Search

Science activities

Reset filters

7 records


















Records

  • Title

    Delta Wetland Resilience and Blue Carbon

    Lead San Francisco Estuary Institute [SFEI]
    Description This project estimates carbon storage for the past, present and future Delta, as well as GHG fluxes and elevation change based on chosen restoration and rice farming scenarios in the future Delta using the Delta Landscape Scenario Planning Tool. The project also investigates how well the current organic matter parameterizations and inorganic sediment parameterization in the Marsh Equilibrium Model (MEM) represent Delta marsh accretion processes. Knowledge of marsh accretion and migration will be used to develop a spatial conceptual model of marsh resilience in the Delta.
    Science topics Carbon, Greenhouse gas GHG, Resilience, Sea level rise, Subsidence, Wetlands
    Updated October 13, 2023
  • Title

    Delta Landscapes Project

    Lead San Francisco Estuary Institute [SFEI]
    Description The Delta Landscapes Project has developed a body of work to inform landscape-scale restoration of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ecosystem. The project is built on knowledge, first published in 2012’s Delta Historical Ecology Investigation, of how the Delta ecosystem functioned in the early 1800s (prior to the California Gold Rush and subsequent landscape-level changes).
    Science topics Landscape metrics, Restoration planning, Marsh wildlife, Riparian wildlife, Terrestrial wildlife, Fish
    Updated April 29, 2022
  • Title

    Delta Landscape Scenario Planning Tool

    Lead San Francisco Estuary Institute [SFEI]
    Description The Delta Landscapes Scenario Planning Tool is a set of resources to assist users with developing, analyzing, and evaluating different land use scenarios in the Delta. The tool is designed to inform ongoing and future restoration planning efforts by assessing how proposed projects will affect a suite of landscape metrics relating to desired ecosystem functions.
    Science topics Fish, Landscape metrics, Marsh wildlife, Restoration planning, Riparian wildlife, Sea level rise, Terrestrial wildlife
    Updated November 17, 2022
  • Title

    Delta Salmon Rearing Project

    Lead San Francisco Estuary Institute [SFEI]
    Description This project summarizes existing research and knowledge around suitable rearing habitat for Chinook salmon in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta;identifies areas of suitability for rearing salmon using a combined suitability analysis of four mapped habitat parameters;and provides recommendations for types of restoration needed to improve or restore rearing habitat, as well as to identify where in the Delta these restoration efforts could be prioritized.
    Science topics Salmon rearing, Salmon migration, Habitat restoration
    Updated April 29, 2022
  • Title

    Sacramento Prediction and Assessment of Salmon [SacPAS]

    Lead U.S. Bureau of Reclamation [USBR]
    Description CVPAS for Central Valley Prediction and Assessment of Salmon, extends and improves the SacPAS real-time web database and fish forecasting tools to other river systems in the Central Valley. The goal is to integrate environmental/fish data, fish passage/survival models and output from water quality models into a web-accessible analysis and visualization system. The website provides support for regional integration and public access to Reclamation and ESA-mandated activities.
    Science topics None specified
    Updated November 18, 2022
  • Title

    White Sturgeon Telemetry Synthesis

    Lead Cramer Fish Sciences
    Description Acoustic telemetry studies are expensive and logistically demanding. A new study to tag and monitor 315 White Sturgeon would require a massive field effort by a large team, but by pooling and leveraging existing datasets, this sample size and analysis will be achieved at a fraction of the cost and effort. In recognition of the efficiencies gained by this approach, the Delta Stewardship Council’s Science Program lists the synthesis and analysis of existing telemetry datasets in Science Action Area (SAA) 2. This project directly addresses SAA 2 by capitalizing on existing White Sturgeon telemetry data through the synthesis of three existing large telemetry dataset to understand system-wide White Sturgeon movements. This contract will synthesize existing long-term acoustic telemetry datasets in order to address high priority research questions for the management of White Sturgeon in the San Francisco Estuary system. These questions include: 1. What is the periodicity of spawning migrations by tagged White Sturgeon, and how do these estimates compare to those from previous, single-basin studies? 2. What is the scope and variability of inter-basin movements exhibited by tagged adult White Sturgeon across years? 3. Is there individual fidelity to specific migration routes or sites within each river basin? 4. Do White Sturgeon migrating through the Yolo Bypass experience delays in reaching spawning grounds relative to fish using the mainstem Sacramento River or San Joaquin River routes? 5. Is the onset of upstream migration movement by individuals associated with a characteristic flow rate or event? This contract will serve as a model for future telemetry synthesis studies by adhering to best practices in scientific computing for reproducible, transparent research, and by making all parts of the data and analysis accessible to the broader Delta research community.
    Science topics Environmental drivers, Fish, Flows, White Sturgeon
    Updated February 1, 2024
  • Title

    Perceptions of risk and management of the Delta levee system

    Lead University of California - Santa Cruz [UCSC]
    Description This study of the perceptions of flood risk and management of the levee system in a deltaic region of California illuminates the social, cultural, and psychological complexities of risk assessment. In order to better understand risk tolerance, we included stakeholders from the following groups: agriculture, engineering, boating and recreation industry, local reclamation districts, conservation organizations, water exporters, county government, and state agencies. Methods employed are qualitative and quantitative and include interviews and media analysis. For decades the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has been ripe with political controversies stemming from conflicting interests for its natural resources. The results of this study reveal distinct views on the sustainability of the Delta’s levees, the resilience of local communities, and who is accountable for present conditions. The findings of this study also elucidate nuances in the conversations on the viability of mitigation and adaptation as conditions in the Delta change. We conducted this study in two parts. First, we used the Q methodology and found five distinct views that shape stakeholders’ perceptions of risk of flooding from levee failure: fatalistic, skeptical, free market, bio-centric, and human ingenuity. Second, we collected over 500 newspaper articles from 1986 to 2017 to analyze the framing of issue of flooding in the Delta. As opposed to our study with diverse stakeholders, our media analysis show that the issue of flood risk has been framed in the media mostly along the binary lines of unpreventable catastrophe and control through emergency management.
    Science topics Levees
    Updated January 23, 2024