When it comes to managing its coast, California is far ahead of other states in preparing for climate change, at least one environmental advocacy group says.
The Surfrider Foundation’s annual State of the Beach report was released Monday, Jan. 29, giving California communities and leaders high marks for their efforts. The foundation considers 67% of coastal states – or 22 of them – as needing improvement in their responses to sea level rise. Those states are managing their shorelines at only adequate to poor levels, according to the San Clemente-based nonprofit.
“This report is important particularly in the face of extreme weather events and climate change – as we continue to see these events on the regular, we really need to get proactive and plan ahead,” said Surfrider’s Coastal Preservation Manager Stefanie Sekich-Quinn. “That’s the thrust of it, at the end of the day.”
California is one of the nation’s leaders, according to the nonprofit, earning an A grade for its efforts as the state grapples with a rising sea and erosion that has kept coastal managers busy in recent years. But still, the Golden State has areas where improvement is needed as climate change impacts become more prevalent, the foundation’s report warns.
The report graded 30 coastal and Great Lake states, as well as Puerto Rico, on policies used to protect the nation’s beaches. California is among 11 states that earned either an A or B grade based on criteria judging their job protecting their beaches.
The 22 states and territories that earned a C grade or less tend to have less stringent policies regarding development in hazardous coastal zones, ineffective or nonexistent prohibitions on coastal armoring, poor sediment management and lack sea level rise policies, according to the Surfrider Foundation. The states often lack effective implementation of existing laws and policies, and even if they pass legislation, agencies are often not implementing the laws, it says.
New Jersey and Florida, for example, have passed strong climate change impact laws, but don’t implement them, the report says.
That is the reason Surfrider does the report each year, to ensure states are not only passing important legislation to protect coastlines, but are also following up with implementing laws and policies, according to the report.
“Sea level rise planning is absolutely vital for all states. Considering that sea levels can rise by up to six feet by the end of the century, it is critical that coastal states proactively and strategically plan for sea level rise to avoid impacts on beaches, communities, public access, recreation, and healthy ecosystems,” the report says.
The highest-scoring states, including California, have strong policies regarding coastal building setbacks, restrictions on coastal armoring, limiting development or redevelopment in harm’s way and are advancing progressive sea level rise policies that encourage local governments to incorporate climate adaptation measures into their land use plans, the report’s authors said.
Sekich-Quinn said that while California shines against other states, there’s still room for improvement.
Short-term fixes of coastal erosion by putting up seawalls and piling boulders to try and keep the ocean away from infrastructures continue to be a problem, Surfrider officials say. In Orange County, for example, big boulders have been used at areas such as San Onofre State Beach, along much of San Clemente’s coast and Capistrano Beach to try and keep the water at bay.
Hard armoring like that can ultimately exasperate erosion, causing waves to refract and pull sand further out to sea, chipping away at the coast’s sand, Sekich-Quinn said.
“Eventually, water has a way of winning,” she said. “That is our largest flagrant criticism of the state.”
The California Coastal Commission often approves the emergency use of boulders to shore up an area battered by waves, sometimes after the revetments have already been set down, and they are rarely removed, despite them being approved just temporarily, Sekich-Quinn said.
“They always become permanent,” she said, making the hardscaping of the coast a long-term fixture that can worsen erosion and shrink public sand space.
In 2023, the Coastal Commission adopted the Public Trust Guiding Principles and Action Plan, which acknowledges the need to incorporate the impact on public use of coastal resources, such as beaches, in decision-making around armoring.
Finding long-term solutions that are proactive, such as local entities doing more to plan for climate change by exploring relocation of infrastructure or adding nature-based solutions that restore the natural system – or both – are important steps.
An example is in Ventura at Surfer’s Point, where a living shoreline – a base of cobble on top of sand that uses vegetation to help hold things in place – has helped protect a coastline that was previously suffering from severe erosion. During the last storm, the area was battered, but this stretch of shoreline stayed intact.
“The more the nature-based solutions stand up, it is glaring that is the answer,” Sekich-Quinn said.
Similar plans are in the works at Doheny State Beach and neighboring Capistrano Park Beach, an area where officials propose a living shoreline with the hopes it will keep sand in place and provide a buffer to protect a pathway and parking lots.
The Bay Foundation and the city of Manhattan Beach in 2022 teamed up for a pilot project there to plant native vegetation to address erosion, following a 2016 project in Santa Monica that yielded positive results.
California agencies and local municipalities have increased efforts to fund and implement living shorelines and other natural mechanisms, according to the Surfrider’s report.
Washington’s grade improved this year because the state took “impressive steps toward improving how the state and local communities respond and adapt to climate change,” the Surfrider’s report said. State officials passed a bill that requires sea level rise analysis to be incorporated into local land use plans, with $3.9 million set aside for coastal hazards planning.
Washington also received $74.4 million through the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act to fund the state’s climate resilience planning and projects.
The Surfrider Foundation dropped New Jersey’s grade from a D last year, to an F, because of a lack of implementation of policies previously signed into law, according to the report, including a 2020 executive order that requires developers to analyze climate change impacts when planning new developments.
The state also has not properly followed up on legislation passed in 2023 that requires local land use plans to analyze sea level rise, the report said. “Due to the state backing away from commitments to plan for climate change impacts, New Jersey’s grade has fallen back to an F,.”
In Florida, a state that went from a C- to a D-, Surfrider officials said leaders took “regressive” steps in coastal management and planning for sea level rise.
Gov. Ron DeSantis established The Hurricane Restoration Reimbursement Grant Program, which uses taxpayer dollars to reimburse private homeowners who build seawalls in hurricane-impacted communities and “Surfrider believes this is an egregious use of public funds,” the report said.
Surfrider officials said there were many positive advancements in 2023 when it came to addressing climate change, from the federal level to city policies.
Unprecedented funds from landmark federal infrastructure legislation became available for cities, states, and tribes to address climate change, according to the report. In total, $6 billion was earmarked for coastal resilience, with Surfrider reps meeting with White House officials to discuss ways to improve climate adaptation laws and policies.
The main reason why California continues to earn such a high mark is its Coastal Act and how stringent the state has been on building along the coast, Sekich-Quinn said.
“Most states don’t have that,” she said, noting that Florida, New Jersey and Texas are building right on the coastline, in some cases in wetlands. “California’s development standards are the main reason we get an A.”
Just a few months ago, new legislation was signed into law that requires local municipalities to update their land use plans to include sea-level rise by 2034.
Some Orange County coastal cities are already working on updated plans, but “it needs to happen much more rapidly across the entire state,” Sekich-Quinn said.
“It really comes down to speeding up sea level rise planning, moving away from coastal arming and doing nature-based solutions,” she said. “But if we juxtaposed ourselves against other states, we’re doing pretty good.”