Healthy watersheds and thriving cities: collaborating for multiple benefits at the landscape scale builds on previously successful wqif projects and ongoing efforts in the santa clara valley to…

The San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) was awarded a $3,494,219 Project Grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) San Francisco Bay Water Quality Improvement Fund (CFDA 66.126) program. The grant, titled "Healthy Watersheds and Thriving Cities: Collaborating for Multiple Benefits at the Landscape Scale," aims to develop a cross-organizational, landscape-scale watershed approach to identifying urban greening solutions that provide multiple benefits to humans and wildlife in the Santa Clara Valley.

The key activities funded under this 4-year grant include convening a regional working group, enhancing community connections, assessing benefit needs and identifying opportunities, comparing scenarios, visualizing opportunities, and implementing multi-benefit urban greening projects. Additionally, the project includes several sub-awards, such as a $98,757 sub-grant to Climate Resilient Communities to facilitate a community team and engagement strategy in East San Jose. The overall goal is to improve habitat and water quality in the Guadalupe and Coyote Creek watersheds, ultimately enhancing the water quality of San Francisco Bay.

Expected outcomes

Regional collaboration is facilitated by additional data, tools, and frameworks. Funding for urban greening projects is easier to obtain using the landscape-based approach. 6-8 priority benefits for the santa clara valley are identified and mapped. Increase in biodiversity, access to nature, heat island mitigation, water quality, and habitat quality. Community-based organizations and tribes have increased capacity and expertise to submit successful grant applications for multi-benefit projects in their communities. Intended project benefi