The Consortium received a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for its operations, and Andy was selected to serve as BAECCC’s Executive Coordinator in 2011. Under Andy’s leadership BAECCC has established an active and respected forum for collaboration among scientists, natural resource managers, and others interested in the impacts of climate change on the Bay Area.

Among other accomplishments in this role, Andy served as a Lead Author of Baylands Ecosystem Habitat Goals Update. This project, which involved the collaboration of over one hundred regional scientists and other professionals, produced a set of visionary management recommendations for Bay Area shorelines to restore and maintain these vital ecosystems in the face of climate change, including their role in building resilience to sea level rise.

The parties involved in these disputes (sewage treatment plants, oil refineries, County governments) recognized a need to improve their working relationship, and signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2001 to form the Clean Estuary Partnership. Andy was hired to coordinate this collaboration, which focused on applying science to support water quality planning. He guided this five-year effort to produce numerous scientific documents that formed the basis for regional water quality regulation, while at the same time building a new working relationship among the parties.

Andy served as the lead author of a peer-reviewed scientific assessment in 2000 that concluded suitable habitat exists in the watershed to support steelhead spawning and rearing. He served as the Workgroup’s facilitator until 2010, assisting this diverse group of stakeholders begin the process of restoration. Several barriers to fish migration have been removed, some fish passage facilities have been built and others are being planned, genetic testing of fish has been conducted, and screens installed on a major water diversion. These efforts led to the first recorded spawning of steelhead trout in the Alameda Creek watershed in over 50 years in 2008.

The information developed and shared by the Regional Monitoring Program has allowed the Bay Area to assess the success of pollution reduction efforts. Andy’s foundational work has allowed the development of a program that continues to support collaborative decisions about how to make the Bay waters as clean and healthy as possible.

There is a broad public consensus that protecting the health of San Francisco Bay is important, but how do we know if we’re achieving this worthy goal? After all, “health” is not an objective characteristic that can be measured, but a subjective assessment made by considering available information.

Starting in 2001, Andy worked with our region’s scientists and natural resource managers to develop a system that documents the Bay’s vital signs, in a manner that is scientifically credible and understandable to interested citizens of our region. By understanding “how the Bay is doing,” our community can consider if we are doing enough of the right things to protect the Bay.

Andy used his scientific and management skills over a decade to bring this concept to fruition with the production of The State of the Bay 2011.

The Consortium received a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for its operations, and Andy was selected to serve as BAECCC’s Executive Coordinator in 2011. Under Andy’s leadership BAECCC has established an active and respected forum for collaboration among scientists, natural resource managers, and others interested in the impacts of climate change on the Bay Area.

Among other accomplishments in this role, Andy served as a Lead Author of Baylands Ecosystem Habitat Goals Update. This project, which involved the collaboration of over one hundred regional scientists and other professionals, produced a set of visionary management recommendations for Bay Area shorelines to restore and maintain these vital ecosystems in the face of climate change, including their role in building resilience to sea level rise.

The parties involved in these disputes (sewage treatment plants, oil refineries, County governments) recognized a need to improve their working relationship, and signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2001 to form the Clean Estuary Partnership. Andy was hired to coordinate this collaboration, which focused on applying science to support water quality planning. He guided this five-year effort to produce numerous scientific documents that formed the basis for regional water quality regulation, while at the same time building a new working relationship among the parties.

Andy served as the lead author of a peer-reviewed scientific assessment in 2000 that concluded suitable habitat exists in the watershed to support steelhead spawning and rearing. He served as the Workgroup’s facilitator until 2010, assisting this diverse group of stakeholders begin the process of restoration. Several barriers to fish migration have been removed, some fish passage facilities have been built and others are being planned, genetic testing of fish has been conducted, and screens installed on a major water diversion. These efforts led to the first recorded spawning of steelhead trout in the Alameda Creek watershed in over 50 years in 2008.

The information developed and shared by the Regional Monitoring Program has allowed the Bay Area to assess the success of pollution reduction efforts. Andy’s foundational work has allowed the development of a program that continues to support collaborative decisions about how to make the Bay waters as clean and healthy as possible.

There is a broad public consensus that protecting the health of San Francisco Bay is important, but how do we know if we’re achieving this worthy goal? After all, “health” is not an objective characteristic that can be measured, but a subjective assessment made by considering available information.

Starting in 2001, Andy worked with our region’s scientists and natural resource managers to develop a system that documents the Bay’s vital signs, in a manner that is scientifically credible and understandable to interested citizens of our region. By understanding “how the Bay is doing,” our community can consider if we are doing enough of the right things to protect the Bay.

Andy used his scientific and management skills over a decade to bring this concept to fruition with the production of The State of the Bay 2011.