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A comparison of the taxonomic and trait structure of macroinvertebrate communities between the riffles and pools of montane headwater streams
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A comparison of the taxonomic and trait structure of macroinvertebrate communities between the riffles and pools of montane headwater streams
Hydrobiologica, Springer International Publishing | May 30, 2018...
Summary
Macroinvertebrate community taxonomic and trait structure showed consistent differences between riffles and pools across 12 headwater streams in the Sierra Nevada (California) even...

Macroinvertebrate community taxonomic and trait structure showed consistent differences between riffles and pools across 12 headwater streams in the Sierra Nevada (California) even as flows varied from wet to dry years and between seasons. Densities of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera, Elmidae, Orthocladiinae and Diamesinae midges, and mites were greater in riffles, whereas Tanypodinae, Chironominae, Sialis, and Pisidium were more abundant in pools. Pools had higher densities but estimated biomass was greater in riffles. Collector-gatherer and micropredator abundances were greater in pools whereas grazers, collector-filterers, and macropredators were more abundant in riffles. Stonefly shredders were most abundant in riffles but some caddis shredders were more abundant in pools. Trait state patterns were related to food resource and physical habitat differences between riffles and pools. Of the distinct pool–riffle differences we found among taxa, only about half conformed to expectations from the literature. Pool and riffle assemblages were most dissimilar at intermediate discharge and converged at low and high flows when one or the other habitat dominated. Bioassessment sampling will need to account for these flow-related differences. Benthic invertebrate communities in these mountain streams clearly differ between pools and riffles, but the relative extent of habitats and biological similarity shift with flow regime.

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A Delta Transformed: Ecological Functions, Spatial Metrics, and Landscape Change in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
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A Delta Transformed: Ecological Functions, Spatial Metrics, and Landscape Change in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
San Francisco Estuary Institute | October 1, 2014...
Summary
In A Delta Transformed, completed in 2014, SFEI researchers used the spatial data generated in the Delta Historical Ecology Investigation, as well as...
In A Delta Transformed, completed in 2014, SFEI researchers used the spatial data generated in the Delta Historical Ecology Investigation, as well as updated modern vegetation and land cover datasets, to carry out detailed analyses of how the Delta landscape has been altered since the early-1800s. By quantifying changes in metrics relevant to native wildlife (such as the extent and timing of inundation, habitat patch sizes, length of channel networks), the report provides a foundation for defining, designing, and evaluating landscapes that support desirable ecological functions in the future.

See more at: http://www.sfei.org/projects/delta-landscapes-project#sthash.RryQdaII.dpuf

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A New Approach to Accounting for Environmental Water Insights from the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta
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A New Approach to Accounting for Environmental Water Insights from the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta
Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) | November 9, 2017...
Summary
How water is apportioned to California’s cities, farms, and the environment can lead to conflict and competition in times of drought. Allocation of...
How water is apportioned to California’s cities, farms, and the environment can lead to conflict and competition in times of drought. Allocation of water to the environment in particular is poorly accounted for and poorly understood—shortcomings that can affect water policy, decision making, and public perception. This report reviews the state’s long-standing methods for defining and accounting for environmental water and proposes reforms to improve the timeliness, transparency, and detail in the accounting of environmental water allocation.

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A practical guide to environmental flows for policy and planning (with 9 case studies)
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A practical guide to environmental flows for policy and planning (with 9 case studies)
The Nature Conservancy | May 18, 2012...
Summary
Environmental flows are gaining broad recognition across the United States, and the underlying science is sufficiently developed to support regional planning and policy...
Environmental flows are gaining broad recognition across the United States, and the underlying science is sufficiently developed to support regional planning and policy applications. This report explores how six states and three interstate river basins are effectively developing and applying regionalized environmental flow criteria to water resource planning, water withdrawal permitting, and multi-dam re-operation.

The broad range of approaches they relate clearly demonstrates the feasibility of integrating science-based environmental flow needs into regional water management in the absence of site-specific assessments.

The case studies embrace the following principles:

• Regionalized environmental flow criteria apply to all the water bodies across a state or large river basin for which site-specific criteria have not yet been established.

• Flow criteria link explicitly to the health of the entire aquatic and riparian ecosystem, and are not limited to specific species.

• Flow regimes mimic natural inter- and intra-annual flow variability.

• The development of environmental flow criteria and the policies for their implementation are closely linked. Defining a clear path to policy implementation from the onset ensures that the ensuing science answers the right management questions.

• Flow criteria are developed through a transparent, inclusive social process informed by sound science. A structured social process for identifying, understanding, and negotiating tradeoffs is critical.

To varying degrees, the Ecological Limits of Hydrologic Alteration (ELOHA) framework influenced each of the case studies. ELOHA is a flexible framework for determining and implementing environmental flows at the regional scale using existing hydrologic and biological information. Major components of ELOHA include a hydrologic foundation of streamflow data, classification of natural river types, flow-ecology relationships associated with each river type, and river condition goals.

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A Practitioner’s Guide to Instream Flow Transactions in California

The purpose of this guide is to help water right holders –and those assisting them – understand their options for keeping water instream in California.

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A Practitioner’s Guide to Instream Flow Transactions in California
SWIFT Working Group, American Rivers, Nature Conservancy, Trout Unlimited, Scott River Water Trust, River Right, Alford Environmental | March 1, 2016...
Summary
The purpose of this guide is to help water right holders –and those assisting them – understand their options for keeping water instream...

The purpose of this guide is to help water right holders –and those assisting them – understand their options for keeping water instream in California. This guide briefly describes some of the most common types of instream flow transactions (i.e., methods for restoring flow for environmental purposes), and discusses in detail how to navigate the process of completing an instream flow dedication by changing a water right, as permitted by Water Code Section 1707.

The intended audience for this document includes both water rights holders and practitioners, such as staff for land trusts, water trusts, Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs), and other organizations. This guide focuses on instream dedications via the change petition process administered by the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board). Other publications – for example, the Trust for Public Land’s Water Acquisition Handbook (2003) – provide a more general overview of acquiring water for environmental purposes in California. This guide will provide a description of the change petition process, and offer advice on how to navigate, troubleshoot, and work in partnership with the State Water Board and other natural resource agencies to complete an instream flow dedication.

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Anadromous Salmonid Fish Passage Facility Design
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Anadromous Salmonid Fish Passage Facility Design
National Marine Fisheries Service | July 26, 2011...
Summary
The primary effect of barriers (e.g., hydroelectric dams, water storage projects, irrigation diversions, impassable culverts, etc.) on Pacific salmonids is the reduction in...
The primary effect of barriers (e.g., hydroelectric dams, water storage projects, irrigation diversions, impassable culverts, etc.) on Pacific salmonids is the reduction in population abundance and productivity through excessive mortality and reduction in habitat quantity and quality. Individuals are lost to the population due to death from passing through turbines, disproportionate predation in reservoirs, entrainment at unscreened or improperly screened diversions, etc. Spatial structure and diversity have also been reduced by the loss of nearly 40% of salmon habitat from dams (NRC 1996), either through complete blockage or inundation.

This document is intended to assist with improving conditions for salmonids that must migrate past barriers to complete their life cycle. The task involved in successfully passing fish upstream or downstream of an in-river impediment is a dynamic integration of fish behavior, physiology, and bio-mechanics with hydraulic analysis, hydrologic study, and engineering. Installing a fish passage structure does not constitute providing satisfactory fish passage unless all of the above components are adequately factored into the design.

The following document provides criteria, rationale, guidelines, and definitions for the purpose of designing proper fish passage facilities for the safe, timely, and efficient upstream and downstream passage of anadromous salmonids at impediments created by artificial structures, natural barriers (where provision of fish passage is consistent with management objectives), or altered instream hydraulic conditions.

This document provides fishway facility design standards for the National Marine Fisheries Service, and is to be used for actions pertaining to the various authorities and jurisdictions of NMFS, including Section 18 of the Federal Power Act (FPA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) in the Northwest Region (NWR). This document intends to provide generic guidance as an alternative to active participation by NMFS engineers in a design process, for the purpose of providing designs that will be acceptable for fishways that fall within NMFS jurisdictions. If passage facilities are designed and constructed in a manner consistent with these criteria, adverse impacts to anadromous fish migration will be minimized.

Instances will occur where a fish passage facility may not be a viable solution for correcting a passage impediment, due to biological, sociological, or economic constraints. In these situations, removal of the impediment or altering operations may be a suitable surrogate for a constructed fish passage facility. In other situations, accomplishing fish passage may not be an objective of NMFS because of factors such as limited habitat or lack of naturally occurring runs of anadromous fish upstream of the site. To determine whether NMFS will use its various authorities to promote or to prescribe fish passage, NMFS will rely on a collaborative approach, considering the views of other fisheries resource agencies, Native American Tribes, non-government organizations, and citizen groups, and will strive to accomplish the objectives in watershed plans for fisheries restoration and enhancement.

This document does not address aspects of design other than those that provide for safe and timely fish passage, and to some extent, preservation of aquatic habitat. Structural integrity, public safety, and other aspects of facility design are the responsibility of the principal design engineer, who should ensure that the final facility design meets all other requirements in addition to the fish passage criteria and guidelines contained in this document.

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Anadromous Salmonids in the Delta: New Science 2006-2016
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Anadromous Salmonids in the Delta: New Science 2006-2016
San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science | July 1, 2016...
Summary
As juvenile salmon enter the Delta, they disperse among its complex channel network where they are subject to channel-specific processes that affect their...
As juvenile salmon enter the Delta, they disperse among its complex channel network where they are subject to channel-specific processes that affect their rate of migration, vulnerability to predation, feeding success, growth rates, and ultimately, survival.

In the decades before 2006, tools available to quantify growth, dispersal, and survival of juvenile salmon in this channel network were limited. Fortunately, thanks to technological advances, much has been learned over the past decade about the role of the Delta in the life cycle of juvenile salmon.

One of the most important advances during the past decade has been the widespread adoption of acoustic telemetry techniques. Use of telemetry has shed light on how survival varies among alternative migration routes and the proportion of fish that use each migration route. Chemical and structural analysis have provided insights about when juveniles left their natal river and provided evidence of extended rearing in the brackish or saltwater regions of the Delta.

New advancements in genetics now allow individuals captured by trawls to be assigned to specific runs. Detailed information about movement and survival in the Delta has spurred development of agent-based models of juvenile salmon that are coupled to hydrodynamic models.

Although much has been learned, knowledge gaps remain about how very small juvenile salmon (fry and parr) use the Delta. Understanding how all life stages of juvenile salmon grow, rear, and survive in the Delta is critical for devising management strategies that support a diversity of life history strategies.

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Aquatic Ecosystem Stressors in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
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Aquatic Ecosystem Stressors in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
Public Policy Institute of California | May 5, 2012...
Summary
This report presents results from an analysis of the institutional and legal options for more effective ecosystem management in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta....
This report presents results from an analysis of the institutional and legal options for more effective ecosystem management in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. It is part of a wide-ranging study on the management of multiple ecosystem stressors in the Delta. .

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Areas of Special Biological Significance: California’s Marine State Water Quality Protection Areas
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Areas of Special Biological Significance: California’s Marine State Water Quality Protection Areas
State Water Resources Control Board | April 1, 2008...
Summary
Designated March 21, 1974 (Resolution No. 74-28), April 18, 1974 (Resolution No. 74-32) and June 19, 1975 (Resolution No. 75-61) This printing of...
Designated March 21, 1974 (Resolution No. 74-28), April 18, 1974 (Resolution No. 74-32) and June 19, 1975 (Resolution No. 75-61)

This printing of the publication, “Areas of Special Biological Significance, California’s Marine State Water Quality Protection Areas,” replaces and supercedes the January 2003 edition.

Changes were made to certain maps, primarily due to the availability of better Geographic Information System (GIS) data. Some of the offshore boundaries of the Areas of Special Biological Significance were adjusted to conform to the State’s three nautical mile (nm) limit. Maps that were improved or modified are identified as being revised as of June 2003; maps that were not changed are still labeled as being created in January 2003.

Assembly Bill 2800, approved by the Governor on September 8, 2000, added sections to the Public Resources Code (PRC) that are relevant to Areas of Special Biological Significance (ASBS). Section 36700 (f) of the PRC defines a state water quality protection area (SWQPA) as “a nonterrestrial marine or estuarine area designated to protect marine species or biological communities from an undesirable alteration in natural water quality, including, but not limited to, areas of special biological significance that have been designated by the State Water Resources Control Board through its water quality control planning process.”

Section 36710 (f) of the Public Resources Code states: “In a state water quality protection area point source waste and thermal discharges shall be prohibited or limited by special conditions. Nonpoint source pollution shall be controlled to the extent practicable.”

The change of the term Area of Special Biological Significance to State Water Quality Protection Area occurred on January 1, 2003 as required under Section 36750 of the PRC. The Areas of Special Biological Significance were originally given numerical designations based on the State Water Resources Control Board resolutions in which they were established. These numerical designations are not related to their geographic positions along the coast. Previous editions of this publication (up to and including the 1999 edition) have provided maps of the ASBS in numerical rather than geographic order. For the current edition, maps of Areas of Special Biological Significance/State Water Quality Protection Areas are provided in geographic order from north to south.

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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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Better late than never: a synthesis of strategic land retirement and restoration in California

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Better late than never: a synthesis of strategic land retirement and restoration in California
Ecosphere | August 10, 2018...
Summary
Strategic retirement and restoration of agricultural lands is a critical conservation opportunity globally. The objective of this synthesis was to examine whether ecological habitat...
Strategic retirement and restoration of agricultural lands is a critical conservation opportunity globally. The objective of this synthesis was to examine whether ecological habitat assessments, endangered species historical occurrence data, and restoration research can be used to develop evidence-based strategy for retiring and restoring agricultural lands.

The San Joaquin Desert (SJD) of California is a prominent example because it experienced an extensive conversion to agriculture. Now, new groundwater regulations will lead to retirement on large areas of agricultural lands over the next 20 years. This presents an opportunity to not only restore some of these lands but also explore the challenges associated with balancing direct human needs with other ecosystem-level functions. California is thus an ideal case study for globally rethinking context-specific, single-case study solutions. We used a systematic review and synthesis to address the following three main questions for habitat recovery of endangered species in the SJD.

(1) What are the habitat requirements for key endangered animal species in the region?

(2) Is there historical evidence to support an assessment of suitable habitats for these species?

(3) What restoration techniques apply to these species?

Using the Web of Science and other resources, we reviewed over 1000 independent studies on this topic, refined the evidence, and selected a total of 266 relevant publications. Habitat requirements for each species were described, but there was a critical need to examine quantitative thresholds for these factors to better evaluate habitat suitability of retired lands. There was sufficient evidence of historical vegetation to model suitable habitats and design the physical restoration of retired lands. Direct interventions associated with restoration strategies have been infrequently tested. Sparse and diverse evidence associated with direct experimental manipulations is not uncommon in applied ecology, and synthesis is an excellent tool for highlighting these gaps for future research to examine. This review suggests that retired agricultural land is a viable asset for threatened and endangered species, but to effectively advance restoration research and management, direct tests of restoration techniques and an assessment of relative costs for interventions are needed for a given region.

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Bulletin 250: Fish Passage Improvement: An Element of CALFED’s Ecosystem Restoration Program
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Bulletin 250: Fish Passage Improvement: An Element of CALFED’s Ecosystem Restoration Program
Department of Water Resources | June 16, 2005...
Summary
Since the 1800s, salmon and steelhead spawning habitat in California has declined 95 percent, from 6,000 miles of rivers and streams to 300...
Since the 1800s, salmon and steelhead spawning habitat in California has declined 95 percent, from 6,000 miles of rivers and streams to 300 miles. With this decline in spawning habitat, there has been a decrease in salmon and steelhead fish populations. Recognizing the importance of saving and restoring the populations of salmon and steelhead, many government and private organizations have responded, working to reopen streams and rivers to anadromous fish.

Initiated by the California Bay-Delta Program agencies in 1999, the Fish Passage Improvement Program, an element of the Ecosystem Restoration Program1 is a partnership-building effort to improve and enhance fish passage in Central Valley and Bay Area rivers and streams. We work under the guidance of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, and the Department of Fish and Game through an interagency team that provides oversight for the program. In addition, we work with other local, state, and federal agencies and stakeholders to plan and implement projects to remove barriers that impede migration and spawning of anadromous fish.

One purpose of the Fish Passage Improvement Program is to identify potential fish passage projects for implementation by the California Bay-Delta agencies and local interests. In order to do that, it is necessary to determine where fish passage impediments exist and to determine what fish passage improvement projects are already in motion. The inaugural issue of Bulletin 250 identifies potential fish passage impediments and ongoing activities that are addressing fish passage barriers within the Fish Passage Improvement Program geographic scope and beyond (Figure ES-1).
- Chapter 1 gives a historical perspective of fish passage improvement in California, describing the Fish Passage Improvement Program and the efforts to solve the problem outlined in Chapter 2.
- Chapter 2 describes the historical and current distribution of salmon and steelhead listed as threatened or endangered and their critical habitat in the Central Valley and Bay Area. It also describes how man-made structures in rivers and streams cause problems for fish passage.
- Chapter 3 describes fish populations and their habitat in Central Valley and Bay Area streams and rivers where the Fish Passage Improvement Program supports projects.
- Chapter 4 describes projects supported by the Fish Passage Improvement Program or other agencies on streams listed in Chapter 3.
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California Essential Habitat Connectivity Project: A Strategy for Conserving a Connected California
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California Essential Habitat Connectivity Project: A Strategy for Conserving a Connected California
Department of Fish and Wildlife | March 2, 2010...
Summary
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) commissioned the California Essential Habitat Connectivity Project because a...
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) commissioned the California Essential Habitat Connectivity Project because a functional network of connected wildlands is essential to the continued support of California’s diverse natural communities in the face of human development and climate change. This Report is also intended to make transportation and land-use planning more efficient and less costly, while helping reduce dangerous wildlife-vehicle collisions.

This Essential Habitat Connectivity Report includes three primary products: (1) a statewide Essential Habitat Connectivity Map, (2) data characterizing areas delineated on the map, and (3) guidance for mitigating the fragmenting effects of roads and for developing and implementing local and regional connectivity plans. These products will be made available for public use on two websites—BIOS, managed by the California Department of Fish and Game (http://bios.dfg.ca.gov), and Data Basin, managed by the Conservation Biology Institute (http://databasin.org). Both are interactive web-based systems that allow users to download, print, combine, comment on, or otherwise use the maps, data layers, and other information.

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California State Wildlife Action Plan 2015 Update, Volume II: Appendices
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California State Wildlife Action Plan 2015 Update, Volume II: Appendices
Department of Fish and Wildlife | September 28, 2015...
Summary
Appendices A Required Report Elements and Compliance B California State Wildlife Action Plan 2015 Revision Summary C Species of Greatest Conservation Need D...
Appendices
A Required Report Elements and Compliance
B California State Wildlife Action Plan 2015 Revision Summary
C Species of Greatest Conservation Need
D Ranked Lists of Vegetation Communities (Macrogroups) by Ecoregion
E Conservation Strategies for All Macrogroups in California, Freshwater Aquatic Species Assemblages, Marine Ecosystems, and Anadromous Fishes
F Invasive Species in California
G Climate Adaptation Strategies Cross-Reference Guide
H Offshore Islands
I California State Wildlife Action Plan Implementation Evaluation Report 2005 – 2014
J Public Scoping Meeting Materials

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California State Wildlife Action Plan: 2015 Update: Volume 1
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California State Wildlife Action Plan: 2015 Update: Volume 1
Department of Fish and Wildlife | September 28, 2015...
Summary
SWAP 2015 provides an ecosystem approach for conserving California’s fish and wildlife resources by identifying strategies intended to improve conditions of Species of...
SWAP 2015 provides an ecosystem approach for conserving California’s fish and wildlife resources by identifying strategies intended to improve conditions of Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) and the habitats upon which they depend (see Figure 1 of the Executive Summary).

CDFW designed SWAP 2015 to guide resource managers, conservation partners, and the public in how they can directly or indirectly participate in conserving California’s precious natural heritage. This section provides an overview of the structure of SWAP 2015 to help readers navigate through the document and find information.

SWAP 2015 is organized as follows:
- Executive Summary provides a summary of: the vision for wildlife conservation in California; statewide goals; the process used to develop conservation strategies based on an ecosystem approach; conservation targets and strategies for seven provinces and anadromous fish; statewide summary; plans for integration and implementation; and process for adaptive management and monitoring.
- Chapter 1 provides an introduction to SWAP 2015. The challenge of sustaining biodiversity, a summary of CDFW responsibility, and the vision for California wildlife conservation are described. Chapter 1 also explains the requirements for updating SWAP, summarizes major changes since the original 2005 SWAP, and describes the analytical approach used in the 2015 update.
- Chapter 2 describes California’s natural diversity, identifies SGCN and the criteria used to evaluate species and habitat conditions, and addresses major pressures and stresses currently affecting the SGCN and their habitats.
- Chapter 3 describes the existing conservation approaches in the state, including the major regulations protecting natural resources, CDFW planning tools, and major conservation programs.
- Chapter 4 presents the statewide goals of SWAP 2015 and broad, state-level conservation strategies that will be implemented to achieve the desired conservation outcomes.
- Chapter 5 is divided into seven sections that describe for each geographic province the conservation targets, SGCN and other focal species, KEAs, stresses, pressures, and conservation strategies, including goals and objectives for the provinces.
- Chapter 6 focuses on conservation strategies developed for anadromous fish in California.
- Chapter 7 describes how SWAP 2015 will be integrated with other programs and coordinated with partners for the implementation, including through companion plans.
- Chapter 8 describes the monitoring plan for the conservation strategies, including the mandate for CDFW to use monitoring and adaptive management. It also presents a summary of the effectiveness evaluation of how SWAP 2005 was implemented. The chapter describes how the recommendations from the SWAP 2005 evaluation have been integrated into SWAP 2015. Rationales for selecting conservation strategies presented in SWAP 2015 and a framework for monitoring the effectiveness of the strategies are also described.
- Chapter 9 provides the list of preparers of SWAP 2015.
- Chapter 10 provides bibliographic references used in each chapter.
- Chapter 11 provides a glossary of major terms used in SWAP 2015.
  Several appendices accompany SWAP 2015 to provide more detailed information and extensive tables that support the document.
- Database files created during the development of SWAP 2015 to compile and evaluate ecological information and to create strategies can be accessed at: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/SWAP/.
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California’s Water: Water for the Environment
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California’s Water: Water for the Environment
Public Policy Institute of California | October 1, 2016...
Summary
River and wetland ecosystems in California—and the many birds, fish, and other species they support—are in serious decline. Major investments and novel approaches...

River and wetland ecosystems in California—and the many birds, fish, and other species they support—are in serious decline. Major investments and novel approaches are needed to improve the health of our natural environment. This brief explains how water is used for environmental purposes and describes priority approaches that could improve its management.

This publication is part of a briefing kit that summarizes a dozen of the state’s most pressing water management issues.

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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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Central Valley Project Improvement Act Implementation Plan For Fish Programs
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Central Valley Project Improvement Act Implementation Plan For Fish Programs
Bureau of Reclamation | July 20, 2015...
Summary
The purpose of this Plan is to describe the approach for prioritizing and implementing the anadromous fish-related provisions under the CVPIA over the...
The purpose of this Plan is to describe the approach for prioritizing and implementing the anadromous fish-related provisions under the CVPIA over the next 5-10 years. This Plan will build upon the Final Restoration Plan (FRP, USFWS 2001) to integrate a decision-making framework across all programs with the goal of making all reasonable efforts to at least double natural production of anadromous fish in California’s Central Valley on a long-term, sustainable basis. The Plan develops an annual process for setting priorities and funding projects across CVPIA fish-related provisions and watersheds in the Central Valley. The new process uses an Adaptive Resource Management (ARM) approach with support from Decision-Support Models (DSMs) to prioritize implementation of management actions that have the highest probability of achieving biological objectives for wild populations of native anadromous fish. The ARM approach will also guide plans for monitoring and research by synthesizing existing monitoring data, annually updating DSMs using new information, and estimating the value of new information to the decision making process.

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Chinook salmon and green sturgeon migrate through San Francisco Estuary despite large distortions in the local magnetic field produced by bridges
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Chinook salmon and green sturgeon migrate through San Francisco Estuary despite large distortions in the local magnetic field produced by bridges
PLOS One | June 2, 2017...
Summary
Empirical evidence exists that some marine animals perceive and orient to local distortions in the earth’s main static geomagnetic field. The magnetic fields...
Empirical evidence exists that some marine animals perceive and orient to local distortions in the earth’s main static geomagnetic field. The magnetic fields produced by undersea electric power cables that carry electricity from hydrokinetic energy sources to shore-based power stations may produce similar local distortions in the earth’s main field. Concerns exist that animals migrating along the continental shelves might orient to the magnetic field from the cables, and move either inshore or offshore away from their normal path.

We have studied the effect of the Trans Bay Cable (TBC), an 85-km long, high voltage, direct current (DC) transmission line leading underwater from Pittsburg, CA to San Francisco, CA, on fishes migrating through the San Francisco Estuary. These included Chinook salmon smolts (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) that migrate downstream through the San Francisco Estuary to the Pacific Ocean and adult green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris), which migrate upstream from the ocean through the estuary to their spawning habitat in the upper Sacramento River and return to the ocean after spawning occurs. Based on a detailed gradiometer survey, we found that the distortions in the earth’s main field produced by bridges across the estuary were much greater than those from the Trans Bay Cable. The former anomalies exceeded the latter by an order of magnitude or more.

Significant numbers of tagged Chinook salmon smolts migrated past bridges, which produced strong magnetic anomalies, to the Golden Gate Bridge, where they were recorded by dual arrays of acoustic tag-detecting monitors moored in lines across the mouth of the bay. In addition, adult green sturgeon successfully swam upstream and downstream through the estuary on the way to and from their spawning grounds.

Hence, the large anomalies produced by the bridges do not appear to present a strong barrier to the natural seasonal movement patterns of salmonid smolts and adult green sturgeon.

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Collateral Damage: A citizen’s guide to fish kills and habitat degradation at the state and federal water project pumps in the Delta
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Collateral Damage: A citizen’s guide to fish kills and habitat degradation at the state and federal water project pumps in the Delta
The Bay Institute | March 1, 2012...
Summary
Large-scale fish kills and habitat destruction aren’t an unusual occurrence at the giant federal and state pumps that export water from the Sacramento-San...
Large-scale fish kills and habitat destruction aren’t an unusual occurrence at the giant federal and state pumps that export water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to agribusinesses and cities in the southern half of the state. These events are business as usual.

• Every day, between 870 and 61,000 fish – including from 200 to 42,000 native and endangered fishes – are “salvaged” at the pumps. Most die in the process.

• On average, over 9 million fish – representing the twenty fish species considered in this report – are “salvaged” each year at the pumps. As many as 15 million fish of all species encountered are “salvaged” each year.

• Up to 40% of the total population of the endangered delta smelt and 15% of the endangered winter-run population of Chinook salmon are killed at the pumps in some years. In the first half of 2011, over 8.6 million splittail were salvaged.

• Salvage estimates drastically underestimate the problem. The numbers do not factor in the results of “indirect” mortality, as high levels of export pumping disrupt fish migration, shrink the amount of non-lethal habitat available to fish species, and remove vast amounts of biomass, including fish eggs and larvae too small to be screened at the pumps.

• Export pumping causes the lower San Joaquin River to flow backwards most of the year and removes the equivalent of 170 railroad boxcars of water – and the accompanying fish, other organisms, and nutrients – from the Delta ecosystem every minute.

• Large numbers of fish being entrained is a problem even for species that are not currently listed as “endangered.” Killing large numbers of fish year after year cuts off population growth in response to favorable conditions and can start the species on a downward path to extinction. As the species declines, the population impacts of entrainment become proportionately larger.

• Entrainment is a real problem. But the same interests in the Delta export community who claim that it isn’t also back constructing expensive new conveyance facilities such as a peripheral canal or tunnel to solve the problem that they say doesn’t exist.

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Collateral Damage: A citizen’s guide to fish kills and habitat degradation at the state and federal water project pumps in the Delta

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Become a member to access this feature