CALIFORNIA’s COASTAL SEDIMENT MASTER PLAN
Promoting a Healthy California Coast through Regional Sediment Management
Clifton Davenport, CA Geological Survey
The California Coastal Sediment Management Workgroup (CSMW), a federal, state, local and NGO
collaborative, has been working since 1999 to facilitate implementation of regional sediment
management (RSM) throughout coastal California. Co-chaired by the California Natural Resources
Agency and the US Army Corps of Engineers, the CSMW is comprised of numerous state, federal, local
and non-governmental agencies. To accomplish its mission, CSMW is using a four-fold approach to
develop a coastal Sediment Master Plan (SMP) focused on protecting and restoring coastal habitat,
enhancing recreational safety and tourism, and promoting soft solutions for storm-damage protection
along the 1,100 mile California coastline. First, after assessing issues along most of California’s coast
through a series of public meetings, CSMW has been developing documents and computer-based tools
to address coastal sediment management needs—e.g., informational, regulatory, environmental, and
economic guidance documents as well as a searchable Coastal References Database and a WebMapper
(GIS Viewer and Database of relevant spatial data). Second, CSMW conducts a variety of outreach
activities to explain RSM, the SMP, and how sediment management can assist stakeholders (agency staff
and general public). Third, recognizing that California’s lengthy coastline and diversity of conditions
required regional approaches to fully address local issues, CSMW initiated development of Coastal RSM
Plans (CRSMPs) using regional partners to help assess conditions and plan for sediment management
within littoral cells or counties. Fourth, CSMW works to identify an appropriate governance structure for
each CRSMP to help ensure that they can and will be implemented. This last area has been particularly
difficult because of a number of impediments that complicate efforts to find regional partners willing
and capable of implementing the CRSMP throughout their region. Needed are interested entities with
appropriate jurisdiction throughout the CRSMP area. State Marine Protected Areas and National Marine
Sanctuaries are interested in our mission but may be bound by regulatory interpretations that inhibit or
prevent sediment management activities. Government agencies with overlapping authorities and
disparate missions further complicate the jurisdictional setting. Finding such entities is one of the
governance challenges that CSMW is working through, and even when an appropriate regional partner
is involved, funding incremental activities associated with RSM has remained an issue. CSMW is
currently conducting a second state-wide set of coastal public meetings to discuss SMP results and
challenges with regional stakeholders, and is seeking to make the SMP and associated CRSMPs relevant
to sea level rise and coastal resilience.
Submitter Information:
Clifton Davenport
California Geological Survey
Project Manager Coastal Sediment Management Workgroup
135 Ridgway
Santa Rosa, CA
707 576-2986
Clif.davenport@conservation.ca.gov
BIO FOR CLIFTON W. DAVENPORT
Clifton Davenport is a California Professional Geologist, Certified Engineering Geologist and
Certified Hydrogeologist. He graduated from UC Davis with honors in 1981, and obtained a
Masters degree in Environmental Geology from California State University at Hayward in 1988.
He is a Senior Engineering Geologist with the California Geological Survey (CGS), and for the
past ten years, working to develop and implement the California Coastal Sediment Master
Plan as Project Manager for the Coastal Sediment Management Workgroup (CSMW). He also
works on alluvial fan hazard identification, coastal geologic mapping and, as lead geologist for
the Santa Rosa office, oversees tsunami emergency response and other efforts. His earlier
careers include Principal Geologist for both a large and small hazardous waste environmental
consulting firm, his own environmental consulting firm, Project Manager for the California
Department of Toxic Substances Control, an earlier stint with CGS mapping geology and
landslides throughout northern California, and Nuclear Engineer & Electronics Technician for
the US Navy.