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Adaptive Management – Applications Guide
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Adaptive Management – Applications Guide
U.S. Department of the Interior | January 1, 2012...
Summary
The Department of the Interior (DOI) Adaptive Management Working Group sponsored the development of this applications guide to provide thorough examples for a...
The Department of the Interior (DOI) Adaptive Management Working Group sponsored the development of this applications guide to provide thorough examples for a better understanding of how adaptive management can be implemented in the field.

The applications guide builds on the framework for adaptive management presented in the DOI Adaptive Management Technical Guide, and illustrates the elements of adaptive management with a large number of
natural resource examples.

The Adaptive Management Working Group includes representatives from most DOI bureaus and offices. Writing teams of resource managers, technical experts, and other specialists worked with the group to identify and describe applications of adaptive management in four thematic areas: climate change, water resources, energy resources, and the interface of human and natural systems.

These themes were chosen to illustrate the elements and processes of adaptive management because of their importance to DOI management responsibilities, the current interest in the thematic areas in using adaptive management, and the broad potential in each thematic area for learning-based management.

In writing this guide, we attempted to provide enough background about the elements of adaptive management implementation, and the challenges in implementing it, to give the reader a context for the resource examples. We also sought to provide enough detail in the examples to illustrate clearly the elements of adaptive management. Thus, the guide includes summaries of the principles and issues relevant to adaptive management, followed by descriptions of potential and actual applications in each of the four thematic areas.

The intention was to provide enough detail about the actual process of adaptive management to be informative, while limiting the scope, complexity, and size of the document.

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Adaptive Management – Technical Guide
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Adaptive Management – Technical Guide
U.S. Department of the Interior | January 1, 2009...
Summary
The Department of the Interior (DOI) Adaptive Management Working Group (AMWG) sponsored the development of this technical guide to clearly and consistently define...
The Department of the Interior (DOI) Adaptive Management Working Group (AMWG) sponsored the development of this technical guide to clearly and consistently define adaptive management and describe conditions for its implementation. AMWG membership includes representatives from across DOI’s bureaus and offices.

A writing team of resource managers, technical experts, and other specialists worked with AMWG to address four basic questions concerning adaptive management: (1) What is adaptive management? (2) When should it be used? (3) How should it be implemented? (4) How can its success be recognized and measured? These questions were used to organize both the writing effort and the structure of the guide itself, with individual chapters addressing each of the questions.

The authors sought to describe adaptive management at an appropriate level of technical detail, while remaining focused on its definition, operational components, and conditions in which it applies. A key challenge was to provide sufficient detail for clarification, while limiting the length and complexity of the document.

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Averting disaster: Action now for the Salton Sea
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Averting disaster: Action now for the Salton Sea
Little Hoover Commission | September 1, 2015...
Summary
The Salton Sea is shrinking. Currently the state’s largest inland body of water, as it dries up, the Sea poses a substantial threat...
The Salton Sea is shrinking. Currently the state’s largest inland body of water, as it dries up, the Sea poses a substantial threat to public health and the environment. Left unaddressed, desert winds will lift dust from thousands of acres of newly-revealed lakebed and blow it into population centers, agricultural areas and world-class resort economies.

This impending crisis is long in the making, a policy paralysis driven by years of government process without implementing a fix. There are clear, understandable and specific mitigation steps that should be taken immediately. The decisions California leaders make in the near future about this remote desert lake will determine whether this dismal scenario will be averted. The Commission urges the Natural Resources Agency to begin implementing shovel-ready projects and the Governor and Legislature to immediately begin planning and funding the next phase of Salton Sea projects while developing a long-term restoration plan. ...

When California signed the QSA, it agreed to mitigate the impacts on the Salton Sea caused by the water transfers. The state clarified its intent to restore the sea through the QSA’s implementing legislation. Experts testified it would be tens of billions of dollars cheaper to mitigate the impacts of a shrinking sea up front than to deal with the adverse impacts
of inaction.

Fulfilling California’s commitment to the Salton Sea is an element of maintaining the terms of the QSA, which provides water security to many Californians. Continued inaction, and the consequent public health and environmental impacts, could undermine political support for the QSA. Further, in the larger picture, California’s fulfillment of its commitments is critical to its ability to negotiate future difficult agreements. ...

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Bay Delta Plan Phase 2 Workshop Summary Report
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Bay Delta Plan Phase 2 Workshop Summary Report
State Water Resources Control Board | January 1, 2013...
Summary
The California State Water Resources Control Board (Board) is tasked with updating the 2006 Water Quality Control Plan for the Bay-Delta Estuary (Bay-Delta...
The California State Water Resources Control Board (Board) is tasked with updating the 2006 Water Quality Control Plan for the Bay-Delta Estuary (Bay-Delta Plan). The Board planning activities for this process have four phases.

Phase 1 focused on San Joaquin River flow requirements and southern Delta water quality objectives. The current phase (Phase 2) focuses on fish and wildlife beneficial uses. Phase 3 will focus on modifications to water rights and Phase 4 will focus on the development and implementation of flow requirements for priority Delta tributaries.

Phase 2 workshops were held to conduct discussions and generate information regarding the scientific and technical basis for considering potential changes to the Bay-Delta Plan. The workshops were informal; the Board did not take any official action and there was no sworn testimony.

Information provided during the workshops will augment information developed through earlier reviews and will inform the Board members and staff on what, if any, changes should be made to the Bay-Delta Plan.

Three workshops were held. Full workshop agendas are provided in Appendix A.

1. Ecosystem Changes and the Low Salinity Zone, September 5–6, 2012 – including the effects of the low salinity zone on various estuarine species, the interaction of salinity with non-flow related factors, and the identification of modeling or other tools that can be used to measure and reasonably protect estuarine habitat.
2. Bay-Delta Fishery Resources, October 1–2, 2012 – including flow, cold water pool, habitat, and water project operational constraints needed to reasonably protect Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River winter-run, Central Valley late fall–run Chinook salmon, and pelagic species (including Delta smelt and longfin smelt); and the interaction of these issues with non-flow related factors.
3. Analytical Tools for Evaluating the Water Supply, Hydrodynamic, and Hydropower Effects of the Bay-Delta Plan, November 13–14, 2012 – including the CalSim II water supply model, DSM2 and RMA2 hydrodynamic models, Plexus hydropower model, and others as applicable, together with results from applying these models to various scenarios.

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California Salmonid Stream Habitat Restoration Manual
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California Salmonid Stream Habitat Restoration Manual
Department of Fish and Wildlife | August 6, 2010...
Summary
The first edition of this manual, written by Gary Flosi and Forrest Reynolds, and published in 1991, formally synthesized and described the Department...
The first edition of this manual, written by Gary Flosi and Forrest Reynolds, and published in 1991, formally synthesized and described the Department of Fish and Game's approach and technical methods for anadromous salmonid habitat restoration. From 1991 through 1994 the first edition was broadly distributed and used as a "standard methods" text by many habitat restoration and resource inventory workers. As a result, many suggestions for improvement of the manual were received by the authors.

The second edition, by Flosi and Reynolds was supported by a team that included the authors of this third edition, and was published in October of 1994. The second edition included a number of revisions: 1) a reorganization of sections for project planning and project implementation; 2) the just then recently revised stream channel classification system developed by David Rosgen; 3) a new monitoring and evaluation section; 4) a listing of all databases used for resource inventory and analysis as presented in the manual; 5) a protocol for a large woody debris inventory; 6) a description of required environmental review processes and permits; 7) an expanded and updated listing of sensitive species; and 8) numerous editorial changes to text and data forms.

The third edition, like the second, incorporates changes recently developed in the practice of stream habitat inventory and restoration. The authorship list has changed with this edition to more accurately reflect the contributions of the writing team members. The manual is presented in binder form in this edition to more easily and economically incorporate future additions and developments as they evolve.

This fourth edition incorporates all changes, corrections, and revisions of this manual up to July 2010. The manual continues in binder form in this edition to easily and economically incorporate future additions and developments as they evolve.

The authors anticipate the continued widespread distribution and use of this manual will promote the implementation of the restoration techniques.

Readers should also be aware that computer data entry and data summary programs are available upon request for all data collection protocols presented in this manual. Updates to this manual are available on line at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/fish/Resources/HabitatManual.asp.

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Central Valley Flood Protection Plan: Conservation Strategy

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Central Valley Flood Protection Plan: Conservation Strategy
Department of Water Resources | August 8, 2017...
Summary
In the Central Valley of California, flood risks, water supplies, and the functioning of ecosystems are linked, with actions in one area affecting...
In the Central Valley of California, flood risks, water supplies, and the functioning of ecosystems are linked, with actions in one area affecting the other areas. The majority of flows that pass through the State Plan of Flood Control (SPFC) are regulated by reservoirs operated for flood management, water supply, water quality, power generation, wildlife and fisheries habitat, and recreation. Similarly, the system of river and bypass channels, levees, and water control structures in the Central Valley does more than just contain floodwaters that previously flooded the valley floor for months at a time. It supports agricultural uses in the bypasses, serves as valued recreational areas and open space, helps in the management of surface water supplies and management of groundwater and water quality, and provides critical remnant riparian and floodplain habitats for numerous fish and wildlife species.

The Central Valley Flood Protection Plan (CVFPP) recognizes these interconnections in its approach to flood management. The CVFPP is a long-term planning document that provides a framework for prioritization of investments in the SPFC. It seeks to improve flood risk management (the primary goal), as well as improve operations and maintenance (O&M), promote ecosystem functions, improve institutional support, and promote multi-benefit projects where feasible (supporting goals) (California Department of Water Resources [DWR] 2012a).

This Conservation Strategy (or Strategy) is an integral part of the CVFPP. It supports the attainment of all CVFPP goals, but focuses on the improvement of ecosystem functions through the integration of ecological restoration with flood risk reduction projects where feasible. This Conservation Strategy, including Appendices A?L, describes the basis for recommending various conservation actions and setting long-term objectives for the Central Valley flood management system as a whole. The integration of specific environmental restoration features with DWR’s proposed flood management system improvements is summarized in Chapters 2 and 3 of the CVFPP and will also be described further in the 2017 CVFPP update and supporting documents, such as the Sacramento River Basin-Wide Feasibility Study (BWFS) and the San Joaquin River BWFS.

The Conservation Strategy and CVFPP as a whole would contribute to achieving the California Water Action Plan’s overarching goals of reliability, restoration, and resilience (California Natural Resources Agency, California Department of Food and Agriculture, and California Environmental Protection Agency 2015, 2016). In particular, this Strategy and the CVFPP as a whole are integral to three of the 10 “key actions” identified in the California Water Action Plan:

Increase flood protection.
Protect and restore important ecosystems.
Increase operational and regulatory efficiency.

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Changing Channels: Regional Information for Developing Multi-benefit Flood Control Channels at the Bay Interface
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Changing Channels: Regional Information for Developing Multi-benefit Flood Control Channels at the Bay Interface
San Francisco Estuary Institute | May 26, 2017...
Summary
Over the past 200 years, many of the channels that drain to San Francisco Bay have been modified for land reclamation and flood...
Over the past 200 years, many of the channels that drain to San Francisco Bay have been modified for land reclamation and flood management. The local agencies that oversee these channels are seeking new management approaches that provide multiple benefits and promote landscape resilience. This includes channel redesign to improve natural sediment transport to downstream bayland habitats and beneficial re-use of dredged sediment for building and sustaining baylands as sea level continues to rise under a changing climate.

Flood Control 2.0 is a regional project that was created to help develop innovative approaches for integrating habitat improvement and resilience into flood risk management at the Bay interface. Through a series of technical, economic, and regulatory analyses, the project addresses some of the major elements associated with multi-benefit channel design and management at the Bay interface and provides critical information that can be used by the management and restoration communities to develop long-term solutions that benefit people and wildlife.

This Flood Control 2.0 report provides a regional analysis of morphologic change and sediment dynamics in flood control channels at the Bay interface, and multi-benefit management concepts aimed at bringing habitat restoration into flood risk management. The findings presented here are built on a synthesis of historical and contemporary data that included input from Flood Control 2.0 project scientists, project partners, and science advisors. The results and recommendations, summarized below, will help operationalize many of the recommendations put forth in the Baylands Ecosystem Habitat Goals Science Update (Goals Project 2015) and support better alignment of management and restoration communities on multi-benefit bayland management approaches.

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Costs of Ecosystem Management Actions for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
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Costs of Ecosystem Management Actions for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) | April 22, 2013...
Summary
California is at a critical juncture on policy for the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. This report summarizes the results of a wide-ranging study of...

California is at a critical juncture on policy for the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. This report summarizes the results of a wide-ranging study of cost-effective ways to improve the health of the Delta ecosystem. It highlights the need for science-based, integrated management of the many sources of ecosystem stress. The report also recommends improvements to the highly fragmented system of oversight that now involves dozens of federal, state, and local agencies.

Several companion reports contain related findings:

Aquatic Ecosystem Stressors in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta (Mount et al. 2012) summarizes the science of Delta ecosystem stressors for a policymaking audience.

Integrated Management of Delta Stressors: Institutional and Legal Options (Gray et al. 2013) lays out proposals for institutional reform of science, management, and regulation.

Scientist and Stakeholder Views on the Delta Ecosystem (Hanak et al. 2013) presents detailed results of the two surveys conducted by the report’s authors.

Stress Relief: Prescriptions for a Healthier Delta Ecosystem (Hanak et al. 2013) summarizes the overall research project and the recommendations it generated.

Where the Wild Things Aren’t: Making the Delta a Better Place for Native Species (Moyle et al. 2012) outlines a realistic long-term vision for achieving a healthier ecosystem.

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Delta Islands and Levees Feasibility Study, Draft Feasibility Report and Environmental Impact Statement
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Delta Islands and Levees Feasibility Study, Draft Feasibility Report and Environmental Impact Statement
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) | April 10, 2014...
Summary
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the California Department of Water Resources propose to restore approximately 89.5 acres of lost or degraded...
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the California Department of Water Resources propose to restore approximately 89.5 acres of lost or degraded tidal marsh habitat in the west central portion of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The restoration work would involve transporting and placing dredged material into open water habitat to restore 80.3 acres and 9.2 acres of tidal marsh at Big Break and Little Franks Tract, respectively, in the Delta. The work would be conducted over 5 years as part of the annual operation and maintenance (O&M) dredging of the Stockton Deep Water Ship Channel. Previously stockpiled dredged material from existing dredged material storage sites would also be placed in conjunction with O&M.

The draft report describes the affected environment in the Big Break and Little Franks Tract area; evaluates the direct, indirect, and cumulative environmental effects and the benefits of the tentatively selected plan and two alternative plans; and recommends avoidance, minimization, and mitigation measures. Most potential adverse effects would either be short term and insignificant, or would be avoided or reduced to less than significance using best management practices. Beneficial effects on vegetation and wildlife, special status species, other resources, and the historic floodplain from the alternative plans are also discussed.

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Delta Working Landscapes Program Final Report
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Delta Working Landscapes Program Final Report
Delta Protection Commission | October 14, 2013...
Summary
The Delta Working Landscapes Program (Program) is a group of projects which demonstrate how farmers can integrate habitat restoration into farming practices. The...
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 California Department of Fish and Wildlife Ecosystem Restoration Program, 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.

These projects total 312 acres of seasonal and permanent wetlands and 6.5 miles enhanced levees and waterways. Project areas established 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 habitat for brooding and feeding as well as staying later into the season. No easements, MOUs, fee purchases, or eminent domain were used.

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.

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Delta Working Landscapes: Public and Private Partnerships for Habitat
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Delta Working Landscapes: Public and Private Partnerships for Habitat
Delta Protection Commission | October 1, 2012...
Summary
The Delta Working Landscapes Program (Program) is a group of projects which demonstrate how farmers can integrate habitat restoration into farming practices. The...
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.

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Design Guidelines for Tidal Wetlands Restoration in San Francisco Bay
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Design Guidelines for Tidal Wetlands Restoration in San Francisco Bay
The Coastal Conservancy | December 29, 2004...
Summary
"Over the last 150 years, approximately 90% of the tidal marshes that fringed San Francisco Bay have been destroyed as a result of...
"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.

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DRERIP Ecosystem Conceptual Model: Fish Habitat Linkages
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DRERIP Ecosystem Conceptual Model: Fish Habitat Linkages
California Department of Fish and Wildlife | January 19, 2008...
Summary
The Delta Regional Ecosystem Restoration Implementation Plan (DRERIP) is one of four regional plans intended to guide the implementation of the CALFED Ecosystem...
The Delta Regional Ecosystem Restoration Implementation Plan (DRERIP) is one of four regional plans intended to guide the implementation of the CALFED Ecosystem Restoration Program (ERP) element. The DRERIP will refine the planning foundation for the Delta, develop and refine specific restoration actions and provide project implementation guidance, program tracking, performance evaluation and adaptive management feedback specific to the Delta. The DRERIP Fish Habitat Linkage Model (FHL model) provides a roadmap for how the various conceptual models designed for the DRERIP process intertwine to define fish habitat and ultimately produce fish. The model identifies the key linkages between hydrology and numerous other components of fish habitat.

The FHL model shows that hydrodynamics and water operations exert influences on fish recruitment by directly influencing transport fates, the water quality components of habitat, and some biotic interactions. The water quality components of habitat interact with structural components of habitat; their interaction affects the strength of biotic interactions (Peterson 2003). Because the FHL model is a generalized model serving as a template or road map, the relative importance of drivers and linkages, and their direction of impact (positive or negative), are not shown in the model diagram because they will depend on which species, contingent (sensu Secor 1999), or life stage is being evaluated.

Additional general descriptions of the state of knowledge about these linkages are provided in the text boxes for each model component.

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Ecosystem Restoration (Resource Management Strategy)
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Ecosystem Restoration (Resource Management Strategy)
Department of Water Resources | July 29, 2016...
Summary
Ecosystem restoration improves the condition of California’s modified natural landscapes and biological communities to provide for their sustainability and for their use and...
Ecosystem restoration improves the condition of California’s modified natural landscapes and biological communities to provide for their sustainability and for their use and enjoyment by current and future generations. Few, if any, of California’s ecosystems can be fully restored to their pre-development condition. Instead, efforts focus on rehabilitation of important elements of ecosystem structure and function.

Successful restoration increases the diversity of native species and biological communities and the abundance of habitats and connections between them. This can include reproducing natural flows in streams and rivers, curtailing the discharge of waste and toxic contaminants into water bodies, controlling non-native invasive plant and animal species, removing barriers to fish migration in rivers and streams, and recovering wetlands so that they can store floodwater, recharge aquifers, filter pollutants, and provide habitat.

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Fish Restoration Program Agreement Implementation Strategy for Habitat Restoration and Other Actions for Listed Delta Fish
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Fish Restoration Program Agreement Implementation Strategy for Habitat Restoration and Other Actions for Listed Delta Fish
Department of Water Resources | March 6, 2012...
Summary
The Fish Restoration Program Agreement (FRPA) (Appendix A), between the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) and the Department of Water Resources (DWR),...
The Fish Restoration Program Agreement (FRPA) (Appendix A), between the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) and the Department of Water Resources (DWR), was signed on October 18, 2010. FRPA addresses specific habitat restoration requirements of the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) biological opinions (Biological Opinions) for State Water Project (SWP) and Central Valley Project (CVP) operations. FRPA is also intended to address the habitat requirements of the DFG Longfin Smelt Incidental Take Permit (ITP) for SWP Delta operations. The primary objective of the FRPA program is to implement the fish habitat restoration requirements and related actions of the Biological Opinions and the ITP in the Delta, Suisun Marsh, and Yolo Bypass and is focused on 8,000 acres of intertidal and associated subtidal habitat to benefit delta smelt, including 800 acres of mesohaline habitat to benefit longfin smelt, and a number of related actions for salmonids.

DFG and DWR intend that habitat restoration actions implemented in compliance with the USFWS biological opinion that also meet the habitat restoration requirements of the ITP will operate to satisfy the acreage requirements of the ITP.

The purpose of this Implementation Strategy is to describe the process by which DWR and DFG will implement the FRPA program, and to satisfy Section B of FRPA. Section B of FRPA requires DWR, with assistance from DFG, to develop an Implementation Schedule that will identify restoration actions, estimated costs, targeted acreage, and a timeline for DWR’s implementation of restoration actions to satisfy DWR’s obligations under the Biological Opinions and ITP.

Appendix B lists the specific habitat restoration requirements of FRPA, the Biological Opinions, and the ITP that pertain to this program. This document lays out the strategy to address these requirements. In addition, DWR and DFG will complete the necessary environmental compliance documents to implement site specific habitat restoration projects; this may include tiering from existing programmatic documents where appropriate.

Pursuant to FRPA, DFG will work cooperatively with and assist DWR in establishing the management and financial framework necessary to implement the FRPA program. DWR, with assistance from DFG, will begin a process to fund, plan, and implement actions, including aquatic habitat restoration to benefit delta smelt, longfin smelt, and winter?run and spring?run Chinook salmon (hereafter referred to as Covered Fish Species) to mitigate impacts to these species caused by the SWP Delta operations.

Specifically, these actions include:

• Delta Smelt Biological Opinion Reasonable and Prudent Alternative (RPA) Component 4;
• NMFS Biological Opinion RPA Actions 1.2.6 and 1.6.2 in partnership with the US Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation);
• NMFS Biological Opinion RPA Action Suite 1.6 and 1.7. FRPA will not be lead, but will provide funding and technical support assistance only;
• ITP Condition 7.

DWR’s obligations focus on delta smelt, longfin smelt, and winter?run and spring?run salmon, and may also benefit steelhead, sturgeon, and other native fish species.

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Fish-Habitat Relationships Along the Estuarine Gradient of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California: Implications for Habitat Restoration
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Fish-Habitat Relationships Along the Estuarine Gradient of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California: Implications for Habitat Restoration
Estuaries and Coasts, Springer U.S. | June 6, 2018...
Summary
Estuaries are highly variable environments where fish are subjected to a diverse suite of habitat features (e.g., water quality gradients, physical structure) that...

Estuaries are highly variable environments where fish are subjected to a diverse suite of habitat features (e.g., water quality gradients, physical structure) that filter local assemblages from a broader, regional species pool. Tidal, climatological, and oceanographic phenomena drive water quality gradients and, ultimately, expose individuals to other habitat features (e.g., stationary physical or biological elements, such as bathymetry or vegetation). Relationships between fish abundances, water quality gradients, and other habitat features in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta were examined as a case example to learn how habitat features serve as filters to structure local assemblages in large river-dominated estuaries. Fish communities were sampled in four tidal lakes along the estuarine gradient during summer-fall 2010 and 2011 and relationships with habitat features explored using ordination and generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs). Based on ordination results, landscape-level gradients in salinity, turbidity, and elevation were associated with distinct fish assemblages among tidal lakes. Native fishes were associated with increased salinity and turbidity, and decreased elevation. Within tidal lakes, GLMM results demonstrated that submersed aquatic vegetation density was the dominant driver of individual fish species densities. Both native and non-native species were associated with submersed aquatic vegetation, although native and non-native fish populations only minimally overlapped. These results help to provide a framework for predicting fish species assemblages in novel or changing habitats as they indicate that species assemblages are driven by a combination of location within the estuarine gradient and site-specific habitat features.

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Habitat Restoration in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Suisun Marsh: A Review of Science Programs
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Habitat Restoration in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Suisun Marsh: A Review of Science Programs
Delta Independent Science Board | April 25, 2013...
Summary
Current plans call for the restoration of tens of thousands of acres of mainly intertidal habitat in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Suisun...
Current plans call for the restoration of tens of thousands of acres of mainly intertidal habitat in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Suisun Marsh. Restoration on this scale presents both formidable challenges and tremendous opportunities. As part of its legislatively mandated oversight of Delta science programs, the Delta Independent Science Board reviewed these habitat restoration efforts. We held discussions with individuals from state and federal agencies, NGOs, consulting firms, and universities. We were impressed by their dedication, enthusiasm, and knowledge, as well as by the scientific and institutional challenges they face.

Our findings and observations about the restoration efforts are grouped under a series of criteria for a successful restoration program. In such a program: the goals are clearly articulated; the design incorporates spatial and temporal context, adaptive management and flexibility, and monitoring; modeling is used in design and evaluation; planning and implementation are coordinated among projects; the necessary scientific expertise is available; and stakeholders are involved early and often.

Our findings and recommendations agree with those reached independently by National Research Council (NRC) panels. For convenience, as in the Delta Plan, we use "the Delta" to encompass both the statutory Delta and Suisun Marsh.

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Improving Adaptive Management in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
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Improving Adaptive Management in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
Delta Independent Science Board | January 1, 2016...
Summary
Adaptive management is a science-based, structured approach to environmental management. It aids decision-making in the face of uncertainty about outcomes by emphasizing the...
Adaptive management is a science-based, structured approach to environmental management. It aids decision-making in the face of uncertainty about outcomes by emphasizing the acquisition and use of new knowledge, experience, and stakeholder input in management of natural resources under changing conditions.

The Delta Reform Act of 2009 calls for adaptive management of efforts to make water supplies more reliable and ecosystems healthier. It is often talked about, but as a comprehensive, science-based process, adaptive management is little used in the Delta. This is not a unique situation; many environmental management programs around the world have encountered difficulties in managing natural resources adaptively.

The Delta Independent Science Board (Delta ISB) reviewed how adaptive management is perceived and used in the Delta and how it might be applied more efficiently and effectively. This report identifies impediments to adaptive management in the Delta and makes recommendations for incorporating adaptive approaches to improve management of the Delta and its resources.

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Improving Habitats Along Delta Levees: A Review of Past Projects and Recommended Next Steps
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Improving Habitats Along Delta Levees: A Review of Past Projects and Recommended Next Steps
Delta Stewardship Council | January 15, 2016...
Summary
This review of habitat improvements along Delta levees was conducted to support the development of the Delta Stewardship Council’s (Council) Delta Levee Investment...
This review of habitat improvements along Delta levees was conducted to support the development of the Delta Stewardship Council’s (Council) Delta Levee Investment Strategy (DLIS), which focuses on flood risk reduction as the primary purpose of State levee investments. The report is intended to provide guidance to the Council to ensure that those investments also contribute to long-term improvement of river corridors, with net benefits for fish and wildlife.

The Council must ensure that the DLIS helps to implement the Delta Reform Act and the Delta Plan. The Delta Reform Act of 2009 established the Council and defined its mission: to achieve the coequal goals of water supply reliability for California and ecosystem restoration in the Delta, in a manner that protects and enhances the values of the Delta as an evolving place (Water Code section 85054). The Delta Plan includes 14 regulatory policies, including one that calls for levee projects to incorporate habitat benefits, where feasible, and another requiring the use of the best available science and adaptive management.

This report is intended to support the application of best available science and adaptive management to habitat improvements along Delta levees. It should be noted that levee-related habitat improvements alone are not expected to provide all the ecosystem benefits needed by native species. These projects take place within the larger context of ecosystem restoration in the Delta and Suisun Marsh, which will require more natural functional flows, restoration and conservation of a wide range of habitat types1, improved water quality, and the management of nonnative invasive species.

Nevertheless, given its significant role in Delta levee investments, the State must ensure that these habitat projects are part of a program that provides a net benefit for aquatic species in the Delta.

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Incorporation of Adaptive Management into Conservation Planning and Resource Management
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Incorporation of Adaptive Management into Conservation Planning and Resource Management
Department of Fish and Wildlife | July 2, 2014...
Summary
This document was prepared by the Science Institute to provide information to CDFW’s Divisions and Regions as they incorporate adaptive management in their...
This document was prepared by the Science Institute to provide information to CDFW’s Divisions and Regions as they incorporate adaptive management in their conservation and resource management decisions and planning documents. It highlights statutory definitions, statements of policy and requirements that are relevant to CDFW’s activities, and summarizes descriptions and evaluations of adaptive management in the technical literature.

This information is relevant to all CDFW activities involving the conservation and management of natural resources under the jurisdiction of CDFW. However, given the breadth of CDFW’s Mission and the wide variety of regulatory, management and scientific roles CDFW plays, it should be emphasized that this information does not present a one-size-fits all approach to adaptive management. Rather, where adaptive management principles are appropriate and applicable in a given situation, the discussion and resources in this document should highlight issues for consideration under the specific circumstances at hand.

CDFW affirms that project-specific circumstances always necessitate the development of project-specific adaptive management strategies. The information in this document is provided as a tool to be used, where appropriate, to support CDFW’s Divisions and Regions as they implement the CDFW Mission. The general principles presented here are not intended to be relied upon absent, or in lieu of, site- or project-specific analysis that shapes the application of these principles.

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