Talk: Protecting San Francisco Bay from Invasive Plants

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Speakers: Toby Rohmer and Lindsay Faye Domecus

Zoom Reservation Required: https://cnps-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_STcHvzuBTjSsDICTVJCcvA

San Francisco Bay is more than a defining geographic feature: it is home to hundreds of types of fish, birds, and other wildlife, and provides food and shelter to abundant resident and visiting wildlife. Many are unaware that the Bay, the largest estuary on the west coast of North America, is in a league with Chesapeake Bay on the east coast and the Mississippi Delta on the gulf coast. While humans appreciate its beauty and presence, millions of birds use the Bay as a critical stopover point on their migration along the Pacific Flyway each year, finding food and shelter in the saltmarshes and tidal mudflats. But these places are under threat, not just from sea level rise but also from invasive plants. In the 1970s, well-meaning engineers planted Atlantic cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) for erosion control. Unfortunately, it began to spread, displacing the native vegetation, and altering vegetation communities. Since 2005, the Coastal Conservancy’s Invasive Spartina Project has used airboats, genetic testing, sophisticated GIS, and a lot of hard work to push back the invasive cordgrass. Learn about how hometown heroes are doing their part to address the global biodiversity crisis.

Toby Rohmer is the Monitoring Program Manager for the San Francisco Estuary Invasive Spartina Project and works for Olofson Environmental, Inc. Toby studied at UC Davis, where he did his master thesis on California Ridgway’s Rails, which included substantial field work and monitoring in SF Bay marshes with USGS and other partners.

Lindsay Faye Domecus is an Environmental Biologist at Olofson Environmental Inc. She started at OEI as a seasonal employee in 2017 after finishing her graduate degree in Environmental Science at San Francisco State University, where she studied environmental physiology. At OEI, Lindsay works on a variety of projects, including the Invasive Spartina Project, and spends most of her time working in the marshes of the San Francisco Bay Area.

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