San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC)
The Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) is dedicated to the protection and enhancement of San Francisco Bay and to the encouragement of the Bay's responsible use. BCDC was the first coastal protection agency created in the country in 1965 by the California state legislature and has permitting jurisdiction in the Bay, 100 feet inland of the shoreline band, and other specified waterways throughout the nine Bay Area counties, with commissioners represented by each of the nine counties. The Bay areas that currently flood every ten to twenty years during extreme weather and tides are projected to flood regularly. These areas are home to over 160,000 residents, critical infrastructure, diverse habitats, and valuable community resources.
BCDC’s Climate Change Program goals are to promote research to improve the understanding of climate change impacts, mitigation and adaptation; develop and implement climate change adaptation policies in coordination with regional partners and stakeholders; and to build the region’s institutional capacity to effectively adapt to climate change in a coordinated and collaborative way.
The Adaptation Assistance Program (AAP) is one part of the Commission’s Climate Change Program and was developed to increase Bay Area local governments’ capacity for adaptation planning and implementing adaptation strategies. These assistance efforts are to be directed towards addressing the needs of planners and managers working in shoreline land use planning, public works, park and open space districts, flood control districts and wastewater authorities, as well as resource-based managers.
BCDC is taking a leadership role to address sea level rise and other global climate change impacts on the Bay and shoreline. Several studies are now underway by the Commission and its partners to gain better understanding of climate change impacts and methods to address them, including: (1) a study of local wetlands in relation to sea level rise; (2) participation in a regional climate science consortium; (3) a regional assessment of the Bay Area’s vulnerability to climate change impacts; (4) acquisition of shoreline topographic data to inform analysis of sea level rise inundation; and (5) application of analytical tools to assess potential climate change impacts when adequate data are lacking.
Phone: (415) 352-3611
Sectors:
Related Organizations:
- Association of Bay Area Local Governments (ABAG)
- Bay Area Ecosystems Climate Change Consortium (BAECCC)
- San Francisco Estuary Partnership
- San Francisco Bay and Outer Coast Sentinel Site Cooperative
Related Resources:
- Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) West Coast Adaptation Peer Exchange
- EPA Vulnerability Assessments in Support of the Climate Ready Estuaries Program: A Novel Approach Using Expert Judgment, Volume I: Results for the San Francisco Estuary Partnership (Final Report)
- Adapting to Rising Tides: Transportation Vulnerability and Risk Assessment Pilot Project
- Mission Creek Sea Level Rise Adaptation Study - San Francisco, California
- Stronger Housing, Safer Communities: Strategies for Seismic and Flood Risks
- Treasure Island Adaptation Strategy For Sea Level Rise, Part I: Background and Projections
- City of Berkeley, California Climate Action Plan Progress Report
- BCDC Adapting to Rising Tides Program
- San Francisco Bay: Preparing for the Next Level
- Living With a Rising Bay: Vulnerability and Adaptation in San Francisco Bay and on its Shoreline
- San Francisco Bay Plan (California)
- San Francisquito Creek Sea Level Rise Case Study
- BCDC Adapting to Rising Tides: ART Portfolio
- Adapting to Rising Tides - Addressing Social Vulnerability and Equity in Climate Change Adaptation Planning in the San Francisco Bay Area
- City of Pinole, California General Plan Update
- Adapting to Rising Tides Program: Preserving Shoreline Parks in the Face of Climate Change
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