Author: riverlab

Wednesday 7 May 3-5:30 pm, Rm 305 Wurster Hall
Jurors: Sarah Puckett (American Rivers), Rich Walkling (RDG), Artie Valencia (Restore the Delta), Rob Olshansky (University of Illinois), Adrienne Dodd (UC Berkeley), Leslie Ferguson (San Francisco Bay Regional Water Board)

Please pre–register here

3.00pm

Mormon Slough, Stockton: water quality, flooding, and equity
Alejandra Amador-Caro, Isaiah Blake, Giovanni Livi Bacci

Islais Creek, San Francisco: a longitudinal transect of social connectivity
Isobel Hayne

The Chicago River’s ‘Wild Mile’
Julia Buford

Restoring habitat on the Hantan River (Korea) for people and birds
Florencia Sepulveda

4.20pm – break

Restoring the Napa River salt marsh
Katrina Clausing

A tale of two creeks: Marsh and Kellogg, east Contra Costa County
Dechen Santapau

5.10pm

Juror Panel Discussion

This Riverlab event is free and open to Berkeley students, faculty, staff, and the alumni community, but please pre-register here.

Physical and social ecosystems in urban stream restoration

Presented by Kristen Van Dam (Ecological Services Coordinator, East Bay Regional Park District)

This seminar took place on Tuesday 14 April, 4-5:30pm, Rm 305 Bauer Wurster Hall

Kristen Van Dam is a restoration ecologist with twenty-one years of experience in ecological restoration, planning and assessment. She has managed or co-managed over a dozen restoration projects throughout California. She has extensively studied riverine, freshwater fish, and terrestrial ecology and authored several studies and assessments, including a novel reference methodology for riparian vegetation produced as her master’s thesis. Kristen leads a variety of projects and initiatives for the Park District, from watershed assessments to large-scale restoration projects.

Threatened rivers – a global perspective

Webinar: Monday 17 March 6:00-8:00 Pacific time

Presented by the interdisciplinary School of Water of the University of Lyon (EUR H2O
As part of its World Water Week events, the University of Lyon presented this webinar on large
scale pressures and impacts on the river networks and associated ecosystems. It Included
presentations on threats to global biodiversity by Michele Thieme (WWF USA), the slow-moving
disaster on the Mekong River and Delta by Matt Kondolf (UC Berkeley), river intermittency at
the global scale by Mathis Messager (INRAE Lyon), and urbanization effects on riverscapes by
Fanny Bourgeau (ENS Lyon). More info here.

Professor Kongjian Yu, Peking University
Wednesday 19 March, 1-2pm Rm 305 Wurster Hall

Kongjian Yu is a leading landscape architect in China. He is a scholar of landscape architecture and urban resilience, the founding dean of Peking University’s College of Architecture and Landscape, and the founder of Turenscape. He grew up in a small village in South China during the turbulent 1960s and 1970s. Today, he draws on his rural upbringing for insights in working with earth and water. By integrating this foundational experience with advanced contemporary sciences and design aesthetics, he has emerged as a pioneering figure in innovative design practice. Yu will describe experimental projects addressing challenges arising from China’s rapid industrialization and urbanization, including efforts to protect and restore both urban and rural ecologies through his concepts of Sponge City and Negative Planning. His professional and academic pursuits reflect a significant narrative of counter-currents and leading the tides, mirroring the dramatic transformations that have characterized China over the past 60 years. Among his many recognitions, he was elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received his Doctor of Design degree from Harvard University.

Professor Yu’s talk was sponsored by Riverlab. He also gave a keynote lecture in the
Berkeley Water Day event the following day, 20 March.

Berkeley Water Day: Addressing Water Challenges of a Changing Climate.

Thursday, March 20th, 2025 at the Banatao Auditorium in Sutardja Dai Hall, UC Berkeley.

This was an exciting day filled with discussion and innovative solutions to water challenges. Attendees heard from renowned experts like Dr. Kongjian Yu on flooding and Dr. Menachem Elimelech on water scarcity, followed by dynamic lightning talks from Berkeley faculty. A panel of policy makers and industry leaders explored California’s water risks and how research can shape the future. This event also featured a student poster session highlighting cutting-edge research happening across campus. Coffee, snacks, and lunch were provided for registered attendees!

Berkeley Water Day: Addressing Water Challenges of a Changing Climate

Urban Creeks and the Unhoused
A panel discussion Tuesday 18 February 2025
3-5pm Rm 305 Bauer Wurster Hall, UC Berkeley

Creeks have always attracted the unhoused, offering relatively natural settings, water sources, and
commonly quieter environments than alternatives such as freeway underpasses. With increasingly
costly housing, the SF Bay region has experienced increasing populations of unhoused along urban
creeks. This intersection of the state’s massive housing shortage with the urban stream network
drives a set of issues, including the risk of flooding the people who live along these creeks and the
impacts of these encampments on water quality of the streams. There are no easy solutions, but
perhaps we can learn something from recent experience in the urban and peri-urban streams of
Contra Costa County, where issues are brought into sharp focus.

The panel featured insightful presentations from Amanda Booth (City of San Pablo), Daniel Barth (SOS Richmond), O’Neill Fernandez (SOS Richmond), Chris Lim (Contra Costa RCD), and Mark Boucher (Contra Costa County Flood Control & Water Conservation District). After presentations, panelists and audience members engaged in discussion. This Riverlab event was part of the class Rivers & Cities (LA254-3) in the Dept of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, UC Berkeley.