Scientists, researchers, planners and lawmakers gathered at UC Irvine on Tuesday, Dec. 20, to discuss ways to address the region’s chronic coastal erosion issues.
The meeting, arranged by Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Laguna Beach), was a dialogue about some of the challenges decision-makers face in responding to the shrinking coastline, which in recent years has claimed stretches of beach in south Orange County and more recently caused damage to a coastal railroad that is costing millions and months to fix.
The discussion was led by a team of scientists from the Samueli School of Engineering who have been monitoring and researching coastal erosion and proposed the creation of a digital platform that could help decision-makers access science-based solutions and engage the public.
Beaches are not just environmental indicators for matters such as sea level rise and climate change, but also economic engines and a rich part of the state’s heritage, said Samueli School of Engineering Dean Magnus Egerstedt.
“So really focusing in on beaches and taking care of our beaches is win-win-win for California,” he said. “It’s extraordinarily important we get this right.”
Petrie-Norris, who last year authored legislation to cut unnecessary “green tape” for coastal adaptation permitting, said the issue is a priority and lawmakers have to get more serious about safeguarding the state’s shoreline.
“I think we all agree the climate crisis is here, now. It almost feels like we’re living in a disaster movie – raging wildfires, floods, rising seas, severe drought,” she said. “We know all of this is under threat from climate change, rising seas from coastal erosion, and the stakes really could not be higher.”
Brett Sanders, a UCI professor of civil and environmental engineering, said a digital platform could use already available research and data, “so these communities that are facing these growing problems with coastal erosion are better positioned to quickly take action, be effective and have a plan to adapt.”
“When we save our beaches, we do what’s good for the economy, ecosystems, do what’s good for recreation, livelihoods, storm protection and cultural heritage,” Sanders said.
What’s needed, he said, is a way to predict where damage might occur before it happens – an ability to see into the future.
The digital platform would be able to track early-warning signs and give communities options for solutions by using a monitoring-predicting system, a color-coded map that could show which beaches are in the most danger. It could integrate wave-prediction systems, which are already readily available, Sanders said.
“We have all this information we can be taking advantage of, we have the ability to deploy teams to find more information if needed, we need to somehow make this available to communities in their planning to respond to erosion issues,” he said.
Katherine Mach, a professor at the University of Miami, said communities have to decide what their future will look like – will they build rock revetments and sea walls to respond in emergencies or come up with proactive strategies?
“A lot of the actions we’ve been taking, to a shocking degree, have been flying blind. We don’t know the long-term effectiveness of many of the different choices,” Mach said.
A modeling platform the UCI team developed recently to show flooding risks in Los Angeles County can also be used for predicting beach loss, allowing a more collaborative process between the public and decision-makers, she said.
California State Parks, which owns 25% of the California coastline and 35% of the beaches in Orange County, has been directed by lawmakers in Sacramento to start coming up with solutions for climate resilience, said Riley Pratt, State Parks’ senior environmental scientist.
State Parks has also teamed up with UCI in recent years to do measuring and data collection at several local beaches.
Its leadership hopes to work with other local agencies to address issues in their communities; for example a partnership was recently forged for a living shoreline project at Capistrano Beach and Doheny State Beach, which should benefit both beaches.
A living shoreline uses a combination of cobblestone buried under sand dunes that are topped with vegetation to anchor the beach and protect from wave action.
“It’s an opportunity to test pilot projects,” Pratt said. “We want to understand how these new solutions, these new innovations perform under real-world scenarios.”
Source: Orange County Register
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