EAC would like to welcome our summer Coastal Advocate, Communications, and Legal and Policy Interns. Our intern team contributes significantly to our advocacy and community engagement efforts by expanding our capacity and outreach. Meet our fantastic summertime crew and join us for our Capstone Conversations on August 10th from 10 am to 2 pm at the EAC office in Point Reyes Station to learn more about their impact and their summer projects.

In November, the Federal Government released the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5), a comprehensive analysis of how regions within the United States are experiencing the impacts of climate change. The NCA5 assessed the current and future efforts of the United States to respond to climate change-induced disasters. The NCA5 did not recommend specific climate change management or adaptation measures. 

The NCA5’s Interactive Atlas allows users to explore climate maps from the NCA5 to determine the projected future climate conditions for regions across the United States to inform future community- and state-driven climate mitigation and resilience efforts.

Last month, the National Park Service solicited public comment for the development of a management plan for the Tomales Point area of Point Reyes National Seashore. The new plan, named the Tomales Point Area Plan, will guide how the National Park Service will manage the population of tule elk  located in Tomales Point.

An important part of our advocacy and community engagement work is providing summer, fall, and spring high school, college, and graduate internship opportunities for young people to gain job training in environmental policy, law, advocacy, community science, communications, events, and education, while also contributing to our mission. These mentoring opportunities help foster the next generation of environmental protection leaders with real-world experience that can be applied to future education and career goals.

During our summer internship program, our interns each select and prepare a capstone project that helps forward our mission and their learning goals. Not only do the interns help extend and expand our reach, their projects expand and add value to our advocacy work. In order to share these contributions more widely, we launched our first Capstone Conversations event last August, a public meeting format where our interns shared and discussed their projects with our supporters and community at large. Read more about the capstone projects. We are grateful to have hosted a great cohort of summer interns! 

As an environmental nonprofit leader, we hold an active role in coordinating and providing input to legislators, committee members, and state agencies on legislation relevant to Marin's coastal region in order to safeguard our coast and oceans. One of the most significant efforts during the 2023 Legislative Session was to defend the California coast by ensuring environmental protections provided by the California Coastal Act of 1976 continue to apply to activity in the Coastal Zone. The Coastal Zone in Marin County accounts for over 82 thousand acres of Marin County - all of it located in West Marin [1]. This includes portions (but not the entirety) of sites of significant ecological importance such as Bodega Bay, Tomales Bay, Point Reyes National Seashore, Duxbury Point, Bolinas Lagoon, Audubon Canyon Ranch, Mount Tamalpais State Park, and Rodeo Lagoon [2]. As a result, any reduction of the applicability of environmental regulations in the Coastal Zone can impact the preservation of ecologically significant sites or neighboring areas. This year we have worked on a number of legislative issues pertaining to defending and safeguarding our coasts and oceans, providing ecological restoration and biodiversity protection, and addressing climate change and sea level rise. 

On May 26, 2023, the Supreme Court handed down another momentous decision weakening federal environmental protections - Sackett v. EPA. Not even a year ago, the Court ravaged the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) ability to regulate carbon dioxide emissions in West Virginia v. EPA. Yet again, the Court seems out to limit the power of federal agencies to protect our environment; only this time, the Clean Water Act (CWA) is in its crosshairs.

Before the Court in Sackett v. EPA, the question was whether CWA protections apply to wetlands. Under the CWA, all "waters of the United States" are federally protected. Since the late 1980s, this was interpreted to include any "wetlands adjacent to waters" already protected. To determine when a wetland was "adjacent," the enforcing agencies, the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers (Army Corps) employed science-driven approaches evaluating biological and ecological connectedness. The EPA would use these factors to determine the scope of their jurisdiction over wetlands under the CWA. However, in Sackett, the Court has seen fit to redefine "adjacent" for the scientific experts - limiting the scope of CWA jurisdiction. "Adjacent," the majority ruled, means "to have a continuous surface connection with." The result is that the CWA will now only apply to those "wetlands with a continuous surface connection to bodies that are 'waters of the United States' in their own right." This new rule excludes wetlands separated from a covered water only by an artificial barrier, natural river berm, beach dune, or anything else. 

On May 24th, we had the opportunity to visit the Doty Ravine Preserve located just outside of Lincoln, California. The preserve is maintained by the Placer Land Trust who have employed a furry friend to assist with their ecosystem restoration project: the beaver.

While beavers are well-known for building dams, they have had a reputation of being a nuisance instead of a positive feature of California’s landscape. In fact, Yolo, Sacramento, and Placer counties have some of the highest depredation permits. These permits, issued by the California Department of Fish & Wildlife (CDFW), allow beavers to be lethally removed from an area. During the late 1800s, beavers were completely eradicated from Marin County by hunters and trappers. Today, Marin County is one of the very few Northern California counties with no beaver population.

On April 11, 2023, our team participated in the 18th annual California Ocean Day! This was the first Ocean Day back in person after the past few years of being remote due to COVID-19 measures. This annual event brings together advocates, leaders, experts, and students together to lobby in support of protecting California's coast. At the state’s capital, multiple lobby groups were able to meet with Assembly Members and Senators to advocate for the support of bills that will aid the ocean in a variety of ways. 

An important part of our advocacy and community engagement work is providing high school, college, and graduate internship opportunities for young people to gain real world job training in the environmental field. Every year, we welcome legal, policy, and coastal advocates into our internship program to gain experience in environmental policy, law, advocacy, community science, and education.

These mentoring opportunities not only provide a meaningful and applicable experience that can be applied to future education and career goals, but they help to foster the environmental stewards of the future who will help protect the resilience and health of the natural world.