Surfrider's Climate Action Program and Surfers' Point

On Earth Day the Surfrider Foundation announced  the Climate Action Program that aims to track and highlight on the great work of local Surfrider chapters around the country who have been working to restore their local beaches  

The Ventura County Chapter has been a leader in coastal ecosystem management, and the Surfers' Point Managed Shoreline Retreat is a featured project in the new program.  Although it took 15 years for the first phase of the project to be constructed, in 2011 the Chapter "adopted" the dune restoration portion of the project.  Hundreds of volunteer hours were dedicated to planting and maintaining the native dune habitat that is crucial to stabilizing wind-blown sand to naturally maintain the dunes.  We are hopeful that with the increased attention of the Climate Action Program that other chapters can use Surfers' Point as a model for restoring resilient shorelines around the country.     

Surfers' Point Managed Shoreline retreat project Phase 2:

The diagrams below are from the City's upcoming public outreach and illustrate the plans to relocate the damaged bike path and parking lot back to Shoreline Drive.   

Erosion at Surfers' Point continues
 requiring relocation of the bike path into the parking lot
Feb 8, 2024

Get Involved:

With construction still on track for Fall 2024, the City of Ventura is seeking public input on the public art component of the project:  

A community workshop for the Surfers Point Managed Retreat Project will be held on Thursday, May 2, at 5:30 p.m. at Santa Rosa Hall, located at the Ventura County Fairgrounds. Spanish interpretation will be available. 

"We are thrilled to involve our community in this pivotal stage of the Surfers Point Managed Retreat Project," said Mayor Joe Schroeder. "After receiving over $16 million from the State of California’s Coastal Conservancy to fund this project, community input and collaboration are crucial in creating a space that reflects the needs and aspirations of our residents and visitors for this iconic location."

This workshop presents a valuable opportunity for community members to engage in interactive discussions, activities, and collaborative sessions that will shape the amenities and potential public art themes at the Surfers Point site, among other aspects.

More on this blog:  Surfers' Point

El Niño winter swells 2023-2024

 

The 2023-2024 winter season has had similar coastal impacts as the 2016 El Niño event.  Higher sea levels and a signature strong Pacific storm track has focused wave energy and impacted beaches and infrastructure up and down the California coast.  In Ventura County, the beaches were stripped of sand exposing those areas most vulnerable to future sea level rise.

On December 28, 2023, the leading edge of a building pacific swell sent a storm surge over protective walls in the Pierpont neighborhood.  

A video of people and cars being flushed up the street went viral and made national news.  Ocean water and debris flooded the lanes in the Pierpont neighborhood, and there was some damage to docks at a marina in the Ventura Harbor. 

    

In response to this event, the City of Ventura and County firefighting units built three miles of sand berms the length of the developed beaches in Ventura and Oxnard. These berms were removed during the week of March 4 with authorization from the California Coastal Commission and Army Corps of Engineers.

A pierpont resident was quoted in the news saying, "We did have a breach, as the surge came over into my backyard in December. Then the next day, they put the berm up, and I had no worries after that. It totally disrupted my view, but that's a small price for the protection having all of your stuff ruined."  This echos the sentiment of beachfront residents who have resisted efforts to build permanent protective dunes and prevailed in a lawsuit requiring the City of Ventura to remove windblown sand accumulating in front of their properties.

Ventura County Fire Dept removing sand berm
Oxnard Shores, 3-5-2024

Commentary:

This event was predictable using the advanced weather and wave models currently available.  Surfers regularly use these models to know when the best conditions will occur.  In this case the swell had been monitored and tracked as it developed off the coast of Japan and built all the way across the Pacific Ocean.  The leading edge of these swells typically have a very long period indicative of the huge amount of energy from the extended "fetch" of high winds transferred to the sea surface.  The irony was the "too little too late" emergency response from local government.  Better awareness of ocean conditions and long term planning is clearly needed as climate change fuels ever bigger storm systems and rising sea levels.  Local tide gages were registering around one foot above the predicted astronomical tide, primarily a result of thermal expansion from the warm water throughout the Pacific Ocean fueled by El Niño.  These events are already happening before significant sea level rise.  According to the California Coastal Commission we can expect "as much as a 66-inch increase in sea level along segments of California's coast by the year 2100."  Under that scenario the Pierpont community will be under water much of the year.

  

Stormsurf wave prediction for 12-28-2023

Reference:  

watch the Stormsurf videos to learn more about El Niño and ocean wave generation.  

Sea Level Rise - California Coastal CommissionCalifornia Coastal Commission 

In the News:

Rogue wave injures eight, damages coastal motel in Ventura, KCLU | By Lance Orozco, Published December 28, 2023

Temporary sand berms intended to prevent coastal flooding are being removed in Ventura County, KCLU | By Lance Orozco, Published March 5, 2024

See damage from heavy surf in Ventura's Pierpont neighborhood, VC Star, Dec 29, 2023

On this blog:

Surfers Point - first real test

Watching the dams come out: Klamath River

Last year the removal of four dams on the Klamath River began.  This week the fourth dam, Copco No. 1, was breached setting the stage for the physical removal of all four dams this spring and summer.

Video of the drawdown demonstrates what is becoming one of the the standard dam removal methods, blasting a hole in the lower part of the dam to drain the reservoir and release the sediments trapped upstream.

In the news:

Fourth dam breached on the Klamath River 

Checking in on the next phase of Klamath dam removal

No turning back: The largest dam removal in U.S. history begins, NPR Jan 13, 2024, Heard on All Things Considered

On this blog:

Klamath River dam removal begins

dam removal

More Watershed Education

 Since 2021 the Merito Foundation has organized the Ventura River Action Network for 6th through 12th graders.  

https://www.meritofoundation.org/venturariveractionnetwork

 

The V-RAN program includes Professional Development (PD) outdoors in the field, PD webinars, Science Curricula, and stipends to science teachers of VUSD enrolled in the program. The teachers' students (~600-700 per school year) are participating in in-class science activities, virtual and in the field youth community science experiences at Ventura River Watershed, and project-based learning through the EECCOA Challenge (a green STEM competition) with cash and in-kind prizes for students, and funds to implement the most cost-effective proposal to reduce the carbon footprint of the school campus authored by the students. 

The program includes field trips to monitor the river and visit Matilija Dam.  Visit the Story Map to learn more:

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/4d93e82e5977448996aa64ba1e3d18a2