Alex’s Adventures

Statement of research topic and study approach 

Since being a graduate student at UC Berkeley, my studies have centered around the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta Region. I began studying this region when my home department, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, put on a symposium about the Delta and the vast amount of urbanization that is occurring in the region. I assisted in this symposium through GSR work and one of my main duties was to do GIS mapping of urbanization in the Delta in order to illustrate some of the threats the region is facing. This research made me aware of the necessity for regional planning in order to manage a natural entity, which spans multiple political boundaries as the Delta spans the boundaries of five different counties. Additionally, I was fortunate enough to get an internship with the Delta Protection Commission, which is an agency that oversees many of the decisions made about the Delta in regards to preserving it’s agricultural, ecological and recreational resources. One of the projects I worked on through this internship was an agricultural conservation easement project, which made recommendations regarding where agricultural conservation easements should be placed in the Delta in order to best preserve the landscape. I also have a good understanding of how the physical characteristics of this Delta system relate to the San Francisco Bay, and how anthropogenic changes to the Delta have impacted the Bay and vice versa. My thesis research is on heritage tourism development in the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta as an alternative land use that would help preserve open space in the region.

Studying a system such as the Tagus River Estuary would give me the opportunity to examine a comparable body of water and the surrounding land uses. Both the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta and the delta of the Tagus River are considered inverted Deltas. This means that they branch outwards as they go further inland, as opposed to most Deltas that branch outwards as they go towards the larger water body they are feeding into. Historically though there has been much more sedimentation in the Tagus River Estuary as a result of human induced erosion, compared to the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta.

My proposal is to compare and contrast the physical characteristics of the Tagus River Estuary with the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta in order to draw conclusions regarding what the similarities and differences are between the two. Through field reconnaissance, interviews, and mapping exercises, I would like to determine if there are comparable human settlement patterns between the two regions, and how these patterns may have affected the quality of their respective water bodies.

I have a number of UC Berkeley colleagues who have traveled to Portugal through the “Mediterranean-climate Landscape (LA 229)” class taught by Matt Kondolf in the Landscape Architecture/Environmental Planning Department. Through these colleagues, I have begun to acquire the names and contact information of scholars at the Technical University of Lisbon who are knowledgeable in regards to watershed issues that I can interview regarding land use history, environmental challenges, and opportunities and constraints of managing the estuary. I will conduct interviews with these contacts to gain a broad understanding of the state of the estuary and how this is related to land use planning efforts. I will collect historic documentation (maps, photographs, oral histories, etc.) of the region in order to determine how the region has changed as a result of human settlement. I will also research existing planning efforts underway in the areas surrounding the Tagus River Estuary to determine if there are parallels with land use planning efforts compared to the San Francisco Bay Delta. Finally, I will explore areas near the estuary that may have the potential for heritage tourism development, similar in scope to the work I am conducting in the San Joaquin Delta. I would like to tour the surrounding fishing villages to see if and how tourism has developed in the region.

I would also like to use this trip as an opportunity to share my thesis research with others in Portugal who may be interested in heritage tourism development, and how this type of development can not only help preserve a region’s unique history, but also can have environmental benefits. I will set up a session to present my work to Tagus stakeholders by identifying contacts from UC Berkeley professors and students who have participated in LA 229. I hope to present my findings and solicit input on how my framework could be improved and adapted to other Mediterranean-climate delta regions.

Deliverable 

I will produce a written report summarizing all of the research I have done on the Tagus River Estuary. It will begin with a few bullet points that synthesize my conclusions regarding the similarities and differences between the two regions, then go into detail on how I came to these conclusions. It will explain the physical characteristics of the Tagus River Estuary compared to the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta. It will explain how human settlement and development patterns have affected the landscape of the two regions. Parallels in land use planning efforts and regional governance of the two regions will be discussed. Finally I will make recommendations on potential locations around the Tagus River Estuary which could benefit from heritage tourism development, if this type of development appears to be feasible.