May 11-12, 2026
Seymour Marine Discovery Center, Santa Cruz, California
Come learn from invited speakers & panels, participate in lightning talks and poster sessions, and provide input for CSBPA action.
Photo by Laura Ockel on Unsplash
This two-day symposium brings together scientists, engineers, planners, and policymakers to explore how California is responding to accelerating coastal change—from local impacts in Santa Cruz to statewide strategies for resilience.
8:00-9:00 Continental Breakfast and Sign-in
9:00-9:45 Introduction and Welcome
Doug George, Joe Street, and Louis White, CSBPA
Nicole Elko, Executive Director, ASBPA
Fred Keeley, Mayor, City of Santa Cruz
Tony Cerda & Carla Marie Munoz, Costanoan Rumsen Carmel Tribe – Opening Blessing
Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director, Seymour Marine Discovery Center
9:45-10:30 Plenary Panel
How Can California Meet the Challenges of Adaptation in Uncertain Times?
Tiffany Wise-West, City of Santa Cruz
Evyan Sloane, California State Coastal Conservancy
Robert Mazurek, California Marine Sanctuary Foundation
10:30-10:40 Networking Break 1
10:40-12:10 Session 1
A Statewide “Tour” of Local Planning and Adaptation Strategies
Sam Blakesley, City of Oceanside. Topic: Re:Beach Plan
Kellan Warner, California State Coastal Conservancy. Climate and Community Resilience in Imperial Beach
Bill Henry, Groundswell Coastal Ecology. Topic: Monterey Bay Living Shorelines Program
Sarah McCormick, City of Fort Bragg. Topic: Local planning and coastal hazard response in Fort Bragg
Melissa Hetrick, City of Santa Barbara. Topic: Waterfront adaptation planning
12:10-1:10 Lunch
12:35-1:05 Lunch Keynote Presentation
Alec Apodaca, Jacob Harris, Esak Ordonez, Amah Mutsun Land Trust. Stewarding Indigenous Coastal Landscapes
1:10-2:25 Session 2
Storm Response and Long-term Adaptation in Santa Cruz
Gary Griggs, UC Santa Cruz. Topic: Historical context of coastal erosion and land use conflicts in Santa Cruz County
Kevin Crossley, City of Santa Cruz. Topic: 2023–2025 storm damage and response in Santa Cruz
Tiffany Wise-West, City of Santa Cruz. From Reaction to Resilience in Santa Cruz: Policy and Planning to Implementation
Dane Behrens, ESA. Topic: Santa Cruz Living Shorelines and Nature Based Features Feasibility Project
2:25-2:40 Networking Break 2 / Transition to field trip
2:40-5:00 Field Trip
Westside Santa Cruz Sites – storm damage, repairs & emerging adaptation
5:00-7:30 Reception & Poster Session
Seymour Center Exhibit Hall
Sebastian Alvarez, UC Santa Barbara. Multi-scale monitoring of shoreline change and dune performance following managed retreat at Surfers’ Point
Camille Coriell, UC Santa Cruz. Developing a Rapid Assessment Framework for Dune Condition and Resilience
Lauryn Cummins, California Marine Sanctuaries Foundation. Building a Digital Ecosystem for Collective Action: Web and Social Media Strategies for the Climate Resilient Monterey Bay Initiative
Jessica Fairlie, Stanford University, Sediment Transport in the Nearshore: Infragravity Wave Mechanisms Driving Suspension and Advection
Kiernan Kelty, Verdantas. Pajaro Estuary Restoration Project
Nina Munk, CA State Coastal Conservancy. Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project
Katie Nichols, CA State Coastal Conservancy. Pacific Marine and Estuarine Fish Habitat Partnership Estuary and Nearshore Spatial Data Products for Restoration, Conservation, and Resource Management
Christopher O’Day, Moffat & Nichol. San Dieguito Lagoon Restoration Monitoring
Frederico Scarelli, ESA. Shoreline Resilience & Nature-Based Solutions
Sarah Stoner-Duncan, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories. Restoring Coastal Dunes in State Parks to Enhance Habitat and Coastal Resilience
Alex Washburn, Stanford University. Characterizing Rocky Shore Morphology from Aerial Imagery
Merritt Shepherd, ESA. Scott Creek Coastal Resilience Project: Integrating Bridge Replacement and Nature-Based Restoration for Multi-Objective Infrastructure Resilience
8:30-9:00 Continental Breakfast and Sign-in
9:00-9:45 Keynote Presentation
Jon Warrick, U.S. Geological Survey. A New Era of Coastal Change Science: Measuring California’s Shoreline Change with Remote Sensing and Data Analyses
9:45-9:55 Networking break 3
9:55-11:25 Session 3
Emerging Technologies, Tools & Applications
Paul Ganev, Surfline. AI-Enabled Coastal Monitoring: Video-Derived Analytics for Erosion, Flooding, and Beach Management
Esther Essoudry, California Coastal Commission. Open Coast: Data and Tools for Coastal Management
Mike Beck and Borja Reguero, UC Santa Cruz. Topic: CoSMoS-ADAPT
Jarrah Orphin, Sofar Ocean. How To Build Ocean Intelligence (and Why It Matters)
Dave Revell, Integral. Cobbles, Emerging Technology from the Past
11:25-11:55 Session 4
Lightning Talks 1: Emerging Ideas and Perspectives
Christine Baker, Stanford University. Breaking wave dynamics through wave basin experiments
Ryan Searcy, Hohonu. Nearshore wave data from a low-cost sensor deployed on the Santa Cruz Wharf
Sarah Richmond, Dudek. Where Nature Works: Mapping the Future of San Diego Bay’s Shoreline
Shannon Fiala, ESA. Transportation Resilience as an Opportunity for Ecosystem Restoration
Andy O’Neill, U.S. Geological Survey. Emerging Applications with CoSMoS
Ellen Plane, San Francisco Estuary Institute. Growing Resilience: Recommendations for Dune Management at North Ocean Beach
11:55-12:55 Lunch
CSBPA Awards
12:55-2:40 Session 5
From Monitoring to Modeling to Solutions: Coastal Hazards and Resilience in Practice
Adam Young, Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Overview of Current Scripps Oceanography Coastal Monitoring Projects
Sean Vitousek, U.S. Geological Survey, and Maria Winters, NOAA Greater Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Topic: CoSMoS-COAST and DUNE shoreline modeling
Samson Haile-Selassie, California Department of Water Resources, and Louis White, ESA. CHAMP: A Framework for Mapping Compound Coastal–Fluvial Flood Hazards under Sea Level Rise
Jamie MacMahan, Naval Postgraduate School. Nearshore Processes Along the Rocky Shores of Monterey, California
Chris Webb, Moffat & Nichol. Topic: Beach Nourishment in Southern California
Bob Battalio, Reef + Sand, Pacifica. Reef + Sand Proposal for Pacifica, CA: A Multi-purpose Reef Combined with Beach Nourishment to Improve Coastal Resilience
2:40-2:55 Networking break 4
2:55-4:10 Session 6
Statewide Coastal Management and Policy: Planning for Resilience
Carey Batha, California Coastal Commission. Between the Ocean and a Hard Place: How to Answer the Most Challenging Questions About Beaches, Armoring, and Retreat
Juliette Chausson, San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. Planning at the Bay Scale – Implementing the Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan to Address Sea Level Rise in the San Francisco Bay Region
Daria Mazey, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Updates from the US Army Corps of Engineers for Civil Works Planning and Coastal Operations
Phil King, Ceto Consulting. How Many People Go to the Beach?
Kara Kemmler, California State Coastal Conservancy. Topic: Surfer’s Point Phase 2
4:10-4:35 Session 7
Lightning Talks 2: Emerging Ideas and Perspectives
Monica Moritsch, UC Santa Cruz. ShoreCast: A decision support tool for evaluating sea level rise impacts on California’s rocky intertidal habitats
Kelby Kramer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. High Resolution Satellite Datasets for Coastal Managers – Worth the Cost?
Paige Siegel, NOAA. Monitoring for a Changing Coast: Climate Resilient Monterey Bay Regional Monitoring Program
Gerald Comati, BEACON. Implementing RSM in California through Improved Collaboration
Nick Garrity, ESA. Lessons about restoration from reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
4:35-5:00 Closing and CSBPA Member Annual Meeting
CSBPA is offering three registration tiers for the 2026 Symposium:
Standard $300
Non-Profit (NGO and Government) $250
Students $200
The registration fee includes includes access to the full program and all activities, including all presentation, lightning talk and poster sessions, an afternoon field trip on May 11, continental breakfast and lunches on both days, an evening reception (May 11), coffee/snacks at breaks, and of course, unparalleled access to California coastal experts.
Registration information and symposium fees are being collected via the Zeffy platform, which offers convenient and low-cost services for non-profits.
Please be aware that the number of registrants is limited due to space constraints, so we recommend early registration.
On the registration form, please also indicate if you plan to attend the field trip to West Cliff Drive, scheduled for the afternoon of May 11. The form also allows you to indicate your interest in presenting in our lightning talk and poster sessions.
Please contact us at californiachapter@asbpa.org if you have questions or encounter difficulties.
Seymour Marine Discovery Center is located in the City of Santa Cruz — the real Surf City — on the northern shore of Monterey Bay. The closest major airport is San Jose (SJC) (35 miles, ~45 min) with SFO (65 miles, ~75 min) and Oakland (80 miles, ~90 min) as other options. While it is possible to take public transit between the airports and Santa Cruz, rental cars, rideshare/taxi, or carpools are the most practical modes of travel.
Paid parking at the Seymour Center is administered – and enforced! – by UCSC’s parking department. On-site parking can be purchased using the ParkMobile app or going to parkmobile.io. The zone code is 15154. Parking is $5/hr or $20 per day.
Free parking is available at the end of Delaware Street, adjacent to the UCSC Coastal Science Campus entrance. It is a pleasant, approximately 10 minute walk along a paved pedestrian path from the end of Delaware St. to the Seymour Center.
Two local hotels are offered a limited number of rooms to symposium guests, at group rates:
Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites Santa Cruz is providing a group rate of $125/night. This is the closest hotel to the Seymour Center, about 1.3 miles away.(Last day to book: April 11, 2026)
Courtyard by Marriott Santa Cruz is providing a group rate of $114/night. This hotel is more centrally located near the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and closer to downtown. (Last day to book: March 20, 2026)
Room availability is limited and time sensitive!
Alternatively, the Santa Cruz area is a tourist destination and has abundant hotel options at all price points. VRBO and Airbnb have listings as well.
All sponsorships include name and logo on CSBPA conference website, conference emails, and at-conference display
Interested in sharing a brief snapshot of your favorite or most recent project or thoughts on coastal strategies? Sign up for a 5 minute presentation to the full conference to give a teaser of your work – slides are optional! Think of it as speed dating…the coast!
To submit, please indicate your interest and provide a provisional title on our registration page.
Slots are extremely limited, so submit soon if you are interested, and no later than April 11, 2026. We will follow-up to confirm whether your talk has been accepted and provide details.
Come present your work during our Monday poster session/reception. Space is limited, so if you are interested, be sure to register for the conference soon – by April 11, 2026.
To submit,
Other information:
Have a question about the conference? Fill out the form below and we’ll get right back to you.
