USA: Senior Advisor to Bay Area Joint Policy Committee Joins Marstel-Day Advisory Council

Will Travis, the Senior Advisor to the Bay Area Joint Policy Committee, which is coordinating the efforts of four regional agencies to advance future economic prosperity and address climate change in the land use planning of the San Francisco Bay region, has joined Marstel-Day’s Advisory Council at the invitation of the company’s president and founder, Rebecca R. Rubin. Ms. Rubin noted her delight that Travis was joining the Advisory Council:

“Because of his pioneering work in incorporating adaptation and mitigation strategies for climate change induced sea-level rise and other effects, Will Travis brings a powerful analytical and experiential base to Marstel-Day’s approach to further incorporating climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies, and ecosystem services approaches to our strategic conservation planning work on behalf of clients.”

Travis, or Trav, as he is known professionally, recently retired as the Executive Director of the nation’s oldest coastal zone management agency, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC). He is highly regarded for his pioneering leadership of BCDC, including for his recent path-breaking efforts to incorporate climate change sea-level rise planning paradigms into BCDC’s regulation of shoreline and aquatic development in the San Francisco estuary within the 280 square miles of low-lying filled land along the Bay shoreline. He led BCDC from 1995 until the end of 2011. During this time he held lead the Long Term Management Strategy for Dredging and Dredge Material Disposal, which included the development of accelerated wetland restoration and other beneficial reuses from dredged material.

Previously, he served as BCDC’s Deputy Director (from 1985-95) and prior to that he spent 12 years with the California Coastal Commission where he held a number of positions, including heading the agency’s offshore oil drilling permit staff, directing its public access program, and overseeing its budget and administrative functions. From 1970 to 1972 he served as BCDC’s first Bay Development Design Analyst. He holds Bachelor of Architecture and Master of Regional Planning degrees from Penn State University.

Travis has written many articles on coastal issues, has provided advice on coastal matters to other states and nations, and has been a lecturer at universities throughout North America. He was chairman of the Shell Oil Spill Litigation Settlement Trustee Committee, which administered a multimillion dollar settlement fund set up to settle claims resulting from a 1988 oil spill. In that capacity, he spearheaded the public acquisition of 10,000 acres of privately owned salt ponds along the northern shoreline of San Francisco Bay, which are being transformed into one of the largest coastal wetland restoration projects in California’s history. He serves on the board of directors of the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR), was a member of the National Research Council Roundtable on Climate Change Education and served on the board of trustees of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute. He was an advisor for the National Ocean Service’s San Francisco Bay Project, a member of the Berkeley Planning Commission, and was chairman of a special committee that worked with the University of California to formulate a new plan for downtown Berkeley.

He is the 2009 recipient of the Jean Auer Environmental Award, presented by the San Francisco Estuary Partnership, and the 2012 recipient of the Frank C. Boerger Award, presented by the Bay Planning Coalition. He and his wife, Jody Loeffler, are the authors of “Katherine’s Gift,” a memoir on international adoption.

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Dredging Today Staff, April 17, 2012