DREDGING REALITIES AND RISING SEAS: WETLAND BENEFICIAL USE OF DREDGED SEDIMENTS IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY ESTUARY

Navigation dredging in the United States produces hundreds of millions of cubic meters of dredged material annually. Wetlands that surround these dredged channels are critical green infrastructure and, in some estuaries and coasts, their persistence is uncertain as sea level rise accelerates. Pilot-scale efforts have and are currently showing the ability to use dredged material to both create and nourish wetlands. An increase in scale and frequency of these projects requires a holistic approach at the estuary scale in order to effectively and responsibly use the sediment resources generated from dredging. We propose a model framework that couples dredging, economic, and environmental process models to identify long term strategies for coastal wetland resilience through beneficial use of dredged material. We provide questions and objectives that are being used to create the model framework and describe its use for coastal resilience and beneficial use planning.