central California coast and ocean, and to develop management strategies to respond to and decrease those vulnerabilities, ultimately enhancing resource resilience to climate impacts. The Plan represents the culmination of a Sanctuary Advisory Council planning process that resulted in the development of 78 adaptation strategy recommendations for the region’s management agencies to take to enhance coastal habitat resilience. The Plan presents the final adaptation strategies from these recommendations that Greater Farallones National Marine...
This vulnerability assessment is a science-based effort to identify how and why focal resources (habitats, species, and ecosystem services) across the North-central California coast and ocean region are likely to be affected by future climate conditions. The goal of this assessment is to provide expert-driven, scientifically sound assessments to enable marine resource managers to respond to, plan, and manage for the impacts of climate change to habitats, species, and ecosystem services within the region. This information can help prioritize management actions, and can help managers understand why a given resource may or may not be vulnerable to a changing climate, enabling a more appropriate and effective management...
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