Increasing numbers of regional, multiple species conservation plans have been developed in California since the early 1990s. However, building effective monitoring and adaptive management programs to support these plans has remained a challenge. In addition to collecting data on the status of resources and the results of management actions, monitoring programs for these plans need … Continue reading “Designing Monitoring Programs in an Adaptive Management Context for Regional Multiple Species Conservation Plans”
Key findings of this report: Scientific understanding of sea-level rise is advancing at a rapid pace. Projections of future sea-level rise, especially under high emissions scenarios, have increased substantially over the last few years, primarily due to new and improved understanding of mass loss from continental ice sheets. These sea-level rise projections will continue to … Continue reading “Rising seas in California: An update on sea-level rise science”
Insightful, informative, well-illustrated, clearly written—these are among our overall impressions of “Working Draft Scientific Basis Report for New and Revised Flow Requirements on the Sacramento River and Tributaries, Eastside Tributaries to the Delta, Delta Outflow, and Interior Delta Operations”. The comments below focus on recommended improvements. In particular, we recommend clarifying, and further justifying scientifically, … Continue reading “Review of SWRCB’s “Working Draft Scientific Basis Report for New and Revised Flow Requirements on the Sacramento River and Tributaries, Eastside Tributaries to the Delta, Delta Outflow, and Interior Delta Operations””
The first of its kind, the the California Water Library has consolidated links to authoritative documents, maps and graphics formerly scattered around the Internet on various websites. Our sources include federal, state and local governments, scientific journals, nonprofit organizations and historical collections. Your tax-deductible donation makes this resource available to every citizen, from a lay … Continue reading “Support the California Water Library”
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. … Continue reading “Averting disaster: Action now for the Salton Sea”
The widespread pollution from Gold Rush mining activities, including mercury, arsenic and lead, constitutes the oldest and longest neglected environmental justice problem in California. The effects of this pollution on human health and the environment are only now beginning to be addressed. Today, the effects of historic mining pollution are an invisible but very real … Continue reading “Environmental Health Risks from Abandoned Mines in the Sierra Nevada”
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 … Continue reading “Habitat Restoration in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Suisun Marsh: A Review of Science Programs”
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 … Continue reading “Adaptive Management – Applications Guide”
The California Water Supply and Demand Model (CWSD) examines the ways in which California’s water supply and demand are likely to be affected by climate change; its purpose is to serve as a base for quantifying these impacts in economic terms. California’s water future is modeled under conditions of no adaptation to climate change, and … Continue reading “California Water Supply And Demand: Technical Report”
California is in the grip of a water crisis of our own making. Like all problems that humans create, we have the potential to use the crisis as an opportunity to make positive and long-lasting changes in water management. The crisis is not a water shortage – California has already developed sufficient water supplies to … Continue reading “California Water Solutions Now”