North Coast

Paying for California's Water System

Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) | May 31st, 2021

Paying it Forward: The Path Toward Climate-Safe Infrastructure in California

Climate-Safe Infrastructure Working Group | September 1st, 2018

Performance of Fire Danger Indices and Their Utility in Predicting Future Wildfire Danger Over the Conterminous United States

American Geophysical Union (AGU) | November 20th, 2023

Persistent spatial structuring of coastal ocean acidification in the California Current System

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | May 31st, 2017

The near-term progression of ocean acidification (OA) is projected to bring about sharp changes in the chemistry of coastal upwelling ecosystems. The distribution of OA

The near-term progression of ocean acidification (OA) is projected to bring about sharp changes in the chemistry of coastal upwelling ecosystems. The distribution of OA exposure across these early impact systems, however, is highly uncertain and limits our understanding of whether and how spatial management actions can be deployed to ameliorate future impacts. Through a novel coastal OA observing network, we have uncovered a remarkably persistent spatial mosaic in the penetration of acidified waters into ecologically-important nearshore habitats across 1,000 km of the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem. In the most severe exposure hotspots, suboptimal conditions for calcifying organisms encompassed up to 56% of the summer season, and were accompanied by some of the lowest and most variable pH environments known for the surface ocean. Persistent refuge areas were also found, highlighting new opportunities for local adaptation to address the global challenge of OA in productive coastal systems.

Persistent spatial structuring of coastal ocean acidification in the California Current System

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | May 31st, 2017

The near-term progression of ocean acidification (OA) is projected to bring about sharp changes in the chemistry of coastal upwelling ecosystems. The distribution of OA e

The near-term progression of ocean acidification (OA) is projected to bring about sharp changes in the chemistry of coastal upwelling ecosystems. The distribution of OA exposure across these early-impact systems, however, is highly uncertain and limits our understanding of whether and how spatial management actions can be deployed to ameliorate future impacts. Through a novel coastal OA observing network, we have uncovered a remarkably persistent spatial mosaic in the penetration of acidified waters into ecologically-important nearshore habitats across 1,000 km of the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem. In the most severe exposure hotspots, suboptimal conditions for calcifying organisms encompassed up to 56% of the summer season, and were accompanied by some of the lowest and most variable pH environments known for the surface ocean. Persistent refuge areas were also found, highlighting new opportunities for local adaptation to address the global challenge of OA in productive coastal systems.

Petition For Rulemaking to Set Minimum Flows on the Shasta River

Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center | January 20th, 2024

Decades of scientific inquiry make clear that adequate quality and quantity of flows are needed to prevent remaining fish populations from further decline. Yet this scien

Decades of scientific inquiry make clear that adequate quality and quantity of flows are needed to prevent remaining fish populations from further decline. Yet this science is not self-executing; effective government intervention is necessary to prevent the extirpation of salmonids in the Shasta. This type of government action is at the core of the Public Trust Doctrine, which requires the government to act as a trustee over public trust resources, and to the extent feasible, step in to protect these resources from over-allocation and over-use.

Pilot Study of Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs) in the Russian River Watershed: Lessons Learned

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | December 21st, 2017

Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) can be defined as any chemicals that are not regulated or commonly monitored but have the potential to enter the environment and c

Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) can be defined as any chemicals that are not regulated or commonly monitored but have the potential to enter the environment and cause adverse ecological or human health impacts. Determining which of the thousands of chemicals in commerce are CECs and whether or not they may be a problem is a formidable challenge. For most chemicals in use, a number of limitations prevent researchers from measuring their presence and assessing their potential risks. It is therefore difficult to monitor and manage CECs.  In response, scientists and managers recently completed a Pilot Study Design1 for monitoring CECs in aquatic ecosystems throughout California. The Russian River watershed (RRW) study was the first regional implementation of this Pilot Study Design. The collected data provide useful information for both the Russian River region and the implementation of the monitoring framework in other areas.  The primary objective of this study was to investigate the occurrence of high priority CECs in receiving water, sediment, and fish tissue within the RRW to address the management question: 

Piloting a Water Rights Information System for California

Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment (CLEE) | July 15th, 2021

California’s complex water management challenges are growing and intensifying. Systemic stressors like the more frequent and severe droughts and floods driven by climat

California’s complex water management challenges are growing and intensifying. Systemic stressors like the more frequent and severe droughts and floods driven by climate change are only making it harder to respond. Accordingly, California needs to dramatically improve the ability of local, regional, and State entities to make agile and effective water management decisions. We believe doing so will require enhanced understanding of our water resources and how they align with the needs of a range of agencies and stakeholders. Water rights data provide a crucial opportunity for advancing this understanding. We find that modernizing water rights data is feasible, affordable, and can increase transparency and clarity for better decision-making.

Plan writing as a policy tool: instrumental, conceptual, and tactical uses of water management plans in California

Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences (Springer) | February 24th, 2022

Numerous environmental regulations require organizations to codify prospective activities in a written plan. However, evidence suggests that many plans are never implemen

Numerous environmental regulations require organizations to codify prospective activities in a written plan. However, evidence suggests that many plans are never implemented, raising questions about why public agencies continually require plans, whether mandating plans allows agencies to meet their policy aims, and what additional purposes plans serve. Adopting concepts from literature on research utilization, we develop a plan use typology, defining instrumental use as occurring when the requirement to write a plan directly addresses a stated policy problem, conceptual use as occurring when the requirement to write a plan indirectly addresses a policy problem by raising awareness of an issue or improving governance capacity, and tactical use as occurring when the requirement to write a plan serves a political or symbolic purpose unrelated to solving the policy problem. We then apply the typology to four California statutes that require local and regional utilities to write water management plans. We first assess the statutes to identify the goals underlying the requirement to write a plan and assess what plan uses are emphasized in guidance documents and the written plans themselves. Lastly, we interview the plan writing organizations to capture their perspectives on the value and limitations of these plans. We find that legislators turn to plans to support instrumental and conceptual goals but that the plans themselves and the way they are used by authoring agencies primarily serve conceptual and tactical uses, suggesting a disconnect between the policy goals underlying plans and their actual use.

Poleward shift of the major ocean gyres detected in a warming climate

American Geophysical Union (AGU) | February 24th, 2020

Recent evidence shows that wind‐driven ocean currents, like the western boundary currents, are strongly affected by global warming. However, due to insufficient observa

Recent evidence shows that wind‐driven ocean currents, like the western boundary currents, are strongly affected by global warming. However, due to insufficient observations both on temporal and spatial scales, the impact of climate change on large‐scale ocean gyres is still not clear. Here, based on satellite observations of sea surface height and sea surface temperature, we find a consistent poleward shift of the major ocean gyres. Due to strong natural variability, most of the observed ocean gyre shifts are not statistically significant, implying that natural variations may contribute to the observed trends. However, climate model simulations forced with increasing greenhouse gases suggest that the observed shift is most likely to be a response of global warming. The displacement of ocean gyres, which is coupled with the poleward shift of extratropical atmospheric circulation, has broad impacts on ocean heat transport, regional sea level rise and coastal ocean circulation.