Quest, a nonprofit based in Oakland, works to literally rise above these obstacles. The group works collaboratively with governments and communities to build resilient coasts across the globe. “We focus first on developing solutions for coastal vulnerabilities in individual cities, districts or counties, and then figuring out how to scale those solutions across a state and even the country,” Hoffmann said. Advocacy for oceans isn’t especially new, but caring specifically about the coastline and the importance of accessible open space ramped up in 2020, Hoffmann said. “I think the pandemic pushed the issue more to the forefront,” she said. “People have been going to the coast for sanity and early in the pandemic, access to certain beaches and other coastal areas was an issue. That may have opened people’s eyes to how precious coastal land is.” Before that, Hoffmann said coastal issues were often considered too complicated, due to the overlapping jurisdictions and interests or lumped into traditional land preservation, which can be an expensive and lengthy process. “In the past year and a half, we’ve seen this window of opportunity emerge to encourage more concentration on the coast,” she continued. “This is particularly important today with the growing impacts of wildfires, drought and hurricanes. The time to act is now.”
Coastal Quest has many projects on the agenda with valuable partners. Their strategies and initiatives span multiple coastlines and most recently focus on the California home front. A unique issue for the west coast is understanding fire impact on coastal water quality and water infrastructure. “This is a huge need,” Hoffmann said. “It’s important to determine how are fires affecting coastal communities and their public health and ecosystem health.” Coastal Quest has launched a pilot program in which — working with two counties, research groups, and the State
Water Resources Control Board — it will investigate post-fire impact and recommend regulatory action and new ways of managing post- fire recovery. The organization has also created a partnership with the California
“Protecting, sustaining and enhancing the coast for people and nature potentially affects 2.4 billion people globally.” Tegan Hoffmann, Ph.D. Executive Director, Coastal Quest
Ocean Protection Council and two private donors, pooling their funds to administer about 20 small grants for communities along the coast. One of the organization’s most recent projects, introduced during the summer of 2021, is a partnership with California State Parks, which owns and manages 25 percent of the coast of California.
“Under a scenario of 3.2 to 6.5 feet of sea level rise, two-thirds of the beaches in Southern California may become completely eroded by 2100,” Hoffmann explained. “We’re helping State Parks pilot an approach for assessing sea level rise and designing adaptation solutions in the particularly vulnerable San Diego Coast District (one of 13 coastal districts in the state).” Coastal Quest also is working with counties to help them develop strategies for
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