South Coast

San Diego County Ecosystems: Ecological Impacts of Climate Change on a Biodiversity Hotspot

California Energy Commission (CEC) | August 27th, 2018

The diverse ecosystems, habitats, plants, and animals in the San Diego County region will be impacted by climatic shifts in multifold ways due to current and future vari

The diverse ecosystems, habitats, plants, and animals in the San Diego County region will be impacted by climatic shifts in multifold ways due to current and future variability, along with other factors including habitat loss and fragmentation, land use shifts, and changing fire regimes. While home to a major metropolitan area, San Diego County still hosts expanses of native and preserved habitats where management and conservation action could be greatly enhanced through science-based assessments and planning for climate change and increased climate variability. Projections of climate change in the region include warming by 4-9° F on average, and a 15-25% decrease in fall and spring precipitation with an increase in variability resulting in more frequent and intense droughts punctuated by increasingly rare yet extreme precipitation and flooding events. In addition, an increase in fire events and potential lessening of coastal marine influence may also affect San Diego’s ecosystems. Climate warming superimposed upon the pronounced spatially-varying temperature in the San Diego region will likely be associated with range shifts for many species resulting in novel community assemblages and biotic interactions and could create phenological mismatches. More frequent and intense heat waves may disproportionately affect younger age classes and reduce reproductive and survival rates of species sensitive to temperature extremes. With increasingly variable precipitation, drought may occur more frequently due to increased occurrence of dry days and could intensify because of warmer temperatures. Since drought disproportionately affects some species, these projected changes may cause structural changes to ecosystems. Santa Ana winds, occurring during increasingly dry fall months, would create ideal fire conditions. Coastal low clouds and fog along San Diego’s coast buffer this zone from the effects of warming and drying through shading and cooling. Although these marine stratus clouds will remain a presence, future changes in this phenomenon are uncertain. The spatial and temporal scales at which climate variations and change operate must be considered to build resilience into natural systems. Effective conservation actions will need to build on ongoing efforts focused on landscape-scale planning rather than more traditional single-species approaches. To carry this out will require cross-jurisdictional, multidisciplinary collaboration by scientists, policy-makers, planners, land managers, and the broader conservation community, which has a decades-long history of accomplishment in San Diego County.

San Fernando Groundwater Basin Remediation Program

Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (LADWP) | January 1st, 2018

San Gabriel Valley Groundwater Basin Salt And Nutrient Management Plan

Publisher not available | May 31st, 2016

San Gabriel Valley Superfund Sites Progress Updates

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) | May 31st, 2021

San Luis Rey Flood Control Project Whelan Mitigation Site Habitat Restoration Action

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) | January 15th, 2014

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District (Corps or Los Angeles District) and City of Oceanside (City) propose to restore southwestern willow flycatc

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District (Corps or Los Angeles District) and City of Oceanside (City) propose to restore southwestern willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus, flycatcher) habitat along the San Luis Rey River, within the San Luis Rey River Flood Risk Management Project Area, to meet environmental commitments and permit requirements consistent with the Record of Decision signed by the South Pacific Division Commander, February 21, 2008, for the Final Integrated Post Authorization Decision Document/ Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report/Post Authorization Change Report for the San Luis Rey Flood Control Project from College Blvd. to the Pacific Ocean, San Diego, California (SLR PADD/FEIS/FEIR/PAC), July 2007. The proposed action would include active restoration of riparian habitat and floodplain. The proposed site, located along the San Luis Rey River within the existing flood risk management project site, is owned by the City of Oceanside, the project’s non-Federal sponsor, and is herein referred to as the Whelan Mitigation Site.

San Pasqual Valley Groundwater Basin Groundwater Sustainability Plan

San Pasqual Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agency | September 30th, 2021

The San Pasqual Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agency (SPV GSA), which comprises the City of San Diego (City) and the County of San Diego (County), developed this Gro

The San Pasqual Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agency (SPV GSA), which comprises the City of San Diego (City) and the County of San Diego (County), developed this Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) to comply with California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) and its requirement to sustainably manage the San Pasqual Valley Groundwater Basin (Basin). SGMA,  which became effective January 1, 2015, provides a framework to regulate groundwater for the first time in California’s history by requiring local agencies to form GSAs and providing those GSAs with the necessary tools to manage ground-water use (California Water Code [CWC] Section 10720, et seq.). The overarching aim of SGMA is to establish and achieve the “sustainability goal” for the Basin through the development and implementation of a GSP. SGMA defines sustainable groundwater management as “the management and use of groundwater in a manner that can be maintained during the planning and implementation horizon without causing undesirable results” (CWC Section 10721). The GSP is required to include measures to achieve sustainable conditions by 2042. The City Council and the County Board of Supervisors each adopted the Memorandum of Understanding: Development of a Groundwater Sustainability Plan for the San Pasqual Valley Groundwater Basin establishing the SPV GSA as the single multi-agency GSA for the Basin. The Memorandum of Understanding further clarified the collaborative approach to developing and implementing the GSP with stakeholders’ input. SGMA requires both the County and City to adopt this GSP by January 31, 2022. Similarly, future GSP amendments must be adopted by both the City Council and County Board of Supervisors. While groundwater use in the Basin is currently sustainable, this GSP includes monitoring requirements, established thresholds, and projects and management actions that, once implemented, would ensure the sustainable management of groundwater resources in perpetuity. Due to size, this file has been divided into six parts. Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

San Timoteo Watershed Management Authority, vs. City of Banning, et al.

Superior Court of California, County of Riverside | February 4th, 2004

Santa Ana Canal

Scientific American | March 10th, 1900

THE area discussed in this report is in Southern California, lying for the most part easterly from the city of San Bernardino and consisting of the upper or higher par

THE area discussed in this report is in Southern California, lying for the most part easterly from the city of San Bernardino and consisting of the upper or higher part of the valley in which is situated the town of Redlands. It is a bout 50 miles distant from the ocean and has an elevation of from 1,000 to 1, 500 feet in the vicinity of San Bernardino and Redlands. Northerly and easterly from the valley the mountains rise abruptly, reaching altitudes of fro m 6,000 to 7,000 feet, a few of the peaks rising to 10,000 or even 11,000 feet. The abrupt slopes by which the valley is bounded aid in producing a rainfall relatively heavy for the arid region. The waters, uniting into streams, descend rapidly through narrow gorges, issuing finally upon accumulations of bowlders and smaller debris which stretch in fan-shaped masses away from the mouth of each canyon. The region, though dry, has thus a notable water supply and the exceptional climate and soil have resulted in an extraordinary development of agriculture by irrigation. Lands and crops have reached high values in San Bernardino Valley and expensive irrigation works have been built. A denser population is supported than in any other farming region of the West. This has been accomplished in spite of the fact that the cost of constructing works and of reclaiming the lands has been very great. Additional resources on Lippincott: J.B. Lippincott Papers, University of California, Riverside The Santa Ana River: How it Shaped Orange County

Santa Ana Watershed Basin Study

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) | September 1st, 2013

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s WaterSMART (Sustain and Manage America’s Resources for Tomorrow) program allows all bureaus of the Department to collaboratively

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s WaterSMART (Sustain and Manage America’s Resources for Tomorrow) program allows all bureaus of the Department to collaboratively work with States, Tribes, local governments, and non-governmental organizations to pursue a sustainable water supply for the Nation. This is done through a framework that provides federal leadership and assistance on the efficient use of water, and by integrating water and energy policies to support the sustainable use of all natural resources. Basin Studies, one of the tools of this program, are basin-wide efforts to evaluate and address the impacts of climate change, and define options for meeting future water demands in river basins in the western United States where imbalances in water supply and demand exist or are projected. The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority (SAWPA) partnered in the WaterSMART Santa Ana Watershed Basin Study (Study). The work done under the Study was used to help SAWPA update its One Water One Watershed (OWOW) Plan. OWOW is an Integrated Regional Water Management Plan (IRWMP) for the Santa Ana River Watershed (SARW) that serves as the blueprint for SAWPA, its member agencies and key stakeholders to effectively manage water resources over the next 30 years. The Santa Ana Watershed Basin Study illustrates how effective collaboration can improve water management. This Study takes a crest-to-coast and corner-to-corner approach throughout a 2,400-square-mile watershed, which encompasses everything from beach to mountain communities, to address the area’s unique water resource challenges. The SARW is home to more than 6 million people, and tens of millions more people visit the area each year. The region also has a large manufacturing, industrial, and agricultural base. More than 350 water, wastewater, and groundwater management, flood control, environmental and other non-governmental organizations, are working together as partners with SAWPA on the OWOW Plan. Through the Basin Study Program, Reclamation is partnering with SAWPA and its stakeholders to update key components of the Plan, now known as OWOW 2.0.  

Santa Ana Winds of Southern California: Their climatology, extremes, and behavior spanning six and a half decades

American Geophysical Union (AGU) | March 24th, 2016

Santa Ana Winds (SAWs) are an integral feature of the regional climate of Southern California/Northern Baja California region, but their climate-scale behavior is poorly

Santa Ana Winds (SAWs) are an integral feature of the regional climate of Southern California/Northern Baja California region, but their climate-scale behavior is poorly understood. In the present work,we identify SAWs in mesoscale dynamical downscaling of a global reanalysis from 1948 to 2012. Model windsare validated with anemometer observations. SAWs exhibit an organized pattern with strongest easterlywinds on westward facing downwind slopes and muted magnitudes at sea and over desert lowlands. Weconstruct hourly local and regional SAW indices and analyze elements of their behavior on daily, annual, andmultidecadal timescales. SAWs occurrences peak in winter, but some of the strongest winds have occurred infall. Finally, we observe that SAW intensity is influenced by prominent large-scale low-frequency modes ofclimate variability rooted in the tropical and north Pacific ocean-atmosphere system.