So, with this storm surge and the King tide event, it was a great opportunity for us to test this out. So, we came out here and we were able to further document and see how well it performed. So, we got to see that the king tide came up very close to where the pathway is behind you, and it did what it's supposed to do,
Volunteers were out bright and early Wednesday morning along the Harbor Marsh coastline in the Palo Alto Baylands, joining an effort to build a nature-based buffer designed to absorb storm surges and curb flooding amid climate change and sea-level rise that threaten shoreline communities. They were helping build what project developers described as the Bay Area's first horizontal "living levee" directly connected to the Bay and irrigated with treated wastewater.
The city will build Brooklyn's first " blue belt" - a "nature-based" flood management system that aims to manage stormwater and improve natural spaces - in the park, building on the Prospect Park Alliance's ongoing Lakeshore restoration projects. "This work means faster drainage, new rain gardens, restored wetlands, and nature-based flood protections that keep homes and streets dry," said Jeff Roth, Deputy Mayor of Operations. "This is government at its best, using science, partnership and shared purpose to meet the challenges of a changing climate."
"She was a voice for nature and a voice for the river," said Rita Kampalath, L.A. County's chief sustainability officer and a longtime friend of Winter's. "She had such strength of her convictions, and she was so clear-eyed in the vision that she wanted to push forward. And I think that inspired a lot of people."
Landscape architect Kongjian Yu, who passed away on September 23rd, 2025, in a small plane crash in Brazil at the age of 62, became globally renowned for pioneering the 'sponge city' concept, a design framework that uses natural landscapes and nature-based solutions to catch, store, and purify urban water. As cities around the world struggle with flooding, water scarcity, and the consequences of rapid urbanization, the Chinese architect and his practice, Turenscape, spent three decades shaping an alternative.
As climate impacts intensify, California must act now to build climate resilience for tomorrow and for future generations. Coyote Valley, just south of San Jose, offers a model for how conservation and stewardship of nature can do that. Here, protected natural and working lands provide a buffer from catastrophic wildfires, floodplains recharge groundwater, wetlands soak up rains to prevent downstream flooding, farmlands grow our food and open space connects over one million acres of critical wildlife corridors.
