Erosion at Ocean Beach: If You Can't Beat It, ...?
(Final Report)

(http://funnel.sfsu.edu/courses/gm309/F05/problems/Ocean Beach/OceanBeach.2.html)
(Introduced Tuesday, Nov. 22; Final Report due in class Thursday, Dec. 1)

Introduction. In Stage 1 of Problem #2, "Erosion at Ocean Beach", you and your other group members reported on your investigations of the physical nature of the threat of erosion at Ocean Beach along the Great Highway south of Sloat Boulevard. To complete your investigation of the problem you will now consider possible solutions. Your final report will incorporate revisions to your Stage 1 reports together with your evaluation of solutions. The final report will be due in class Thursday, Dec. 1.

Your Task for the Final Report. Broadly speaking, in addition to incorporating your Stage 1 reports, the final report for the "Erosion at Ocean Beach" problem should:

1. provide a brief historical overview, and review the basic problem—what is the source of the threat, and what is threatened;
2. identify short- and long-term solutions to the problem that have been proposed;
3. identify "stakeholders" (that is, interest groups with a stake in the future of Ocean Beach and adjacent structures), their perceptions of the problem, and the solutions that they advocate;
4. evaluate effects that proposed solutions might have on Ocean Beach and nearby structures; and
5. based on your evaluation, recommend your consensus on the best long-term solution.

Along the way, you should be able to address each of the following questions to at least some degree, focusing in particular on the area of interest immediately south of Sloat Boulevard:

1. What was Ocean Beach and the area immediately inland once like, before San Francisco began to encroach upon it?
2. What have been the prominent uses of the area and the major construction projects along it (notably the Great Highway, San Francisco Zoo, and the sewage treatment plant)?
3. What has been the history of coastal erosion on the Great Highway and other structures along Ocean Beach?
4. What efforts have been made in the past to address the the problem of coastal erosion? In what respects have they succeeded or failed?
5. What are the potential threats of coastal erosion in the future?
6. What long-term solutions have been proposed to address the threat of coastal erosion? What strengths and drawbacks of each have been claimed? What evidence is available to support the arguments for and against each proposed solution?
7. What interest groups and responsible public agencies are stakeholders in Ocean Beach, the Great Highway, and/or the sewage treatment plant? What perspective does each bring to the coastal erosion problem, and what solution(s) does each favor?

Final Report. Your group will submit a single final report. It should contain your Stage 1 reports as well as your response to the task defined above. One way of organizing the report might be as follows:

Table of Contents (for this to be useful, be sure to number your pages!)
1. Introduction: Brief statement of the problem and summary of how the report is organized.
2. Historical background.
3. Revised versions of your individual Stage 1 reports. (Revisions should reflect comments made by the instructors and critiques prepared by your group members.)
4. Summary of proposed solutions, and description of stakeholders and their particular interests and the solutions they advocate.
5. Your evaluation of proposed solutions and your group's recommendation, including the basis for it.
6. References and appendices (including maps and beach profiles constructed as part of an earlier assignment for Problem #2).

Evaluation.Your group will receive a single grade for its final report, shared equally among all members. It is up to you to decide how to distribute the workload optimally and fairly. The final report is worth 5% of your course grade. Evaluation will be based on how well the report addresses the questions and issues raised in the Stage 1 and Final Report assignments (including how well your support your recommended solution) (50%); how well organized and coherent the final report is (30%); and the quality of the writing (20%). The report critique rubric provided as part of the critique assignment for first drafts of your Stage 1 reports and, in general terms, the report template provided for Stage 1 of Problem #1 offer useful guidance about how to organize and write the reports. If you include photographs in your report (either in the main body or in an appendix), you should identify the date, location, photographer, and publication source to the extent that that information is available.

Some Resources That Might Help

A summary of places to look for resources that might help you (including both Web-based and non-Web resources) is contained in "Resources for the Ocean Beach Erosion Problem" at http://funnel.sfsu.edu/courses/gm309/F05/problems/OceanBeach/OceanBeach.Resources.html. Only the time you have available to devote to research is likely to limit how much you can learn about the problem!