H2O Conference 2003 - CSBPA/CalCOAST/SCWRP/SWS

摘要

In Fall 2003, California Shore and Beach Preservation Association, CalCOAST, the Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project and the Society of Wetland Scientists came together in Long Beach, CA, for a three-day conference aptly nicknamed the "H2O Conference," for "Headwaters to Oceans Conference: Integrating Rivers, Oceans and Coastlines in an Urban Environment." Sessions dealt with issues of water quality, wetland restoration, shoreline change, beaches and coastal management. The coordination of these four groups was an effort to expand people's consideration of the coast and in recognition that clean water, healthy wetlands and sandy beaches should all be part of the coastal experience. Unfortunately coastal beaches are sometimes posted for poor water quality, often resulting from pollutants introduced to coastal streams far inland from the shoreline. Wetlands are losing their water cleaning ability as they become clogged with excess sediment and non-native plants. Beaches and coastal bluffs are eroding, in part because sediment bound for the coast is being diverted by structures and debris basins, or impounded by dams. One premise of the conference was that there are inter-relationships between many of these coastal systems and the problems they are now facing.