Adapting to Climate Change

Climate change poses enormous threats to the health of the Bay and the Bay Area. We are restoring wetlands, building Bay Smart Communities, and reducing pollution to make the Bay Area resilient and sustainable.

Funding Wetlands Restoration

Legislation and Regulatory Policy

State Water Policy

Funding Wetlands Restoration | Legislation and Regulatory Policy | State Water Policy

FUNDING WETLANDS RESTORATION

Save The Bay advocates for regional, state, and federal funding for tidal marsh restoration.

In June 2016, Bay Area voters overwhelmingly passed the Measure AA parcel tax, a $500 million regional investment over 20 years to protect and restore San Francisco Bay. This funding will help restore wetlands on roughly 36,000 acres currently held in public trust, but only $25 million will be available annually from Measure AA, and the total estimated cost is three times what Measure AA provides. Initial applications for Measure AA funds demonstrate that demand is greater than supply.

Save The Bay advocates for state and federal funds to match the investment that Bay Area voters made in passing Measure AA. A new UC Berkeley study finds that seas are rising faster—and the Bay shoreline is sinking more—than previously thought, making marsh restoration even more urgent. We need to start more marsh restoration sooner to stay ahead of sea level rise and create wetlands essential to improving water quality, expanding wildlife habitat, increasing public access to recreational open space, and protecting shoreline communities and infrastructure from flooding.

Read our report, Greening The Bay, which outlined the need for 100,000 acres of tidal marsh habitat around the Bay and identified local funding as the key to creating a healthy Bay for future generations.

LEGISLATION AND REGULATORY POLICY

We advocate for policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, protect clean air and water, and ensure that all Bay Area residents have access to a clean and healthy Bay.

Through our work in Green California, a statewide coalition of environmental groups, we support state legislation and regulations that combat the most dangerous effects of climate change. These policies:

Reduce greenhouse gas emissions and harmful particulate matter that pollute our air and water;
Ensure that low-income communities of color, which face a disproportionate burden of climate change and pollution, receive mitigation funding and support;
Increase public transit that reduces vehicle miles driven; and
Incentivize renewable energy and less reliance on fossil fuels.

Read more about our current legislative priorities.

STATE WATER POLICY

Save The Bay supports policies that ensure sufficient freshwater flow to the Bay as sea level rises and water temperatures increase.

Fresh water flows from the Delta into the Bay to improve Bay water quality and provide healthy habitats for fish and wildlife, including the many endangered and threatened species that live in the Bay and along its shoreline. These impacts are exacerbated by recent droughts, which are some of the worst in our state’s history. Save The Bay is part of a broad coalition calling on the Governor to heed the advice of state water experts and reduce diversion of fresh water from the Delta, develop regional and local water supplies, and increase conservation efforts. That approach will save money and better balance the water needs of all Californians, fisheries, and farmers.

Under Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed WaterFix and EcoRestore, formerly known as the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan, two 40-foot high tunnels, each 35 miles in length, would move water from the north Delta to pumps in the south Delta. This plan could decrease fresh water flows to San Francisco Bay, especially in drier years. Reduced flows into the Bay could further reduce already decimated salmon populations and increase salinity in sensitive freshwater habitat.

The scope of the current plan process is enormous, and could ultimately become one of the largest and most expensive public works projects in U.S. history, with no guarantee that it will provide a more reliable water supply for all Californians and protect, restore, and enhance the Delta ecosystem, as the Governor asserts.

Water wars in California are nothing new. The battle to stop the proposed Peripheral Canal more than 25 years ago was an important turning point in California water history. Save The Bay played a lead role then, exposing the threat the canal posed to San Francisco Bay, and mobilizing a large coalition to defeat it at the ballot box.
Save The Bay will continue to play a central role in advocating for sufficient freshwater flow into the Bay in order to protect the health of the entire Bay-Delta ecosystem and the fish and wildlife that call it home.

Voting for the Bay

We advance a progressive political agenda that puts the health of San Francisco Bay and its surrounding communities first. Learn more about our current electoral work.