San Francisco Bay

Delta Vision Strategic Plan

State of California | October 17th, 2008

When it was created by Governor Schwarzenegger’s Executive Order S-17-06 in 2006, the charge of the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force (Task Force) was nothing less th

When it was created by Governor Schwarzenegger’s Executive Order S-17-06 in 2006, the charge of the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force (Task Force) was nothing less than to create a vision to repair the ecological damage to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta (Delta), and then prepare a strategic plan which would sustain the Delta in future decades while ensuring a reliable water supply for the two-thirds of California’s population who depend in whole or in part on water from the Delta.

Delta Vision Strategic Plan -- from Phil Isenberg, 1939-2023

State of California | October 17th, 2008

When it was created by Governor Schwarzenegger’s Executive Order S-17-06 in 2006, the charge of the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force (Task Force) was nothing less th

When it was created by Governor Schwarzenegger’s Executive Order S-17-06 in 2006, the charge of the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force (Task Force) was nothing less than to create a vision to repair the ecological damage to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta (Delta), and then prepare a strategic plan which would sustain the Delta in future decades while ensuring a reliable water supply for the two-thirds of California’s population who depend in whole or in part on water from the Delta.

Delta Water Facilities Peripheral Canal Preliminary Design Report (Draft Copy)

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | July 31st, 1973

Delta Working Landscapes: Public and Private Partnerships for Habitat

Delta Protection Commission (DPC) | October 1st, 2012

The Delta Working Landscapes Program (Program) is a group of projects which demonstrate how farmers can integrate habitat restoration into farming practices. The objec

The Delta Working Landscapes Program (Program) is a group of projects which demonstrate how farmers can integrate habitat restoration into farming practices. The objectives of the Program are to improve the environmental quality of existing landscapes in the Delta; coordinate programs with local farmers; understand the social, economic, environmental and governmental policy hurdles and/or incentives to perform conservation practices; and communicate to farmers the advantages of implementing wildlife friendly agricultural practices. The Delta Protection Commission was awarded a three year grant to construct the program through the California Bay-Delta Program in 2005. Program partners included Hart Restoration (Hart) and Ducks Unlimited (DU). Hart established vegetative buffers along irrigation ditch banks and hedgerow grass plantings. These plantings were designed to provide habitat for wildlife, improve water quality by reducing runoff of pesticides and sediment, enhance levee stability, and retard levee erosion. DU coordinated restoration enhancement projects which included creating seasonal and permanent wetlands on marginal farmlands. These projects provide waterfowl brooding habitat, a food source, and additional habitat sites which promote healthier waterfowl flocks. To date, these projects total 312 acres of seasonal and permanent wetlands and 6.5 miles of enhanced levees and waterways. Many of the revegetated areas are thriving with native plant life, have been repopulated by wildlife, and filter agricultural drainage which improves water quality and enhances levee stability. Multiple species of waterfowl are using the restoration habitats for brooding and feeding as well as staying later into the season. Challenges to Working Landscapes projects include prior long term use of pesticides and herbicides which have created a hostile environment for native plants and wildlife. Additionally, some cultural practices are not conducive to habitat creation such as practices which rely on herbicides instead of tillage. Furthermore, economic costs are affiliated with physical land alterations, and in some cases permit requirements are cumbersome. Despite these challenges, successful public/private partnerships are possible. Working Landscapes projects can be expanded through better communication between policy and regulatory agencies and publicizing successful projects.

Delta-Estuary California's Inland Coast A Public Trust Report

California State Lands Commission (SLC) | May 1st, 1991

Demonstration of a Watershed Approach to Wetland Restoration Planning for Load Reductions: A Pilot Demonstration Project Using GreenPlan-IT in the Santa Rosa Plain, Sonoma County, California

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | December 30th, 2017

This summary memorandum presents technical recommendations to the 401 Certification and Waste Discharge Program (401 Program) of the State Water Resources Control Board (

This summary memorandum presents technical recommendations to the 401 Certification and Waste Discharge Program (401 Program) of the State Water Resources Control Board (State Board) for a coherent, scientifically sound, repeatable, watershed approach to wetland restoration site evaluation, compliance monitoring and assessment, and Tracking. The recommendations are drawn from the previous four memoranda produced for the Pilot Demonstration Project (Project) that address the following subjects: project work plan and information flow diagram; scientific literature review; landscape scenario planning (to map and prioritize restoration opportunities); and a framework for a watershed-approach to evaluate and report the capacity of a wetland restoration site to protect wetland beneficial uses. This Project focused on a sub-watershed of the Santa Rosa Plain, in Sonoma County, California. The area was chosen for the Project for three reasons: (1) it is integral to an existing nutrient TMDL and therefore is supported relatively well with hydrological and nutrient data; (2) the historical and existing wetlands and streams of the area were mapped recently in sufficient detail to inform landscape planning; and (3) implementation of the TMDL will involve wetland restoration to reduce downstream nutrient loads, and therefore the Project may help implement the TMDL. The primary overall purpose of this Project was to explore how numerical simulation and statistical modeling could be combined with existing wetland assessment and reporting tools to create a coherent, watershed-based approach to wetland beneficial use protection. Any relevance to the existing nutrient TMDL for the demonstration area is an intentional, but secondary benefit of this Project. Contents: Wetland Beneficial Use Protection: Pilot Demonstration Project A Synthesis of Literature on Wetland Assimilation Capacities, Models, and Pollutant Loads Simulating Wetland Assimilation Capacity in the Lower Santa Rosa Creek Watershed Pilot Demonstration Area Using the HSPF Model Demonstration of a Watershed Approach To Wetland Restoration Planning Using GreenPlan-IT

Demystifying the Delta

CALFED | August 1st, 2004

Department of Fish and Game Rationale for Effects of Exports

California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) | November 2nd, 2011

This document describes the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) methodology to quantify the surface area in the Sacramento – San Joaquin delta estuary (Delta)

This document describes the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) methodology to quantify the surface area in the Sacramento – San Joaquin delta estuary (Delta) that is impacted by the operations of the State Water Project (SWP) and Central Valley Project (CVP) pumping facilities. In order to estimate the mitigation required to offset direct and indirect losses of Fish Species due to impacts to surface acres of aquatic habitat in the Delta accounted to the SWP Delta Pumping Facilities operations, DFG used an analysis based on conclusions and information contained in a manuscript that utilizes the Delta Simulation Model-2 Particle Tracking Model (DSM2PTM) (Kimmerer and Nobriga, 2008). This methodology provides the general loss of “particles” to the Delta which is a surrogate for loss of productivity and fish life stages vulnerable to these effects.

Design and methods of the California stream quality assessment (CSQA), 2017

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | April 21st, 2020

During 2017, as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Project, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted the California Stream Quality Assessment to investigate the qu

During 2017, as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Project, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted the California Stream Quality Assessment to investigate the quality of streams in the Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains ecoregion, United States. The goal of the California Stream Quality Assessment study was to assess the health of wadeable streams in the region by characterizing multiple water-quality factors that are stressors to aquatic biota and by evaluating the relation between these stressors and biological indicators of stream health. Urbanization, agriculture, and modifications to streamflow are anthropogenic changes that affect water quality in the region; consequently, the study design primarily targeted sites and specific stressors associated with these activities. For the study, 85 stream sites were selected to represent the types and intensity of land use in the watershed; categories of site types were undeveloped, urban (low, medium, high), agriculture (low, high), and mixed (urban and agriculture). Most sites (about 70 percent) represent a gradient of urbanization from undeveloped to 99-percent urbanized. At most of the sites, streamgages or pressure transducers were used to monitor stream discharge and stage, as well as temperature. Water-quality samples were collected routinely at all sites and were analyzed for major ions, organic contaminants, nutrients, and suspended sediment. Sampling frequency varied on the basis of site type and location. Discrete water samples were collected weekly and generally 6 times per site, except for 11 undeveloped sites that were sampled only 4 times (during the last 4 weeks). Water sampling began at sites in the southern part of the study on March 13, 2017, and at sites in the northern part of the study on April 3, 2017. Passive samplers were deployed at most sites for measurement of polar organic contaminants (pesticides and pharmaceuticals). In May 2017, coincident with completion of water-quality sampling, an ecological survey was conducted at each site to assess benthic algal and macroinvertebrate communities and instream habitat. During the ecological surveys, a single composite streambed-sediment sample was collected for chemical analysis and toxicity testing. In addition, a few focused studies were done at subsets of sites, namely, measuring pesticides using small-volume automated samplers, measuring pesticides in biofilms, and sampling suspended sediments using passive samplers. This report describes the various study components and methods of the California Stream Quality Assessment, including measurements of water quality, sediment chemistry, habitat assessments, and ecological surveys, as well as procedures for sample analysis, quality assurance and quality control, and data management.

Design Guidelines for Tidal Wetlands Restoration in San Francisco Bay

Coastal Conservancy | December 29th, 2004

"Over the last 150 years, approximately 90% of the tidal marshes that fringed San Francisco Bay have been destroyed as a result of progressive diking and filling for agri

"Over the last 150 years, approximately 90% of the tidal marshes that fringed San Francisco Bay have been destroyed as a result of progressive diking and filling for agricultural, salt pond, and commercial development. Within the last three decades, however, there has been a dramatic change in public attitudes towards wetlands. They are now valued as uniquely productive natural resources and public policy now seeks not only to protect existing marshes, but also to restore former marshes as functioning wetland ecosystems." Design Guidelines for Tidal Wetland Restoration in San Francisco Bay was created for use by restoration scientists and management agencies through a partnership of The Bay Institute, Philip Williams & Associates, Ltd., Phyllis M. Faber, and the California State Coastal Conservancy, which funded the development of the document. The handbook presents an analysis of data collected over 15 years at several tidal wetland restoration sites and one natural site in order to help optimize the design of new restoration projects.