Connecting Urban Biodiversity

The Conservation Lands Network (CLN) has defined regional conservation priorities in the SF Bay Area for more than a decade.

Regional conservation has been incredibly successful in the Bay Area. We have a  25-year legacy of coordinated, partner-driven conservation planning . The Conservation Lands Network (CLN) has been the regional standard for strategic upland conservation since 2009. From the beginning, the CLN process has involved hundreds of experts and practitioners with deep knowledge of biodiversity, habitat protection, open space management, and stewardship.

And yet that process has not included all the people and places that it could.

Almost all regional conservation planning, including the CLN, has left urban areas out by design. Since biodiversity is typically richer in less-developed areas, tools and methods for habitat protection purposely push conservation priorities away from human activity.  

We do need to protect undeveloped lands. But conservation planning that excludes urban areas leaves out important areas for native biodiversity, and excludes communities who should be at the table. Some communities have fewer opportunities to access nearby nature, and yet wildlife can thrive alongside people. Streams and waterways especially present opportunities for biodiversity conservation in communities that most need access to nature.

Regional conservation planning that excludes urban areas also excludes communities who should be at the table. Streams and waterways especially present opportunities for biodiversity conservation in communities that most need access to nature.

Water is life — something that has become even more palpable during recent historic periods of drought. During the Bay Area’s annual hot and dry season, vegetation and wildlife depend on a network of streams, ponds, lakes, and aquifers for life-giving moisture. 

Conserving and improving riparian and floodplain habitat benefits people and wildlife. In urban areas, those benefits can be especially important. Trees along a creek provide habitat for birds and other wildlife. Those same trees provide a cooling effect for people who live nearby. As the climate changes and urban heat islands become more severe, shaded streams will be ever more important to human and nonhuman communities.

And where streams flow into San Francisco Bay, we have even more opportunities to protect and preserve diverse habitats while mitigating the impacts of sea-level rise. Tidal marshes and other brackish ecosystems are mixing zones with remarkable diversity, and if given space they can adapt to changing sea levels and protect nearby human communities.

We need to keep leading the way by incorporating urban biodiversity into the CLN. Urban areas are the place where the largest number of people live and connect to nature in yards, gardens, parks, greenways, creeks, and even on the street. Community science platforms like iNaturalist help us see that connection more clearly than ever. How do we build on this data and turn it into a systematic assessment of urban biodiversity? How do we build on this data and turn it into a systematic assessment of urban biodiversity.

What it looks like to engage people who have historically not been given the opportunity to be involved with regional conservation planning: More than a thousand people observing and identifying data about 58 species over two weeks in urban areas across the region.

•  TOGETHER Bay Area 
•  California Academy of Sciences 
•  Yes! Nature to Neighborhoods 
•  Salted Roots 
•  Friends of Sausal Creek 
•  iNaturalist 

These partners came together to conduct iNaturalist-powered “bioblitzes” in two parks in the East Bay. A bioblitz is an event where people come together to document as many species of plants, animals, and other organisms as they can in a single place. In the past, bioblitzes often involved volunteers collecting physical specimens to hand over to experts on-site for identification. With the iNaturalist smartphone app, volunteers can just take photos to upload as observations, and then experts around the world can help identify species. The data flows into a global database that can be used by scientists and advocates everywhere.

Since 1999, Richmond’s YES Nature to Neighborhoods has worked in partnership with nature to nurture leaders who champion the wellbeing of their community. The organization’s vision is for Richmond youth, adults, and families to lead healthy, connected lives; motivate change in their neighborhoods; and inspire a safe, thriving community.

YES partnered with the California Academy of Sciences to bioblitz Alvarado Park in Richmond. More than 20 people came together to log observations, and almost 90 people helped virtually to provide identifications.

To the south, in Oakland, Salted Roots, Friends of Sausal Creek, and the California Academy of Sciences  organized a similar bioblitz in Diamond Park, home to a stretch of Sausal Creek. 

Salted Roots is an Oakland-based community advocacy and surfing education organization. The Friends of Sausal Creek conserve, restore, and enhance the Sausal Creek Watershed through education programs, hands-on restoration, advocacy, and other work.

Almost three dozen people came together, with help from more than 80 identifiers, to catalog species in Diamond Park.

Raw observations are essential, and that’s why bioblitzes are so important. Observations provide the input scientists can use to build habitat models. To go from knowing that “someone saw a snail in this spot on this day” to predicting “these snails are more likely to live in all these spots.”

Data scientists at the California Academy of Sciences determined that iNaturalist provided enough observations for 19 species to model their occurrence within urban areas.

These species became “urban bridge species” — they do well in both wildlands and developed areas, so they benefit both from wildland conservation and urban biodiversity protection and restoration.

The more data we have about urban biodiversity, the more we can include it in future planning. Call to action for continued/increased observations on iNaturalist to allow the CLN to add models for more species in the future.

That means that every time people add observations to iNaturalist in urban areas, it’s more likely that scientists can model more urban bridge species. That enriches our understanding of how to include urban areas in regional conservation planning.

Data scientists at Cal Academy used iNaturalist data and then compared observations to 11 environmental variables to create predictive models of where the 19 species were most likely to occur. The variables include natural elements like “distance to standing freshwater” or “percent tree cover” as well as human impacts, like traffic and distance to undeveloped green spaces of at least 10 acres.

For each species, we created a distribution map and determined what the most influential environmental variables are for that species. 

Then all 19 models are combined into a single layer, covering both urban and nonurban areas. That final map predicts where across the whole region we’d be most likely to find habitat for the 19 species we analyzed.

Among the most important findings in this project is that the 19 bridge species thrive in both urban and nonurban areas. So land protection and stewardship in nonurban areas directly supports species that also range in urban areas. And the opposite too: Helping these species thrive in urban areas supports their populations in nonurban areas.

As with so many things in nature, when we look closely, we see there are more connections than divisions. Lifting up and protecting urban nature is another way to support all natural communities in the region, while also supporting the human communities that are part of those natural communities. 

We learned five valuable lessons in developing this project:

1. Collaboration and Local Expertise are Essential

2. Nature Thrives in Cities — Recognize the Role of Urban Biodiversity

3. Community Science is a Powerful Tool for Urban Conservation

4. Species Distribution Modeling Can Guide Urban Biodiversity Efforts

5. Cities are Complex Landscapes — Engage Municipalities Deliberately

You can read more about these lessons and the Connecting Urban Biodiversity project in  Urban Communities, Thriving Ecosystems , a story by TOGETHER Bay Area and the California Academy of Sciences that explores how integrating community science and urban biodiversity data into regional conservation planning can reshape traditional conservation paradigms, promote ecological resilience, and ensure equitable access to nature for urban communities. We are excited to feed the findings of this work directly into the development of the next version of the Conservation Lands Network.

Local agencies and  organizations working within urban areas can build on this work as well, but holding bioblitzes in parks, along streams, or even in backyards and front yards in their communities. The more data we have about urban nature, the more we can use that data as an integral part of planning for a future where all Bay Area communities thrive.

And the more people we have contributing that data and participating in the process of creating regional biodiversity plans, the more we can all share in both the hard work and essential benefits of a diverse, vibrant, healthy Bay Area.

Connecting Urban Biodiversity is a project of Together Bay Area in partnership with the California Academy of Sciences. The project team consisted of:

• Annie Burke (she/her), TOGETHER Bay Area

• Dr. Avery Hill (he/they), California Academy of Sciences

• Dr. Rebecca Johnson (she/her), California Academy of Sciences

• Tom Robinson (he/him), TOGETHER Bay Area

• Laura Rosenthal (she/her), TOGETHER Bay Area

• Olivia VanDamme (she/her), California Academy of Sciences

• Alison Young (she/her), California Academy of Sciences

This project would not have been possible without the invaluable contributions of our partners at Yes! Nature to Neighborhoods, Salted Roots, and Friends of Sausal Creek including:

• Vencel Alfred (he/him), Supervising Coordinator, Camp-to-Community Fellows
• Carlos Guerreo (he/him), Rangers Coordinator
• Blanca Hernández (she/her), Director of Programs & Partnerships
• Luis Pacheco (he/him), Youth Leadership Pathway Manager

• Madoka Hara (she/they), Program Director
• Jessica Knox (she/her), Surf Program Lead and Youth Advocacy Specialist
• JR Derenoncourt (they/them), Youth & Environmental Stewardship Coordinator
• Adriana Guerrero-Nardone (she/they), Executive Director
• Tricia Ong (she/her), Surf Program Lead
• Risa Ofeila (she/her), Surf Program Lead

• Kate Berlin (she/her), Interim Executive Director
• Elena Stenger (she/her), Education and Outreach Manager