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From past patterns to future potential: using historical ecology to inform river restoration on an intermittent California river

Landscape Ecology (Springer) | August 30th, 2015

Summary

Although human actions have greatly impacted the river’s extent, baseflow hydrology, and riparian habitats, many ecological attributes persist in more limited form, in

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Fundamentals of estimating the net benefits of ecosystem preservation: The case of the Salton Sea

Hydrobiologia (Springer) | July 15th, 2008

Summary

This article, both theoretical and methodological in nature, argues the potential merits of using a net beneﬁts’ framework as a tool to aid policy-makers in their eff

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Hazard’s Toll: The Costs of Inaction at the Salton Sea

Pacific Institute | September 3rd, 2014

Summary

The declining Salton Sea will impose massive public health and environmental costs on local residents and Californians generally, as described in the Pacific Institute re

The declining Salton Sea will impose massive public health and environmental costs on local residents and Californians generally, as described in the Pacific Institute report Hazard’s Toll. The continued failure to protect and preserve the Salton Sea, worsening air quality and the loss of valuable ecological habitat – combined with diminished recreational revenue and property devaluation – could cost as much as $70 billion over the next 30 years. The high costs of California’s 2007 plan for the Salton Sea have inhibited deliberation and deterred any meaningful investment in revitalizing the Salton Sea. Many decision-makers assume that delaying action at the Salton Sea will result in business as usual, with no additional costs. Hazard’s Toll makes clear that this is not the case. Because the Salton Sea has changed over the past decade and will soon enter a period of very rapid decline, the costs of inaction are escalating rapidly. Even at the low end of the costs estimated in Hazard’s Toll, the long-term social and economic costs of a deteriorating Salton Sea could approach $29 billion, well in excess of the project cost of the state’s plan. The consequences of continued inaction at the Salton Sea will be felt most directly by the 650,000 people who live in harm’s way of the Salton Sea’s dust, as well as by the birds and other life that depend on the lake. Hazard’s Toll estimates the costs of these consequences, for the first time. These considerable costs demonstrate the urgent need for action at the Salton Sea. The report also highlights a large number of important data gaps that should be addressed in the near future. Despite many decades of study and the impending decline of the Salton Sea, we still lack information on many factors affecting life and the economy in the region. These factors, combined with general uncertainty about population growth rates, climate change, and changing hydrologic conditions, suggest that the above estimates indicate a general magnitude of potential future costs, rather than precise projections.

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Hetch Hetchy Restoration Study

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | July 17th, 2006

Summary

The restoration of Hetch Hetchy Valley on the upper Tuolumne River has once again captured the public’s imagination. In order to provide for an informed dialogue about

The restoration of Hetch Hetchy Valley on the upper Tuolumne River has once again captured the public’s imagination. In order to provide for an informed dialogue about this issue, the Resources Agency has objectively evaluated the many Hetch Hetchy Valley restoration studies produced during the past two decades. In so doing, the state also recognized the great value and benefit of providing a central clearinghouse of all Hetch Hetchy restoration work. Moreover, in conducting the study, the state provided a neutral, public forum to discuss issues related to Hetch Hetchy restoration, such as water supply and water quality, flood management, cultural resources, environmental impacts, energy generation, and recreation. In all, several hundred people participated in a July 2005 workshop in Sacramento and at other stakeholder meetings throughout the state. In addition, many interested Californians provided written comments for our consideration. This final report is a comprehensive analysis of Hetch Hetchy Valley restoration studies. But even as a comprehensive analysis, we find, first and foremost, that much study remains to be done because there are major gaps in vital information. For example, objectives for replacing the water supply for the Bay Area, dam removal methods and impacts, and considerations of the public use and benefit of a restored Valley remain largely undefined. Another critical, missing element is a formal public involvement process to engage agencies, Native American tribes, stakeholders and other interested parties in this issue. While we offer no formal recommendation about next steps, it is clear that further investigations into Hetch Hetchy Valley restoration cannot be led by the State of California alone. Federal participation will be important to help shape future studies and to work with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, tribes, and the public on any next steps in this process. Moving forward, the Resources Agency’s role in studies and planning for Hetch Hetchy will be consistent with the state’s approach to other significant natural resources such as the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta or the Salton Sea — to protect the public trust by ensuring that these natural places are protected and utilized for the benefit of all Californians.

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Improving Habitats Along Delta Levees: A Review of Past Projects and Recommended Next Steps

Delta Stewardship Council (Delta Council) | January 15th, 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 Stra

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Lake Lazarus: the strange rebirth of a Californian ecosystem

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | November 12th, 2018

Summary

At the start of the twentieth century, Owens Lake in southern California was one of the largest inland bodies of water in the United States. By the mid-1920s, it was gone

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Leveraging Wetlands for a Better Climate Future

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | July 15th, 2022

Summary

Managing Natural and Working Lands (NWL) to enhance carbon sinks and limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a key component of California’s ambitious strategy to achie

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Los Angeles Basin Study The Future of Stormwater Conservation: Task 6 – Trade-Off Analysis & Opportunities

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) | January 5th, 2016

Summary

The Los Angeles Basin Study (LA Basin Study) is a collaborative partnership between the Los Angeles County Flood Control District (LACFCD) and the U.S. Department of the

The Los Angeles Basin Study (LA Basin Study) is a collaborative partnership between the Los Angeles County Flood Control District (LACFCD) and the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation). The purpose of the LA Basin Study is to investigate long-range water conservation and flood risk impacts caused by projected changes in climate and population in the Los Angeles region. The LA Basin Study highlights opportunities for potential modifications and changes to both the existing regional stormwater capture system as well as for the development of new facilities and practices, which could help to resolve future water supply and flood risk issues. The stormwater capture concepts and alternatives developed in the Task 5 – Infrastructure & Operations Concepts report are evaluated in the trade-off analysis and opportunities highlighted in this report. The primary purpose of Task 6 – Trade-Off Analysis & Opportunities is to evaluate the quantifiable and non-quantifiable benefits and costs of the stormwater concepts identified in the Task 5 report and to provide an analysis of the trade-offs among concepts. In most cases, various project concepts would generate benefits for some impact categories but not others, and would also impose various types of costs. The trade-off analysis provides a methodology for comparing different types of benefits and costs that cannot all be quantified in monetary terms. These trade-offs include economic, financial, environmental, and social effects. Economic effects include the benefits associated with different types of goods and services supported by the concepts, the costs of the different concepts, the impacts of the different concepts on the regional economy through changes in the amount and type of spending, and the cost effectiveness of different project concepts. Financial effects reflect the impacts of paying for a project, such as paying off capital debt and covering operation and maintenance expenses. Environmental effects reflect the type and quality of environmental and natural resources that would be potentially influenced by a concept. Environmental effects include items such as water quality, energy consumption, impacts on habitat, and ecosystem function. Social effects reflect how the concepts may alter the social characteristics of a community or region such as impacts to education, environmental justice, and quality of life. Benefits are quantified for three categories of resource impacts. The first category is additional stormwater conserved or stored, which is measured in terms of acre-feet per year. The second is recreation, which is measured in miles of new trails. The third is increased habitat acreage and additional acquisition of right-of-way acreage that would provide habitat benefits. Stormwater conservation benefits are valued as improved water supply reliability, recreation is valued as a type of general recreation activity similar to outdoor activities at a local park, and habitat acreage is evaluated as an ecosystem improvement. In the case of the Regional Impact Programs concept, right-of-way acreage also produces some ecosystem benefits. Quantified benefits and costs as well as categories of qualitative benefits are summarized in Table ES-1. All benefits and costs are present valued over a 50-year planning period using the current Fiscal Year 2016 federal water project planning rate of 3.125%. The economic analysis of quantified benefits can be used to evaluate the magnitude of potential benefits of each project group, recognizing that many additional benefits may exist that are not accounted for in a traditional benefit and cost analysis. It is important to note that quantified benefits could only be developed for a subset of the total beneficial effects associated with the concepts identified in the Task 5 report. There are many potential benefits associated with environmental and social improvements, flood risk mitigation, environmental justice, and other effects that could be large but cannot be evaluated quantitatively for this level of analysis. These unquantified benefits may be larger than quantified benefits in some cases and smaller in other cases. The intent of the qualitative assessment is to provide an indication of the potential magnitude of unquantified benefits.

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Mission Bay Historical Ecology Reconnaissance Study: Data Collection Summary (Technical Report)

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | February 1st, 2016

Summary

The goals of the Mission Bay Historical Ecology Reconnaissance Study were to collect and compile high-priority historical data about the Mission Bay landscape, identify

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Modeling the effect of habitat availability and quality on endangered winter-run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) production in the Sacramento Valley

Ecological Modelling (Elsevier) | March 13th, 2021

Summary

Reconciliation between water uses and sustaining aquatic species populations requires an effort to identify and quantify essential habitat characteristics for ecosystem h

Reconciliation between water uses and sustaining aquatic species populations requires an effort to identify and quantify essential habitat characteristics for ecosystem health and valuation methods to predict ecosystem response to restoration actions. This process is particularly challenging for anadromous fish species such as California's Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon, due to their limited geographic range and diverse life history habitat requirements. Tools, such as life-cycle models, are needed to manage population dynamics and quantify the composite effects of processes across space and time. Nevertheless, complex institutions can hinder result interpretation and communication, and limit model use in decision-making. This paper focuses on the federally endangered and endemic Sacramento River winter-run Chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) by developing a Winter-Run Habitat-based Population Model (WRHAP). WRHAP is a conceptual, freshwater rearing stage model that includes alternative rearing habitats reported in the literature (e.g., floodplains, off-channel and tributaries), defines rules of habitat use based on instream conditions, and incorporates a juvenile growth module that combines bioenergetics modeling with empirical growth rates. Model outputs reasonably follow observed out-migration patterns and provide a realistic smolt size distribution arriving at the San Francisco Bay. This effort demonstrates the importance of currently “non-critical” habitats (as defined by the Endangered Species Act) for juvenile development, with floodplain habitat contributing to a quarter of out-migrating biomass (despite < 18% availability and <10% of total rearing days), and off-channel growth being one of the most sensitive parameters (explaining ~13% of average juvenile weight variance). The model shows the utility of a simple population model to explore relationships between habitat quality/quantity and juvenile development, and to assist water/environmental management and decision-making processes focused on species recovery.

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Page : 5

From past patterns to future potential: using historical ecology to inform river restoration on an intermittent California river

Fundamentals of estimating the net benefits of ecosystem preservation: The case of the Salton Sea

Hazard’s Toll: The Costs of Inaction at the Salton Sea

Hetch Hetchy Restoration Study

Improving Habitats Along Delta Levees: A Review of Past Projects and Recommended Next Steps

Lake Lazarus: the strange rebirth of a Californian ecosystem

Leveraging Wetlands for a Better Climate Future

Los Angeles Basin Study The Future of Stormwater Conservation: Task 6 – Trade-Off Analysis & Opportunities

Mission Bay Historical Ecology Reconnaissance Study: Data Collection Summary (Technical Report)

Modeling the effect of habitat availability and quality on endangered winter-run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) production in the Sacramento Valley

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