Bridging Science and Community: Engaging Youth in Delta Conservation through the Spinning Salmon Program is designed to enhance scientific understanding and engagement among underrepresented youth in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Leveraging the Youth-Focused Community and Citizen Science (YCCS) framework, the program connects youth to local ecosystems while addressing ecological challenges such as the Thiamine Deficiency Complex affecting Central Valley Chinook Salmon. The objectives focus on enhancing students' understanding of scientific concepts and processes, fostering science identity, self-efficacy, and environmental science agency, and cultivating a sense of environmental stewardship. Additionally, the program emphasizes the active involvement of community members in co-creating and refining educational strategies, ensuring these approaches are tailored to the diverse cultural and educational needs of the Delta community. This aligns with Science Action C under Management Need 4 in the 2022-2026 Science Action Agenda (SAA), contributing to a broader understanding of community-engaged research methodologies.
Little is known about sturgeon mortality sources outside management of the White Sturgeon recreational fishery. Mortality has been observed throughout the SFBDE with increased reporting over the past several years. Much of which is concentrated (but not exclusively) in the Carquinez Strait; a narrow strait linking known sturgeon feeding grounds and vital corridor which all SFBDE sturgeon must pass to access spawning grounds. Adult sturgeon populations in the SFBDE are difficult to estimate in part due to unknown rates of mortality, outside the recreational fishery. Specific, non-angling mortality data and sources are needed to develop management strategies that that lead to robust abundance estimates ensuring persistence of these public resources. This project aims to dentify and enumerate non-fisheries sturgeon mortality in the San Francisco Bay Delta Estuary (SFBDE), specifically the Carquinez Strait. We plan to determine population characteristics of observed mortality, age structure and migration patterns/habitat use of collected sturgeon. We will also engage the local community through outreach efforts to investigate the public perception of sturgeon mortality in SFBDE and increase participation in our study.
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) ecosystems are suffering a collapse in pelagic ecosystems due in part to a decline in energy flow from detrital material (dead phytoplankton, aquatic and terrestrial vascular plants, and minerals), resulting in population declines in threatened and endangered native fish species. Declining primary productivity, decreasing sedimentary inputs to the Delta, impacts of climate change, and the shift in nutrients due to the EchoWater Resource Recovery Facility (EchoWater Facility) upgrade completed in 2023 together evoke a dire need to characterize rapidly changing algal and detrital particle sources and cycling within the Delta to inform management solutions that could improve the food web and better support native fish. To fill this knowledge gap, the researchers assessed the spatial distribution and availability of detrital particles to pelagic aquatic food webs within the Delta by modernizing and developing in-situ light sensors and integrating physical and chemical measurements. They also conducted lab experiments to characterize particle sources and quality by using biomarkers and genetic material to identify species present in the detritus.
This project examined cold water storage and regulation in Shasta Lake through the Shasta Dam Temperature Control Device (TCD). The TCD is a 300-foot structure with multiple gate openings, allowing water from different depths - and thus different temperatures - to be selectively released to manage water temperature in the river downstream. River water temperature is managed to support the imperiled Chinook salmon, a species of fish that is native to California. This capability is becoming increasingly important because low water years generally mean warmer river water temperatures that compromise habitat suitability for different species. In particular, cold pool management is essential for downstream spawning and rearing habitat for winter-run Chinook salmon that rely on cooler water temperatures to survive and reproduce. When the water is too warm, oxygen availability is limited for Chinook salmon and their eggs, which contributes to their mortality. Although the TCD allows reservoir managers to control water release and downstream water temperature, flow contributions into the TCD under day-to-day operations for different gate openings, operations, and thermal conditions within the reservoir are largely unquantified. Further complicating temperature management, TCD leakage (whether within the structure itself or through malfunctioning gates) needs to be better quantified in location and magnitude. This information will improve operational strategies for cold water performance especially during summer and fall months to manage cold water supply for downstream Chinook salmon habitat.
