ARCHIVE
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2021: Is this the year that wild delta smelt become extinct?
by Peter Moyle, Karrigan Börk, John Durand, T-C Hung, and Andrew L. Rypel 2020 was a bad year for delta smelt. No smelt were found in the standard fish sampling programs (fall midwater trawl, summer townet survey). Surveys designed specifically to catch smelt (Spring Kodiak Trawl, Enhanced Delta Smelt Monitoring Program) caught just two of…
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California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta – a short history of big changes
by Jay Lund Deltas globally adjust with changes and fluctuations in external conditions, internal dynamics, and human management. This is a short history of big changes to California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) in the past and present, and its anticipated future. This history is important for understanding how many of the Delta’s problems have developed,…
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We Wish You A Silly Fishmas
by Kim Luke Night Before Fishmas “Twas the night before Fishmas, when all through the spaceNot a creature was stirring, not even a Dace;The fyke nets were hung by the boat dock with care,In hopes that St. Fish-olas soon would be there; The salmon eggs were nestled all snug in their redds;While visions of zooplankton…
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Picture this research – a photo blog from the Center for Watershed Sciences
by Scientists at CWS Holidays are a natural time of introspection on who we are, what we do, and why. Towards a bit of our own self-reflection, some researchers from UC Davis’ Center for Watershed Sciences (CWS) have each contributed a photo and short description of their work. We hope you enjoy reading about us…
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Making “productive” assessments of California’s ecosystems
by Andrew L. Rypel Conservation science and restoration ecology are challenging and interdisciplinary fields. Managing for ecological function necessitates focus on multiple scales of ecological organization while simultaneously integrating feedback loops with critical environmental drivers like temperature, flow and habitat change. This means scientists working on these issues can emerge from diverse areas of inquiry…
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Is California Heading for a Multi-Year Drought?
by Jay Lund Yes, California will have another multi-year drought. California has immense hydrologic variability, with more droughts and floods per average year than any other part of the country. California’s water users, managers, and regulators should always be prepared for droughts (and floods). Eventually, California will have a multi-year drought worse than any we…
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Functional Flows Can Improve Environmental Water Management in California
By Ted Grantham, Jeanette Howard, Belize Lane, Rob Lusardi, Sam Sandoval-Solis, Eric Stein, Sarah Yarnell and Julie Zimmerman Over the past three years, a team of scientists from universities, NGOs, and state agencies across California have been working to provide guidance on how to better manage river flows for freshwater ecosystems throughout the state. A…
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Getting to the Bottom of What Fuels Algal Blooms in Clear Lake
By: Nick Framsted Clear Lake is one of California’s oldest and most unique natural features. Nestled in Northern California’s coastal mountains, Clear Lake is the largest lake completely within California and is the oldest lake in North America with sediments dating back 480,000 years (Sims et al. 1988). Rich mineral deposits around the lake were…
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Planning for a shorter rainy season and more frequent extreme storms in California
By Claire Kouba and J. Pablo Ortiz Partida California’s hydrologic future is muddled by a fundamental uncertainty: will the state get wetter or drier? Climate models disagree on this question, but provide insights on other important water management questions. The wetter or drier question has been studied often in government reports (DWR CCTAG, 2015; U.S.…
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Small Dam, Big Deal: York Dam Removed in Napa Valley
By: Amber Manfree, Peter Moyle, Ted Grantham The recent removal of the sediment-filled York Dam in Napa County has reconnected two miles of steelhead trout habitat that has been blocked for over a century. While the dam itself was small and non-functional, it took nearly 30 years to accomplish removal. Thousands of barriers to stream…
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The Freezer of Horrors
by Miranda Bell-Tilcock, Jamie Sweeney, and Malte Willmes Down the dark corridors of the Watershed Sciences building are freezers of dead fish. Frozen Chinook Salmon carcasses and their dissected eyes and muscles in neat vials are stacked next to White Sturgeon fin clips, Striped Bass scales, and tubes of stomach contents. This might sound like…
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New insights into Putah Creek salmon
by Malte Willmes, Anna Steel, Levi Lewis, Peter B. Moyle, and Andrew L. Rypel It’s November 2016, and we’re out in canoes on Putah Creek as part of the annual salmon survey. Just as we navigate our watercraft through a narrow river section using push poles, thorny blackberry bushes and trees begin to close in…
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Rockin’ with the Rockfish
By Andrew L. Rypel and Peter B. Moyle California is a spoil of natural resource riches. Most times, our California waterblog busies itself with important freshwater resources issues. Yet every now and again, it is refreshing and worth turning our attention to the spectacular diversity and mysteries of our Pacific Ocean. But freshwater is important…
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Happy 2021! Here’s to a New Water Year!
by Jay Lund 2020 was terrible, and as a water year (WY), October 2019 – September 2020, it is over. A dry winter (drier than 2014-2015 in Sac. Valley), COVID-19, deep recession and unemployment, wildfires, racial violence and unrest, extreme high temperatures, water documents disappearing from State of California websites, and finally a very unpresidential…
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How will climate change affect the economic value of water in California?
by Lorie Srivastava Climate change is affecting natural resources in California, with water being one of the most important in the state. Water is critical for municipalities, agriculture, industry, and habitat/environmental purposes. Will future supply meet future demand? How will the economic value of water change over this century? The economic value of raw –…
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Old Readings on California Water
by Jay Lund Today’s water struggles have deep roots. In our shared summer confinement, we hopefully have some time for some deeper reading on California water. Here is a small collection of older writings on California water, the youngest of which is still older than me. Beyond historical interest, these early writings have useful perspectives…
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Fish surveys in the estuary: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
by Dylan K. Stompe, Peter Moyle, Avery Kruger, John Durand The San Francisco Estuary is a dynamic and altered estuary that supports a high diversity of fishes, both native and non-native. These species have substantial recreational, commercial, and intrinsic value to people. Since the 1950s, various agencies and UC Davis have established long-term surveys to…
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SGMA and the Human Right to Water: How do submitted Groundwater Sustainability Plans address drinking water?
by Kristin Dobbin, Darcy Bostic, Michael Kuo and Jessica Mendoza In 2012 California passed the Human Right to Water (AB 685) which declares all Californians have the right to safe, clean, affordable and accessible drinking water. Two years later during a record-breaking drought, California passed another piece of historic legislation known as the Sustainable Groundwater…
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Drought and the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, 2012–2016: Environmental Review and Lessons
by John R. Durand, Fabian Bombardelli, William E. Fleenor, Yumiko Henneberry, Jon Herman, Carson Jeffres, Michelle Leinfelder-Miles, Jay R. Lund, Robert Lusardi, Amber D. Manfree, Josué Medellín-Azuara, Brett Milligan, and Peter Moyle Droughts are common in California. The drought of 2012-2016 had no less precipitation and was no longer than previous historical droughts (Figure 1),…
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106 Years of Water Supply Reliability
by Jay Lund Water supply reliability is a major policy and management goal in California, and in the rest of the world, today and since the beginning of time. The goals of reliable water supplies have grown from supporting human health, to supporting economic prosperity, to supporting healthy ecosystems, even when these goals conflict. Since…