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Thursday, February 15, 2018 12:00PM. Webinar: Natural Shoreline Infrastructure: Working with Nature to Increase Coastal Resilience. Jenna Judge, NOAA. Sponsored by NOAA Start Center for Satellite Applications and Research. More information here.

Sea level rise and erosion are major threats to California's coast, requiring solutions that preserve the many benefits of a natural coast that Californians enjoy: flood protection, recreation, habitat for wildlife, water quality, and more. Seawalls are commonly installed to keep the shoreline in place and hold back the sea; however, they ultimately worsen impacts by increasing erosion along the seawall and the shoreline adjacent to it, causing already vulnerable beaches to shrink more. Natural shoreline infrastructure is an alternative that is more likely to preserve the benefits coastal ecosystems provide while also maintaining coastal access. The California coastline is heterogeneous, and no single solution will address all the challenges we anticipate in the future. Dr. Judge developed detailed case studies highlighting a range of approaches and offering lessons related to the design, permitting, implementation, and monitoring challenges encountered when pursuing nature-based.