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California WaterBlog

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  • Strategic Decision Making for Dam Removal Planning

    By Suman Jumani, Ted Grantham, Lucy Andrews, Jeanette Howard California has a dam problem. Since the start of the 20th century, the state has built thousands of dams on its rivers and streams. Now, more than 75% of the largest dams (totaling over 900) are greater than 50 years old, and the mean age is…

  • Happy New Water Year 2024!  – from 2023’s wild ride to the wilderness of 2024

    by Jay Lund October 1 marked the beginning of the new Water Year in California. Water years here run from October 1 until September 30 of the next calendar year, and are named for the calendar year of the bulk of the water year (January-October).  It is a good time to reflect on the last…

  • The myth of normal river flow: Drought, floods, and management of California’s rivers

    By Julie Zimmerman, Jennifer Carah, Kirk Klausmeyer, Bronwen Stanford, Monty Schmitt, Mia Van Docto, Mary Ann King, and Matt Clifford Is California still experiencing drought? Even after a winter of record rainfall and snowpack, followed by a tropical storm, this is still an important question. And if you read the headlines, the answer is…yes and…

  • Evolution of Drought Response and Resilience in California’s Cities

    By Erik Porse Drought is a regular event in California. In recent decades, California has experienced five prolonged drought periods (1976-77, 1987-1992, 2007-09, 2011-16, 2020-22). Urban water agencies have responded with investments in supply and demand management measures, which have made California’s cities more resilient to drought effects. What motivated these investments? Our current habits…

  • Future Ancestors of Freshwater Fishes in California

    By Peter B. Moyle The Challenge We are living in the Anthropocene, an era being defined by global mass extinctions caused by humanity. While on-going and impending extinctions of birds and other terrestrial vertebrates gain the most attention, the situation with freshwater fishes (and other freshwater organisms) is as bad or worse, partly because many…

  • Hidden links between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems: part 3 – Eel River

    By Nicholas Wright This blog is the third and final of a three part series on ecological subsidies that appeared throughout summer ’23. In California’s north coast, the Eel River winds its way through hills with shady slopes carpeted in lush ferns and towering redwoods and sunny ridges covered in brushy chaparral. The South Fork…

  • Wetlands on the Edge

    By Andrew L. Rypel It’s really easy to overlook and undervalue wetlands. Some are small or just don’t look very important. Others are enormous, and cause flooding issues for homeowners and growers. Some might even think wetlands are gross, worry about mosquitos and vector borne illness, or have never experienced what it’s like to be…

  • Portfolio Solutions for Water – Flood Management

    by Jay Lund *this is a repost of a blog originally published in March 2019. The tweet below, shows slight (but still frightening) levee overtopping this week on Cache Creek, just north of Woodland, California.  It also illustrates the combined operations of flood preparation and response, with a simultaneous floodplain evacuation order.  Integrating a range…

  • Shell-shocking Details About Freshwater Mussel Reproduction

    By Andrew L. Rypel, Miranda Bell Tilcock, and Christine A. Parisek One of our favorite aspects of teaching is (occasionally) being able to really surprise a student. Many of the fun nature facts folks pick up nowadays come from TV, YouTube, social media, and other media outlets. But these outlets have an inherent bias: they…

  • Hidden links between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems: part 2 – Sacramento River

    By Nicholas Wright Running through the Central Valley’s patchwork of yellow, green, and brown farmlands is the deep blue of California’s largest river–the Sacramento. Once a much wider river, meandering across the flat valley floor, the Sacramento has been straight-jacketed by steep earthen levees and confined to a more controlled channel. On either side of…

  • A “Peak” into California’s Alpine Lakes and their Food Webs

    By Christine A. Parisek “The Sierra Nevada is five hundred miles of rock put right. Granite freed by glaciers and lifted through clouds where water, frozen and fine, has scraped and washed it into a high country so brilliant it brings light into night.” – Willard Wyman Alpine lakes are fascinating ecosystems. They are recognized…

  • Living with Extreme Floods in California

    by Peter Moyle, Jay Lund, Andrew L. Rypel, Carson Jeffres and Nicholas Pinter Floods and their consequences are a reality for many worldwide, including those living in California. This reality is evidenced by pictures of people stranded on roofs surrounded by water, people paddling down water-filled streets in makeshift boats, and farm fields and orchards…

  • Marsh on the move: bringing environmental education into the classroom

    By Josie Storm, Christine Parisek, Brian Williamshen, Caroline Newell, Sarah Yarnell, Kim Luke, Jake Shab, and Erin Tracy This spring, a group of researchers and students at the Center for Watershed Sciences (“Watershed”) organized a community engagement event at a local high school, with the help of our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity Committee. At Watershed,…

  • Hidden links between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems: part 1 – Sierra Nevada lakes

    By Nicholas Wright This blog is the first in a three part series on ecological subsidies that will appear throughout summer and fall ’23. It’s easy to think of aquatic and terrestrial organisms inhabiting entirely separate worlds–they experience distinct biophysical conditions, interact with different ecological communities, and are imperiled by divergent environmental threats. But there…

  • Putah Creek’s rebirth: a model for reconciling other degraded streams?

    By Emily Jacinto, Nann A. Fangue, Dennis E. Cocherell, Joseph D. Kiernan, Peter B. Moyle, and Andrew L. Rypel It’s hard to look at native fishes in Putah Creek and not grin a little. Be it a Sacamento Pikeminnow (below), a Sacramento Sucker, a Tule Perch, or even a Chinook Salmon – Putah Creek has…

  • Can Sacramento Valley reservoirs adapt to flooding with a warmer climate?

      by Jay Lund and Ann Willis Editor’s note: This is a blog that was originally posted on 6/25/17. Since publication of the blog, there has been interesting newer research about running the San Joaquin rim dams for “functional flows” (Willis et al. 2022). This work also shows there is also an important component about…

  • Endangered Freshwater Fishes: Does California Lead the World?

    By Peter B. Moyle & Robert A. Leidy See Moyle and Leidy (2023) for much more detailed version of this essay. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108758826 Few things give the authors of this essay more pleasure than swimming in a California stream on a hot summer day, wearing a mask and snorkel, and observing diverse native fishes behaving naturally.…

  • Facing the Dragon: California’s Nasty Ecological Debts

    By Andrew L. Rypel “Every time you borrow money, you’re robbing your future self.” ~N. Morris When I was younger, a close friend of mine struggled with a crippling debt. It was during that unique period shortly before and after college graduation. He had, in relatively short order, maxed out three credit cards, plus taken…

  • Water Wasted to the Sea?

    By James E. Cloern, Jane Kay, Wim Kimmerer, Jeffrey Mount, Peter B. Moyle and Anke Müeller-Solger This essay is a condensed version of one that appeared in the journal San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science (Vol. 15, Issue 2, Article 1), in July 2017.  The complete article with references and author’s contact information can be found…

  • What’s the dam problem with deadbeat dams?

    by Andrew L. Rypel, Christine A. Parisek, Jay Lund, Ann Willis, Peter B. Moyle, Sarah Yarnell, Karrigan Börk *this is a repost of a blog originally published in June 2020. Damming rivers was once a staple of public works and a signal of technological and scientific progress. Even today, dams underpin much of California’s public…

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