Responsible Exports Plan

Environmental Water Caucus | May 29th, 2013

The consensus diagnosis for the Delta estuary is dire. The California Environmental Water Caucus prescribes more river flows and reduced fresh water exports to help the D

The consensus diagnosis for the Delta estuary is dire. The California Environmental Water Caucus prescribes more river flows and reduced fresh water exports to help the Delta recover. The EWC’s plan demonstrates how water supply reliability can be improved while reducing exports from the Bay Delta Estuary. Many of our recommendations have been presented to the Delta Stewardship Council as part of Alternative 2 for the Delta Plan. We have now packaged this series of related actions into a single alternative for evaluation in any future NEPA or CEQA evaluations, or by the State Water Resources Control Board. The actions are largely based on the EWC report California Water Solutions Now, (www.ewccalifornia.org), which can be referenced for supporting details. This package of actions (“The RX Plan”) represents the EWC alternative to the BDCP. The RX Plan includes a unique combination of actions that will open the discussion for alternatives to the currently failed policies which continuously attempt to use water as though it were a limitless resource. The RX Plan is about far more than just reduced exports. The uniqueness of this Plan is that while it will reduce the quantity of water exported from the Bay Delta Estuary, in order to protect the health of the Estuary’s habitat and fisheries with increased inflows and outflows, it also contains actions that will reduce the demand for water and increase supplies for exporters south of the Delta in order to compensate for the reduced south-of-Delta exports. It is the only extant plan that will modernize existing facilities in the Bay-Delta with improved fish screens at the South Delta, levees reinforced above the PL84-99 standard, and significantly increased flows in order to recover habitat and fish stocks, while avoiding the huge infrastructure costs of tunnels under the Delta. It will also provide increased self-reliance for south-of-Delta water users through inter-regional water transfers and south of Delta groundwater storage. The reinforced levees will provide increased reliability of the water supplies through the Delta. And it will accomplish the legislated goals of Estuary restoration and water reliability for billions of dollars less than currently contemplated plans.

Restoration pulse flows from a California dam temporarily increase drifting invertebrate biomass concentration

Journal of Environmental Management (Elsevier) | November 9th, 2022

The decline of Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) populations over the last few decades has stimulated major restoration efforts across the Pacific Northwest to improve t

The decline of Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) populations over the last few decades has stimulated major restoration efforts across the Pacific Northwest to improve the status of these iconic fishes. The leading factors contributing to the decline of Pacific salmon include watershed degradation and water diversions, which result in part from widespread dam construction across the United States (Moyle, 1994). Early river restoration actions primarily focused on physical habitat alterations (e.g., in-stream habitat improvement, fish passage; Barinaga, 1996; Bernhardt et al., 2005), while more recent work has centered around restoring natural processes (Johnson et al., 2019). Since socioeconomic and political complications are typically too great for dam removal projects to be feasible, reconciliation ecology, which encourages the accommodation of both human and wildlife needs in a human-dominated landscape, can be a more effective approach to restoration (Rosenzweig, 2003; Moyle et al., 2017). Rather than the elusive goal of returning rivers to a natural flow regime, the aim can be to attain functional environmental flows to support beneficial flow-ecology relationships (Poff et al., 2017). Dams can be operated to reduce some of their detrimental effects by releasing flows that improve downstream habitat through the preservation of key hydrologic signals upon which biophysical processes and native biological communities depend (Yarnell et al., 2020). Four functional flow components were identified for Mediterranean montane streams: wet-season initiation flows, peak magnitude flows, spring recession flows, and dry-season low flows; see Yarnell et al. (2015) for a description about the importance of each key functional component. Several studies have identified the need to further assess linkages between streamflow, invertebrate prey availability, and drift-foraging dynamics for consideration in future restoration plans for juvenile salmonids (Weber et al., 2014; Naman et al., 2016; Lusardi et al., 2018). The focus of this study is to assess the impact of dam-release flows imitating one of those functional flow components, peak magnitude flows, on invertebrate drift as a food resource for juvenile salmonids.

Restoring Habitat with Science and Society in Mind

Delta Stewardship Council (Delta Council) | April 8th, 2014

This Issue Paper, authored by Jessica Davenport, the Council's Program Manager for Ecosystem Restoration and Land Use, is entitled Restoring Habitat with Science and Soci

This Issue Paper, authored by Jessica Davenport, the Council's Program Manager for Ecosystem Restoration and Land Use, is entitled Restoring Habitat with Science and Society in Mind.  The purpose of the 22-page paper is to survey restoration activities in the Delta; describe the needs, progress and opportunities related to restoration; and propose key areas of focus for the Delta Stewardship Council and other agencies to advance habitat restoration. Some of the areas of focus for Council staff for the next two years include: Continue to provide early consultation on habitat restoration projects that are Covered Actions under the Delta Plan in order to advise project proponents on using best available science and adaptive management and avoiding or reducing conflicts with existing uses, where feasible. Report on habitat performance measures by December 2014 and again in December 2015. Work with others to complete at least one of the landscape-scale conceptual models and associated landscape habitat metrics for the priority habitat restoration areas. Enagage Delta Plan Interagency Implementation Committee members in discussions of challenges and potential solutions related to land acquistion and permit coordination.

Reversal in estuarine sand supply driven by Holocene sea level rise: A model for sand transport in large structural estuaries, San Francisco Bay, California, USA

Elsevier | July 26th, 2024

Coastal sand supply is a critical component of shoreline stability in the face of modern threats to coastal zones such as sea level rise or anthropogenic sediment extract

Coastal sand supply is a critical component of shoreline stability in the face of modern threats to coastal zones such as sea level rise or anthropogenic sediment extraction. Understanding the natural and anthropogenically perturbed dynamics of coastal systems has become a pressing challenge for coastal communities, such as the San Francisco Bay area in the United Sates, a large structurally controlled estuary system where stakeholders seek to balance the extraction of coastal sand resources for economic use and ensure sufficient sand supply for sustaining natural coastal environments. Developing accurate and comprehensive models of sand inputs and transport pathways in different types of coastal systems is imperative to balancing these competing needs. While estuarine sediment transport has been well-studied in many systems globally, structurally controlled estuaries in tectonically active settings have received relatively less attention. The prevailing hypothesis for sediment transport through San Francisco Bay describes active input and transport of sand from a large integrated regional catchment, through multiple subembayments, and out to Pacific coast beaches; a model contrary to prevailing understanding of highstand estuarine sediment transport in most settings. We test this model by applying comprehensive sand provenance analysis to surface and near-surface sand deposits in and around San Francisco Bay coupled with sand residence time data from optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating. New provenance results include sand petrography modal abundances, bulk geochemistry, and U-Pb detrital zircon geochronology from 27 Holocene samples throughout the San Francisco Bay region. Collectively, these new results highlight marked sediment provenance and residence time differences between San Francisco Bay structural subembayments. In particular, distinct compositional differences and OSL ages exist between sand in the bayhead region of the estuary (OSL ages ca. 4 ka; Sacramento River/local provenance) and sand from the more distal bay regions and the Pacific coast (OSL ages ca. 1 ka; integrated Sierra Nevada provenance). These provenance differences better support a revised sand input and transport model with disconnected depocenters across three structurally restricted subembayments from bayhead to the Pacific coast. New data suggest that at present the bayhead region receives limited supply from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta drainage with subsidiary supply from local circum-bay drainages. Sand deposited in the region from the Pacific coast through the inlet (Golden Gate) and into the estuary consists of a combination of tidal winnowing and reworking of “relic” sand from lowstand periods combined with sand eroded from Pacific coast sea cliffs, and sand supply from local Coast Range drainages. These results suggest that sand is likely not transported directly to the Pacific coast from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta under modern conditions. Moreover, it is likely that structural constrictions between the main estuary and outer coast and between estuary subembayments cause abrupt cessation of sediment input from the main regional drainage during marine flooding, a feature likely common to large structurally controlled estuaries globally. This revised model for San Francisco Bay sand transport illustrates the need for research targeted at interpreting natural sand transport pathways in coastal systems where coarse sediment supply is a sustainability concern.

Review of 2018 Ocean Salmon Fisheries Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation Document for the Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan

Pacific Fishery Management Council | February 11th, 2019

Review of CDFW Recommendations for the 2022 Readoption of Drought Emergency Regulations on the Scott River and Recommendations for Future Management During Extreme Drought Conditions

Siskiyou Farm Bureau | August 31st, 2022

Review of Research on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta as an Evolving Place

Delta Stewardship Council (Delta Council) | May 11th, 2017

Research on the social and natural processes that sustain the unique values of the Delta as an evolving place is sparse and sporadic. We found seven research projects and

Research on the social and natural processes that sustain the unique values of the Delta as an evolving place is sparse and sporadic. We found seven research projects and no established research programs directly aimed at developing an understanding of the processes supporting the Delta as an evolving place. Far more research occurs on other Delta topics, such as water flows, contaminants and nutrients, and at risk species. Nor did we find evidence that research in these other areas is identifying natural processes that could protect and enhance the values of the changing Delta. We therefore recommend an expanded, sustained commitment to research on the unique cultural, recreational, natural resource, and agricultural values of the Delta as an evolving place. The level of effort could resemble that in other Delta subject areas. Priority should be given to research that supports achieving the coequal goals in a manner that protects and enhances these unique values.

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”

Delta Stewardship Council (Delta Council) | February 23rd, 2017

Insightful, informative, well-illustrated, clearly written—these are among our overall impressions of “Working Draft Scientific Basis Report for New and Revised Flow

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, the proposed use of percent of “unimpaired flow” as the main basis for establishing an annual environmental water budget. We also suggest presenting a further review of cold-water management, a deeper analysis of non-flow stressors, additional consideration of near-term responses to climate change, and elaboration of how regulations managed adaptively may improve scientific understanding of environmental flows.

Revised Incidental Take Methodology for the Coordinated Long-Term Operation of the CVP and SWP

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) | January 30th, 2019

RipZET: Documentation of Tool Demonstration in Marin County

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | March 31st, 2015

The San Francisco Estuary Institute and Aquatic Science Center (SFEI‐ASC) has developed the Riparian Zone Estimation Tool (RipZET) to help the California community of

The San Francisco Estuary Institute and Aquatic Science Center (SFEI‐ASC) has developed the Riparian Zone Estimation Tool (RipZET) to help the California community of riparian interests visualize and characterize riparian areas as habitat unto themselves as well as their capacity to function as buffers for protecting the ecosystem services of the state’s streams, lakes and wetlands. RipZET is a tool used with Geographic Information System (GIS) and spreadsheet software to estimate “functional riparian width,” or the width associated with different riparian functions (e.g., large woody debris input, shading, floodwater storage), which varies with channel type and watershed location. The concept of functional riparian width is central to the riparian definition recommended by the National Research Council (NRC 2002) and is integral in many recently developed riparian design and management guidelines around the country.