California Beach Resiliency Plan – Ocean and Coastal Policy Center at University of Santa Barbara

CLIENT NEED

The Ocean and Coastal Policy Center (OCPC) at University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) is leading a project with several partners to develop the California Beach Resiliency Plan. The project, funded by the California Ocean Protection Council, will create county-by-county snapshots of beach vulnerabilities and decision guidance to support science-based investments that will protect California’s beaches from the effects of climate change. The Beach Resiliency Plan team includes experts in geophysical, ecological, social, cultural, economic, and environmental policy disciplines from the Marine Science Institute at UCSB, the Environmental Studies Program at UCSB, the Environmental Science & Resource Management Program at California State University Channel Islands, U.S. Geological Survey, Point Blue Conservation Science, Ceto Consulting, and Strategic Earth Consulting. Strategic Earth will be working alongside other team members and paid Tribal Consultants to integrate California Native Nations’ perspectives and priorities in the project.

STRATEGY

Strategic Earth is hiring Tribal Consultants to support Tribal leadership and community engagement, including listening sessions, and synthesize information for final project reports. Outreach to Tribal leadership and communities will provide critical insights to help shape culturally relevant and inclusive input for the Beach Resiliency Plan. Input received will also help develop decision guidance for how Tribes and Tribal communities need to be included in coastal management decision making. Strategic Earth along with Tribal Consultants will conduct desktop research focused on gathering priorities, needs, and sentiments shared publicly by Tribal leadership and community via public comments, testimony, written documents/reports, and verbal accounts to document existing information. Additionally, our team will host virtual Tribal Roundtable Listening Sessions and informal, 1:1 conversations to identify how Tribes and Tribal communities need to be included in addressing beach resiliency projects.

KEY RESULTS AND OUTCOMES

The project will result in the inclusion and integration of Tribal perspectives and priorities in snapshot assessments of the beaches across 20 coastal California counties, decision guidance for how Tribes and Tribal communities need to be included and what is central to addressing Tribal concerns when making beach resilience decisions, and recommendations for beach resiliency actions focused on Tribal engagement and involvement.