San Francisco Bay Regional Sediment Management
Theme:
Regional Sediment Management
Presenter:
Brenda Goeden
San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission
455 Golden Gate Avenue, Suite 10600
San Francisco, CA 94102-7019
Telephone: (415) 352-3623
Fax: (415) 352-3606
E-Mail: brendag@bcdc.ca.gov
Abstract:
The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) is a state agency
charged with administration of the Coastal Zone Management Act in the San Francisco Bay and
authorizes activities including dredging, aquatic sand mining, habitat restoration, flood control
and development activities among others. San Francisco Bay is facing two convergent
significant changes to the estuarine system, decreasing sediment supply from the Delta and
rising seas due to climate change. As a result, BCDC is undertaking the development of a
regional sediment management plan that incorporates different sediment management issues
from flood control to habitat development, dredging and aggregate mining.
As part of this effort, BCDC is evaluating the value of Bay beaches and marsh restoration
projects, the role they play in sediment transport, habitat and shoreline stability. There are a
number of small beaches located along the shoreline being examined and classified for typology
and erosional issues. Through this effort, BCDC is analyzing the role that beaches play in
shoreline stabilization, sediment transport through the estuary to the outer coast littoral cell,
and examining if there are potential candidates for nourishment projects. In addition, San
Francisco Bay has lost over 90% of its historic wetlands due to diking and filling between the
mid 19th and 20th centuries. Several entities are undertaking small to landscape size marsh
restoration projects. In this presentation we will discuss the nexus between sediment sources,
sinks, habitat restoration, sea level rise and a declining sediment supply.
Presenter’s biography:
Brenda Goeden is the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission’s (BCDC)
Sediment Program Manager. She supervises the day-to-day operations of the Commission’s
staff who are carrying out the Long Term Management Strategy for the Placement of Dredged
Sediment the San Francisco Bay Region’s program, sand mining activities and is currently
developing a regional sediment management program for the Bay in collaboration with her
team and regulatory and resource agencies in the Bay Area, she also is part of the interagency
Dredged Material Management Office. The BCDC was the first Coastal Zone Management
Agency in the nation an is responsible for implementing the San Francisco Bay Plan, regulating
Bay Fill, development and providing the maximum feasible public access to the Bay for the
public.