The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is restoring monarch butterfly habitats in the Los Padres National Forest. Using habitat models and accessibility tools, the team identified key areas for milkweed planting to support monarch populations and streamline future surveys.
In Teton County, elk feedgrounds spread disease, impacting cattle and ranchers. This project assessed ways to manage risks from feedground closure, recommending financial tools to support wildlife coexistence and reduce economic losses for ranchers.
Community engagement in planning is essential for effective and just climate adaptation. However, historically underserved communities are often difficult to reach through traditional means of soliciting public input. The Climate Adaptation Solutions Accelerator (CASA) through School-Community Hubs project identifies public schools as promising sites for building both community engagement and community capacity for climate adaptation.
The Channel Islands Marine Sanctuary (CINMS) comprises 1,470 square miles surrounding the Northern Channel Islands: Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Miguel, and Santa Barbara, protecting various species and habitats. However, these sensitive habitats are highly susceptible to climate-driven ‘shock’ events which are associated with extreme values of temperature, pH, or ocean nutrient levels. To better understand the drivers and statistics of climate-driven ecosystem shocks, a ‘large ensemble’ of simulations run with multiple climate models will be used. The objective of this project is to develop an educational toolkit and Python-based web application to visualize ecologically significant climate variables near the CINMS.
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is an insecticide that is resistant to degradation and can cause increased risks of cancer, premature births, developmental abnormalities, and neurological diseases in humans and animals. Although banned in 1972, DDT was dumped into the ocean off the coast of southern California for decades. Recent documentation of the extent of this contamination has captured the attention of the public and raised concerns regarding the consumption of contaminated seafood. The State of California currently issues consumption advisories for coastal communities, but these advisories do not address DDT. To fill this gap and improve advisory accessibility, SaferSeafood has partnered with Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations, who collected data on the incidence of DDT in sediments and fish in nearshore southern California waters. Using this data, we updated and validated their spatiotemporal statistical model to predict DDT concentrations in fish based on species and location. We then integrated this model into an interactive web application that allows anglers to receive predicted DDT concentrations in the fish they have just caught, along with serving size recommendations and other relevant advisories. This project will allow individuals to make well-informed decisions about their seafood choices in the face of environmental challenges and health risks associated with DDT contamination.
This project examines how supply-side oil and gas regulations impact greenhouse gas emissions, employment, and the health of communities in California living near oil wells. The project is especially focused on the implications of Senate Bill 1137 (SB1137), which would prohibit the construction of new oil and gas wells within 3,200 feet of schools, hospitals, and other sensitive receptors.
This project developed a policy evaluation tool to assess emissions and model reductions from federal decarbonization efforts. The open-source tool helps policymakers target high-impact interventions for industrial emissions reduction, particularly in disadvantaged communities.
