The Symposium was held online this year on December 10th, 1:00 to 3:30 pm PST, and featured a keynote talk and presentation of graduate student research. The symposium recordings will be available soon, please stay tuned!
Fri 10 December
1PM Keynote Talk
What is restoration? by Brian Cluer (Ph.D.), senior scientist for NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service
2PM Graduate Student Research
2:00PM
Establishing a post-fire, post-debris flow geomorphic baseline in a steelhead-bearing stream, by Anders de Wit and Amy Fingerle
Synopsis: This project examines the impacts on Big Creek in Big Sur of a January 2021 debris flow resulting from the 2020 Dolan Fire. We conducted creek surveys to see how the channel has changed due to the debris flow and to understand how these changes may affect the creek’s threatened steelhead
2:20PM
Evaluating restoration potentials for marsh accretion in the San Francisco Estuary, by Maddie Forbes and Justin Thomas
Synopsis: In light of the main opportunities and constraints of marsh resilience to sea level rise in the SF Estuary, how should marshes be prioritized for restoration? This presentation considers the limited supplies of sediment in the SF Estuary, and emphasizes the potential for restoration projects that require less sediment, achieving vertical accretion by vegetative growth.
2:40PM
Reimagining UC Berkeley: A Creek Friendly Campus, by Katie Fallon, Kiera Hollenbeck, Brian Price, Liv Sessoms, Dalton Walker
Synopsis: We will look at the design of UC Berkeley campus and compare it to current zoning and stormwater runoff regulations designed to protect the health of open creeks. We will re-imagine the opportunities for stormwater infrastructure implementation strategies for buildings that do not comply with current zoning regulations (are too close to the creek) through use of GIS data and technical sizing requirements and provide a qualitative assessment of the stormwater treatment opportunities for the Berkeley campus.
3:00PM
Living Land Acknowledgement: Native Storm Gardens at the Eucalyptus Grove, UC Berkeley, by Alexandre Georges, Ying Chik (Vanessa) Lee, Kaavya Reddy, Drew Mealor
Synopsis: Our project examines the ecological issue of a dying eucalyptus grove and incised channels at the confluence of the main forks of Strawberry Creek on the UC Berkeley campus. We seize the opportunity to engage with the community and collectively reimagine this space as a living land acknowledgment to the Muwekma Ohlone People with Native storm gardens which phytoremediate urban runoff and regain cultural honor.
Keynote Details:
Brian Cluer (Ph.D.) is a senior scientist for NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service. Dr. Cluer is a fluvial geomorphologist with 30 years of federal service in river resource management. Before joining the National Marine Fisheries Service in 2000, his focus areas with the US National Park Service included: re-regulating major dams in the Colorado River Basin to improve ecosystem functions, and; planning, and monitoring dam removals across the west, most notably the Elwha River dams.
Since joining the National Marine Fisheries Service in 2000 his focus has been in two main areas: planning and implementing several dam removal projects, and improving river restoration science and practice to support the recovery of threatened and endangered salmonids.
About the Class and Symposium
Restoration of Rivers and Streams (Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning 227) was taught this year by Zan Rubin (usually taught by Professor Matt Kondolf who was on sabbatical this year). Offered annually since 1992, it is the longest-running course devoted to river restoration at a major research university. This graduate-level course emphasizes understanding of underlying goals and assumptions of restoration, and integration of natural and social science into restoration planning and design. Students review restoration plans and evaluate completed projects. In addition to lectures and discussions by the instructor, students, and guest lecturers drawn from the active restoration community, the principal course requirement is an independent term project involving original research and a presentation at this Symposium. The symposium is normally held in-person, but it has moved to an online platform since last year.