Coastal Restoration Consultants (CRC) specializes in planning, managing and implementing large-scale ecological restoration projects. We work closely with clients to develop projects that fit their needs while maximizing ecological benefits and long-term sustainability, especially as that relates to climate change and sea level rise. We strongly believe that the key to restoring high-functioning resilient ecosystems is to use creative, science-based approaches that focus on restoring natural ecosystem processes. Over the last fifteen years we have had the pleasure to work on several regionally significant restoration planning and implementation efforts in southern California in a wide variety of habitats.
We have acted as the lead ecology firm on several regionally important planning efforts for restoration of tidal salt marsh and coastal lagoon habitats throughout southern California. Our strengths include developing creative conceptual designs that maximize ecological benefits within the opportunities and constraints of the project, and then working with engineers and hydrologists to fine-tune final designs. From the beginning of the planning process, we are always strong advocates for building in resilience to sea level rise and utilizing Adaptive Management and Adaptive Restoration to assure long-term project success.
CRC are the lead ecologists in the effort to refine restorations plans for the 630 acre Ormond Beach Wetlands complex in Oxnard. The planning effort is balancing the need to protect existing resources, restore degraded areas, and understand how sea level rise will drive changes in habitats and distribution of sensitive species in the future. We also conducted field surveys for endangered plants (salt marsh bird’s beak and Coulter’s goldfields) and mapped potential wetlands and general habitats to provide baseline data for the planning effort. The Preliminary Restoration Plan can be downloaded here.
CRC wrote the restoration plan for the 538-acre Los Cerritos Wetlands complex. The plan provides a framework for restoring the entire complex and conceptual designs for properties currently owned by the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority. Download the plan here.
CRC is part of a team that is refining the conceptual design CRC developed in the LCW Restoration Plan. The restoration plan will be taken through 65% design in this phase of planning and CRC will work closely with engineers to model the design to assure the project achieves its ecological and public access goals.
CRC was part of a team that developed and analyzed three alternative restoration designs for the XX acre Los Cerritos Wetlands complex in Long Beach and Seal Beach. The range of alternatives we helped develop weighted the project’s goals, (e.g., resilience to sea level rise, increasing habitat diversity, and improving public access) in different ways.
CRC was the ecological lead on the conceptual restoration plan for the Mission Creek Lagoon and Laguna Channel in Santa Barbara. We provided ecological guidance on the restoration design, especially related to improving habitat for tidewater goby and southern steelhead. CRC also conducted a baseline biological assessment and a wetland delineation for the project area.
CRC worked with engineers and UC Santa Barbara staff to develop a restoration plan for the upper Devereux Slough, including 70 acres of restored intermittently tidal lagoon habitat and adjacent uplands. We sampled the elevation distribution of vegetation in the intact lower slough and compared those elevations to measured and modeled water level data to develop target grading elevations for the restored upper slough. CRC also conducted an analysis of over 200 soil samples (looking at texture and salinity) to determine potential suitability for wetland and upland restoration.
CRC was the ecological lead on the development of a plan to restore habitat and increase the ecological functioning of the Aliso Creek Lagoon in Laguna Beach. CRC mapped vegetation communities and wetland resources and worked with engineers and hydrologists to help assure the restored lagoon could once again support southern California steelhead and tidewater goby.
CRC has designed, implemented and monitored several coastal dune restoration projects. We’ve worked to develop innovative approaches that minimize cost and maximize ecological lift, including using seed and small nursery stock. All of these projects include substantial public outreach and interpretive signage to help educate the public on the importance of dune habitats and how they can protect coastal communities from storms and sea level rise.
CRC planned and oversaw the implementation of a 3-acre coastal dune restoration project in Ventura. In addition to providing habitat, the dunes are part of a coastal retreat and sea level rise resiliency project. The project was not damaged during the El Nino winter of 2015-16 and the dunes have naturally rebuilt after that years erosion. We recently completed the year-10 vegetation monitoring for the project.
CRC is writing a restoration plan for riparian and dune habitats along the edges of Zuma Creek Lagoon in Malibu, CA. The plan will detail approaches to controlling non-native species, re-introducing native species, and controlling sources of human disturbance.
Starting in late 2018, CRC designed and began implementation of a coastal dune restoration project along about 1 km (0.6 mi) of coast immediately north of the international border in Imperial Beach, CA. The project will test different techniques for restoring degraded dune habitat, building topography, and eliminating wave overwash and sedimentation in sensitive wetland habitats behind the dunes.
CRC has been working pro bono with The Bay Foundation to install and monitor a 3-acre coastal dune restoration project in Santa Monica, CA. Actions need to restore dunes at the site include installation of sand fencing, spreading of native seed, controlling human access and trampling, and stopping beach grooming. More details here.
CRC worked with landscape architects to design a dune restoration project in Manhattan Beach, CA. CRC developed the restoration design and contributed technical expertise during public meetings and in development of interpretive signage. More information here.
CRC planned and implemented a dune scrub restoration project that included removal of iceplant and planting with native species along the edge of Carpinteria Salt Marsh.
The project area for the Ormond Beach Wetlands restoration planning effort in Oxnard includes over 150 acres of dune, coastal strand and beach habitat. CRC is working to develop opportunities to enhance the ecological functioning of the dunes while preserving important existing functions such as nesting habitat for western snowy plover and California least tern.
CRC is working with a local non-profit to develop and implement restoration and monitoring techniques for the first phase of the restoration of 48-acres of degraded coastal dunes in Playa del Rey, CA. A neighborhood was removed from the site in the mid 20th century when the airport expanded and the site is now being restored to benefit rare plants and wildlife.
CRC is on the cutting edge of using nature-based solutions like dune restoration to increase coastal resilience as sea levels rise. We’ve used a variety of approaches, from replicated field experiments to community-based restoration using volunteers to design and build living shorelines using a variety of techniques.
CRC designed and implemented a large-scale replicated experiment testing different strategies for restoring degraded dunes and eliminating wave overwash during storms. Using new techniques like biomimicry shims, we expect to demonstrate how dune restoration can be used to make coastlines more resilient to winter storms and sea level rise.
CRC is studying groundwater and surface water dynamics in the coastal dunes and adjacent marsh habitats to better understand how existing and soon-to-be-restored habitats will convert as sea level rises. This data will be used to develop a conceptual model for restoration of this unique ecosystem.
CRC designed and implemented the dune restoration aspect of the Surfer’s Point Managed Retreat project in Ventura. The managed retreat project involved moving infrastructure that was being damaged by waves landward and restoring naturally functioning dune and beach habitats in their place. The restored dune and beach areas provide naturally resilient protection for the relocated infrastructure and support native plants and wildlife.
CRC is teaming with engineers to develop and model concepts for protecting the city of Carpinteria, CA from coastal flooding using a variety of potential actions. The goal of the project is to replace a seasonally constructed sand berm with beach nourishment, sand retention, and restored dunes to increase community resilience and provide benefits to fish and wildlife.
CRC is part of a team assessing risks to coastal towns in Jamaica from storm surge and sea level rise. We are analyzing how restoration of mangrove forests, coral reefs, and sea grass beds can help towns build resilience to increased flooding threats due to climate change.
CRC wrote a restoration plan that details strategies for restoring degraded dunes at Pt. Dume Beach in Malibu, CA. Restoration goals included eliminating non-native plants, increasing cover of native plants, and building more natural dune topography to help protect infrastructure from the effects of sea level rise.
CRC is designing alternative approaches for restoring dunes that will help protect a newly designed extension to a coastal boardwalk in Hermosa Beach, CA. The final design will also protect coastal properties and provide habitat for rare plants and wildlife into the future as sea level rises.
CRC has worked to restore dozens of acres of riparian woodland and riparian scrub habitats in a variety of settings, including along major rivers like the Santa Clara down to small urban creeks. We’ve worked on innovative approaches to restoring natural functioning through eradication of invasive species and restoring natural hydrogeomorphology.
CRC designed and implemented a 2-acre pilot restoration project along the Santa Clara River near Santa Paula. We showed that effective control of Arundo donax requires several years of follow-up treatments and that native riparian trees and shrubs can be established without irrigation. The site now supports nesting least Bell’s vireo and other special status species.
CRC developed restoration and implementation plans and installed over five acres of riparian restoration on the Ojai Meadows Preserve in Ojai. The project had multiple goals related to improving flood conveyance while enhancing riparian habitat. CRC set up an on-site nursery and greenhouse that produced up to 50,000 plants per year at a fraction of the cost of wholesale native nursery prices.
As part of a larger riparian restoration project, CRC restored several acres of rare alkali meadow habitat on a former horse pasture. Photo pair above shows the site after pasture grasses were mowed and sprayed in 2007. Lower photo in 2011 after planting native species such as spiny rush, alkali rye grass, and salt marsh baccharis.
CRC developed alternative designs for converting a duck hunting pond into a managed wetland that would provide breeding habitat for the endangered Yuma Ridgway’s rail and the California black rail, which both nest in freshwater marshes with specific hydrologic regimes around the Salton Sea. CRC’s restoration plan for the site identified a preferred alternative that is moving forward towards final design.
In addition to conducting ecological monitoring on our own restoration projects, CRC has worked with agencies, non-profits, and academics to develop and implement ecological monitoring programs for a diverse array of organisms in a wide range of habitats. We are experts in statistical analyses and we have a deep understanding of the ecology of the organisms we are monitoring. This allows us to develop monitoring programs that yield robust and defensible results.
CRC helped develop and is now carrying out quantitative seasonal surveys of avian usage at Mugu Lagoon and Carpinteria Salt Marsh. The surveys are part of the compliance monitoring program the San Dieguito Marsh Mitigation project in San Diego County, CA.
CRC monitored re-introduced populations of the endangered Ventura marsh milk vetch near Carpinteria, Goleta and Oxnard. Monitoring included annual population surveys, tracking long-term survival of individuals, estimating recruitment, and estimating seed production. The monitoring results enabled us to make actionable management recommendations and develop a conceptual model for the species’ population dynamics.
CRC conducted an island-wide survey for the invasive Argentine ant on Santa Cruz Island off the coast of southern California. Presence-absence was determined using simple bait stations. The survey focused on determining the edges of known infestations and surveying other areas with human activity that had the highest probability of unknown infestations.
In recent years, CRC has expanded our work out of southern California and joined evaluation professionals to evaluate programs that fund restoration. We used our experience with many small and large restoration projects to help guide the programs towards funding work that is more impactful and developing strategies to better measure the impact.
CRC teamed with professional program evaluators to assess the National Fish and Wildlife Foundations Sustain Our Great Lakes grant program. CRC conducted site visits to over 20 projects to assess how the types of projects being funded by the program were supporting it’s overarching goal of improving fish and wildlife resources and improving water quality. CRC provided several recommendations focused on strategies for funding more impactful projects and more effectively measuring project outputs.
CRC joined a team of evaluation professionals to assess a William Penn Foundation funded program that develops and funds restoration and land acquisition projects with the goal of improving water quality in the Delaware River. CRC visited over two dozen projects funded by the initiative and interviewed grantees to assess how impactful the on-the-ground projects were in achieving water quality goals. CRC also helped assess the scientific framework of the Initiative and provided guidance on new approaches to quantifying water quality outcomes.
CRC has worked on several projects that include stormwater treatment wetlands within habitat restoration projects. Our native wetland species are effective at removing pollutants while providing habitat for a wide range of wildlife. We have also visited and evaluated dozens of stormwater treatment wetlands in the Great Lakes region and in the Delaware River Watershed.
CRC was part of the design team for biofiltration wetlands at Legacy Park in Malibu. The team designed wetland basins that would retain runoff and support native wetland plants and wildlife with a focus on historic habitats that are now rare or lost in the Malibu region.
CRC guided the design and installation of 10-acre stormwater treatment wetland with associated riparian, freshwater marsh, and vernal pool habitats at the Ojai Meadows Preserve in Ojai. The goals of the project included alleviating flooding of local roadways and removing pollutants from the runoff before it reached the Ventura River, while simultaneously supporting the native plants and animals that once occurred on the site. CRC grew over 100,000 native plants at an on-site nursery for the re-vegetation effort.
CRC collaborated with researchers from UC Santa Barbara to compare the relative effectiveness of engineered bioswales and restored wetland habitats at removing contaminants from surface and sub-surface agricultural tail waters. Restored wetlands were more cost-effective and more effective overall, but required more space. The restored habitat had considerable co-benefits, most noteworthy are several nesting least Bell’s vireo.
Historical ecology is the study of how landscapes, habitats, and natural ecosystem processes have changed over time. Understanding the historical ecology of a site is often a critical step in developing a restoration plan. In practice, it is often not feasible to “put it back like it was”, however, a clear understanding of a sites history is important in deciding the types of habitats that can and should be restored.
CRC conducted an in-depth analysis of the historical ecology of the Ormond Beach Wetlands in Oxnard. The goal of the analysis was to better understand the mosaic of different wetland habitats (brackish marsh, tidal and non-tidal salt marsh, and seasonal wetlands) that existed on the site prior to large-scale hydrogeomorphic alterations. Our analysis also uncovered a history of inland dune migration followed by seaward re-expansion over the last several decades that resulted in a net loss of nearly 100 acres of wetlands and a commensurate expansion of dunes.
CRC conducted an analysis of the historic habitats at Point Dume Beach as part of the Malibu Living Shoreline Project. The analysis revealed that the site once supported extensive and very tall dunes, which have been heavily degraded since first mapped in 1857 (above). The analysis is being used to set restoration goals for the area.
Through analysis of historic maps, we were able to show that a channelized section of Rice Creek on the Ventura River Preserve in Ojai was not the historic alignment. This led to a CRC conceptual restoration plan for restoring the creek to it’s historic alignment with over 1/2 mile of restored creek and riparian habitat and greatly improved geomorphological stability.
Uncertainty is a hallmark of almost all ecological restoration projects. CRC are strong believers in using Adaptive Restoration and Adaptive Management to help deal with the uncertainty and achieve better ecological outcomes. Adaptive Restoration is a science-based approach that uses experiments and carefully designed monitoring to test hypotheses and strategies on small to medium scales and then using the results to fine-tune strategies so that large future projects have greatly increased chances of succeeding.
CRC designed, implemented, and monitored a large-scale Adaptive Restoration project that investigated techniques for restoring coastal sage scrub without irrigation on post-agricultural lands dominated by invasive fennel and annual grasses on Santa Cruz Island. The controlled experiment included three locations (two pictured) with six different weeding/planting treatments replicated six times at each site. Over 5,000 plants were grown and installed over two years and the plots were monitored for five years. The findings of the experiment were published in 2014 (Click here to download).
Starting in late 2018, CRC designed and began implementation of a coastal dune restoration project along about 1 km (0.6 mi) of coast immediately north of the international border in Imperial Beach, CA. The project will test different techniques for restoring degraded dune habitat, building topography, and eliminating wave overwash and sedimentation in sensitive wetland habitats behind the dunes using a controlled experimental approach with 12 60m X 60m plots.
CRC designed, installed and monitored a large-scale weeding and direct seeding experiment in the annual-grass-dominated central valley of Santa Cruz Island off the coast of southern California. We found that only with raking away dead grass and conducting multiple rounds of herbicide treatment before applying native seed, only two species of endemic buckwheat germinated and established in an “average” rainfall year. Other coastal sage scrub and grassland species did not germinate.
CRC designed and installed a moderate scale experiment to assess coast live oak and valley oak establishment from acorns with different levels of herbivore protection and with and without “nursery shrubs”. We found that tree protection tubes did not increase establishment, probably because the large vegetation free buffer around the project (due to weed control prior to other plantings) essentially excluded gophers and rabbits from the experimental area. Nursery shrubs did not aid germination or establishment of either species but did depress growth.
CRC offers a range of additional services to out clients.
Matt and Dave are both certified wetland delineators. We specialize in delineations in the coastal zone and along creeks and rivers.
CRC strongly believes in supporting our local non-profits and local governments as they seek to manage and restore natural areas. We’ve volunteered our time in the field on many projects and have helped groups scope, prepare, and write grant proposals that support their missions to preserve, protect, and restore habitat along the south coast.
CRC has worked with land owners many small projects along the Ventura River and its estuary over the years. We have worked as informal advisors on Arundo removal projects, conducted plant surveys, and helped supervise volunteers in weeding and planting.
CRC has been working pro bono with The Bay Foundation to install and monitor a 3-acre coastal dune restoration project in Santa Monica, CA. Actions need to restore dunes at the site include installation of sand fencing, spreading of native seed, controlling human access and trampling, and stopping beach grooming. More details here.