Tag: Carson Jeffres
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Getting Our Feet Wet: Bringing Photography Students into the Yolo Bypass
By Eliza Gregory . . . The first time I heard the phrase “flood-based ecosystem,” I was in New South Wales, and I was confused. I was on a 4000 km drive around the Murray Darling Basin, the largest watershed in Australia. I was with a group from Engineers Without Borders Australia, who luckily had an expansive idea of who would be fun to have along (shout out to Claire…
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Students Take the Stage at the Spinning Salmon Showcase
By Becca VanArnam, Peggy Harte, Rachel Johnson, Carson Jeffres, and Miranda A. Lowe-Webb . . . Spinning Salmon Program California’s Chinook salmon face all kinds of challenges, from drought and warming to blocked migration routes. But in recent years, scientists have also been tracking a quieter threat: thiamine deficiency. This condition, caused by low levels…
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California: A Salmon Society?
By Carson Jeffres Consider for a moment the identity of the Pacific Northwest as a Salmon Society. When you fly into an airport in the Pacific Northwest, salmon are on the floors and walls as art. This art is an expression of societal values in which salmon are important. In contrast, when you fly into Sacramento you see…
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Change at the Center for Watershed Sciences
By Karrigan Börk Readers of the California Water Blog (Blog) may have noticed some changes over the past year. The Blog is a product of the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences (CWS), and after many years of dedicated service, longtime CWS leaders Dr. Andrew Rypel (Director) and Dr. Cathryn Lawrence (Assistant Director) are transitioning…
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Build it, and they will come: Early evidence for establishment of Chinook salmon in Putah Creek, CA
By Lauren G. Hitt, Malte Willmes, Mackenzie C. Miner, Max Stevenson, Carson A. Jeffres, Robert A. Lusardi, Nann A. Fangue, and Andrew L. Rypel For the third year in a row, regulators have canceled California’s commercial Chinook salmon fishing season.Poor spawning salmon returns in 2024 and low predicted numbers of salmon in the ocean during 2025…
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Sό Semente – Only a Seed
By Carson Jeffres, Gislene Torrente Vilara, Jansen Zuanon Seeds are often thought of as a start that will eventually grow into something larger than it originally started. In this case, the seed was a seed grant from UC Davis Global Affairs to develop a collaborative project with international partners working with a migratory fish along the…
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The foodscape – (re) connecting salmon to the productive capacity of their watersheds
By Gabriel J. Rossi, J. Ryan Bellmore, Jonathan B. Armstrong, Carson Jeffres, Sean M. Naman, Stephanie M. Carlson, Theodore E. Grantham, Matthew J. Kaylor, Seth White, Jacob Katz, Mary E. Power In 1927, the famous ecologist Charles Elton (when he was 27 years old) set the stage for the modern ecological study when he published his…
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Is the Drought Over? Reflections on California’s Recent Flood-Drought Combo
By Andrew L. Rypel, Jay Lund, and Carson Jeffres Early January was an unusually wild ride of atmospheric rivers. Nine sizable systems produced a train of storms beginning about New Years and lasting for several weeks across almost all of California. After three years of drought, the storms reminded us that California has flood problems…
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Nature’s gift to nature in early winter storms
By Jeffrey Mount, Peter B. Moyle, Andrew L. Rypel, and Carson Jeffres The current wet spell, made up of a parade of atmospheric rivers, is a welcome change from the last three years of record dry and warm conditions. For very good reasons, the focus during these big, early winter storms is first and foremost…
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Rice & salmon, what a match!
By: Andrew L. Rypel, Derrick J. Alcott, Paul Buttner, Alex Wampler, Jordan Colby, Parsa Saffarinia, Nann Fangue and Carson A. Jeffres Long-time followers of this blog may have tracked the evolution of our salmon-rice work for some time. The work originated most strongly with the “The Nigiri Project” in the early 2000s, building from important…
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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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Fish are born free, but are everywhere in cages this spring
by Carson Jeffres, Eric Holmes, and Andrew Rypel State, federal, and local governments, water users, and the public are all concerned with the survival of salmon. Over decades, and especially recent years, most salmon runs have severely declined in California. Part of sustaining salmon populations is improving the survival and fitness of young salmon as…
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Resurrecting the Delta for Desirable Fishes
by Peter Moyle, Carson Jeffres, John Durand The Delta is described in many ways. When extolling the Delta as a tourist destination, it is described as a place of bucolic beauty; islands of productive farmland are threaded by meandering channels of sparkling water, a place to boat, fish, view wildlife, and grow cherries and pears. But…
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Advice on Voluntary Settlements for California’s Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan Part 3: Science for Ecosystem Management
by Jeffrey Mount, PPIC Water Policy Center* Recommendation Improving Delta ecosystem functions under the State Water Board’s proposed Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan will require a complex series of changes to water and land management—and a strong science program to guide actions. This science effort will need to go well beyond current Delta science programs…
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Advice on Voluntary Settlements for California’s Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan Part 2: Recommended Actions to Improve Ecological Function in the Delta
by Jeffrey Mount, PPIC Water Policy Center* Recommendation By strategically linking freshwater flow releases with the management of tidal energy and investments in landscape changes in the Delta, it is possible to improve ecological food webs and habitat for native species and reduce the effects of pollutants. Projects to address these problems should be concentrated…
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Advice on Voluntary Settlements for California’s Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan Part 1: Addressing a Manageable Suite of Ecosystem Problems
by Jeffrey Mount, PPIC Water Policy Center Recommendation The State Water Resources Control Board and the parties seeking to incorporate voluntary settlement agreements in the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan should identify a specific, tractable set of problems that can be addressed over the next 15 years through this plan. We urge the participants to…
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Ecogeomorphology: A Transformative Expedition Education
This week, the Center for Watershed Sciences is proud to feature our flagship education course, Ecogeomorphology. What began as a collaboration between then-Professors Jeffrey Mount and Peter Moyle to introduce students to cross-discipline thinking in expedition settings has developed into a transformative opportunity for the select graduate and undergraduate students to experience a range of settings…
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Understanding predation impacts on Delta native fishes
By Peter Moyle, Andrew Sih, Anna Steel, Carson Jeffres, William Bennett of University of California, Davis. Will endangered fishes, such as Chinook salmon, delta smelt, and longfin smelt, benefit from control of predators, especially of striped bass? This question is of interest because if the answer is ‘yes’, then predator control might increase the benefits…
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Journey to the bottom of the Rim Fire
Video: Researchers with the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences describe their Sept. 20 hike through the apocalyptic terrain left by this summer’s Rim Fire. The U. S. Forest Service granted the researchers limited access on the still-closed and burning Stanislaus National Forest to retrieve their scientific monitoring equipment at the confluence of the Tuolumne…