12 May 2021, 10am-1245pm PST (online)
This symposium begins with a keynote talk on ‘Restoring ecological processes in an urban river: the Isar in Munich’, presented by Dr Aude Zingraff-Hamed (Technical University of Munich). The Isar is an excellent example of how an important urban river can be restored to yield ecological and social benefits, an example from which we can learn in approaching our urban rivers. Next are graduate student research projects on riparian vegetation along Tassajara Creek, Dublin, 20 years post-restoration; tracing the Alhambra Wash in Los Angeles; the restored Yitong River waterfront in Changchun, China; managing encampments in waterways around the San Francisco Bay; and flood risk management and the ‘levee effect’ in West Sacramento, California. An expert panel including Prof Joe McBride (UC Berkeley) and Amanda Booth (City of San Pablo) reflects on themes raised in the student research projects.
You can also click on each of the session titles below (highlighted in blue) to download the video recordings.
Program
Restoring ecological processes in an urban river: the Isar in Munich, by Dr Aude Zingraff-Hamed, Technical University of Munich
10:45AM Graduate Student Research Projects
a. Twenty Years Later: Long-term monitoring of restored floodplain vegetation, Tassajara Creek, California, by Skyler Lewis
b. Tracing the Alhambra Wash: Past, Present, and Future, by Dana Tinio
Break
c. Post-Occupancy Evaluation of the restored Yitong River waterfront in Changchun, by Zhufeng Pan
d. Managing Encampments in Waterways Around the San Francisco Bay Region: Policy and Practice, by Isabelle Doerschlag
e. Flood Risk Management and the Levee Effect in West Sacramento, California, by Corey Ng
Amanda Booth, Joe McBride
Keynote and Panelist Biographies
Dr. Aude Zingraff-Hamed is research associate and lecturer at the Technical University of Munich, Chair for Strategic Landscape Planning and Management. Her research concerns river restoration, urban studies, nature-based solutions, hydro-meteorological risk, climate change, and water governance. She works currently on the PHUSICOS H2020 project https://phusicos.eu/ As a visiting scholar with Riverlab, she is exploring opportunities and constraints to implementing socio-ecological river restoration in highly urban contexts.
Joe R. McBride is Professor Emeritus of Ecology in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at the University of California, Berkeley. His research has been focused on forest ecology with emphasis on riparian woodlands in California and the ecology of streams in urban areas. His book The World’s Urban Forests: History, Composition, Design, Function and Management is a reference in the field.
Amanda Booth is the Senior Environmental Program Analyst for the City of San Pablo. Ms. Booth has over 10 years of experience in developing and delivering various environmental programs, including managing the stormwater and sustainability programs for the City of San Pablo.
Abstracts
Restoring ecological processes in an urban river: the Isar in Munich
Dr Aude Zingraff-Hamed, Technical University of Munich
The transboundary Isar River flows from the Bavarian Alps into one of the last free-flowing sections of the Danube. The Isar was fundamental to the establishment of Munich and other cities located on its banks, and underwent morphological changes from human activity since the 18 th century, but especially with the boom in hydro-electrical production after the First World War. Starting in the late 20 th century, years of collaborative planning, pressure from civil society, changes in government institutions, and strong partnerships among non-government organizations, the river management approach changed from a traditional grey infrastructure-based approach to nature-based practices. The restoration of the Isar in Munich demonstrates that socio-ecological restorations are possible even in metropolitan city centers. Ultimately, the Isar River is an example of how civil society’s perception of ecosystem losses can lead to positive changes in water governance.
Twenty Years Later: Long-term monitoring of restored floodplain vegetation, Tassajara Creek, California
Skyler Lewis
Actively incising Lower Tassajara Creek in Dublin, California, was restored as a compound channel in 1999-2000 to mitigate incision and provide flood conveyance capacity to reduce flood risk to an adjacent greenfield residential development. The compound channel design incorporated wide floodplain terraces, planted with native riparian and upland vegetation. Prior geomorphological and ecological studies conducted in the first decade after the restoration project suggested that the project had successfully halted channel incision and that riparian vegetation was developing. I built upon the last vegetation study in 2008, recreating the photo monitoring points and resurveying the established vegetation transects for the Tassajara Creek project’s northern reach. I also used remote sensing to quantify changes in vegetation cover over the last decade, finding a 63% increase in vegetation cover. Both field and remote sensing analyses indicated continued tree canopy growth and maturation of the riparian ecosystem in this restored urban stream.
Flood Risk Management and the Levee Effect in West Sacramento, California
Corey Ng
I document the recent history of flood risk management and floodplain development in West Sacramento, a flood prone city adjacent to the state capital. While West Sacramento participates in the National Flood Insurance Program, the Flood Insurance Rate Map for the city is outdated and does not adequately reflect actual flood risk. Analyses of US Census data, National Flood Insurance Program products, zoning ordinances, and remote sensing data indicate that development has continued in areas exposed to high flood hazard, increasing the risk of life and property to flooding.