OST is partnering with the California Ocean Protection Council to convene an expert working group to explore the challenges and opportunities that climate change poses to restoration goals, practices, and target outcomes. The working group is collaborating to produce a science-based, climate-centered document presenting considerations for managers, policymakers, and restoration practitioners as they set statewide priorities and targets, and undertake marine and coastal restoration projects.
From 2021-2023, the California Ocean Science Trust convened a panel of scientific experts to provide technical input on restoration and mitigation policy in California. Through that process, it became evident that a science-based document outlining considerations for successful and resilient coastal and marine restoration into the future—exploring ways climate change may prompt updates to historical approaches to coastal and marine restoration and mitigation—would be a highly useful product for state and local resource managers, especially those involved in managing, funding, or implementing on-the-ground restoration efforts.
In response, this working group will convene throughout 2025 to develop a report presenting scientific perspectives on coastal and marine restoration under climate change, addressing topics of key management relevance including:
This report will provide actionable scientific guidance for California State agencies, restoration practitioners, and scientific researchers engaged in restoration and mitigation efforts, either on a project-by-project basis or at a statewide level. The report is intended to be a scientific resource for these users as they undertake restoration projects, identify research priorities, and consider statewide strategies for restoration and mitigation.
Dr. Richard F. Ambrose, University of California, Los Angeles
Dr. Marissa Baskett, University of California, Davis
Dr. Kathryn Beheshti, University of California, Santa Barbara
Dr. Peter Raimondi, University of California, Santa Cruz
