projects.csv

ID,NAME,AUTHOR,DATE,TEXT,TAGS,LOCATION
tesver,TESVER: Taimen eDNA Expedition for Sensing Vulnerability and Ecosystem Resilience,josh-viers,26-Jun,"TESVER is a field campaign to Mongolia's Eg-Uur watershed, one of the last intact cold-water river systems on Earth and a global stronghold for taimen (<i>Hucho taimen</i>), the ""river wolf"" and apex indicator of watershed integrity. The expedition pairs environmental DNA, aquatic food-web sampling, and satellite-based geospatial modeling to map the conditions that sustain the river and its fishery, building on 15 years of longitudinal taimen research. Led by UC Merced and the University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe. <a href=/tesver>Learn more &rarr;</a>",eDNA;biodiversity;remote-sensing;conservation;climate-change,mongolia
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usda-secure-water-future,USDA NIFA SAS funds Secure Water Future,josh-viers,15-Apr,"The USDA NIFA Sustainable Agricultural Systems program has funded Secure Water Future to explore innovation in measurement, management, and markets to build a climate resilience water future. Learn more at <a href=https://securewaterfuture.net/>SecureWaterFuture.net</a>",measurement;management;markets;climate-change;research,western-us
strategic-land-retirement,Strategic Land Retirement for Sustainable Water Resources in California,vicky-espinoza,19-Aug,"It has been projected that to meet groundwater sustainable target as per the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), more than 10% of agricultural land will need to go out of production. It is difficult to determine where this land should be taken out of production. The objective of this project is to create a vision for 1) where to take large blocks of irrigated land out of production to sustain surface and ground water resources and 2) what alternative land uses will maximize land use while minimizing socioeconomic impacts to already vulnerable communities and farmers in the San Joaquin Valley through the use of geospatial optimization methods.",alternative-land-uses;management;disadvantaged-communities;geospatial-optimization,central-valley
sierrahp,Central Sierra Nevada Hydropower Optimization for Ecosystem Objectives,josh-viers;david-rheinheimer;aditya-sood;gustavo-facincani-dourado;anna-rallings,17-Sep,"California depends on hydropower as a source of flexible energy, however, climate change and new approaches to ecosystem management will put additional constraints on hydropower operations. The project, funded by the California Energy Commission and CERC-WET, aims to understand how these changes will impact energy generation in the Central Sierra Nevada through the use of optimization-simulation modeling in Pywr. The model will allow the team to analyze trade-offs and more realistic operations in the face of a new climate and regulatory environment. ",climate-change; hydropower; environmental-flows,California
cerc-wet,CERC-WET: Sustainable Hydropower Operations,josh-viers;anna-rallings;aditya-sood;vicky-espinoza;elizabeth-clifton,16-Aug,"River systems worldwide have been modified through water management practices resulting in impaired flow regimes critical to supporting hydrogeomorphic processes and ecological functionality of riverscapes. In particular, hydropower operations affect downstream ecosystems through changes in flow patterns, temperature, and sediment transport. A functional flows paradigm emphasizing process-based hydrograph components has emerged as a guide for developing environmental flow frameworks in heavily managed river systems. The objectives of this project are to articulate functional flows for hydropower operations that benefit downstream ecosystems as well as develop thermal regime criteria for select case studies to inform sustainable hydropower operation. This project is part of the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center for Water-Energy Technologies (CERC-WET), whose mission is to build and transfer knowledge, technologies, human capabilities, and relationships that position China and the United States to thrive with constrained energy and water resources in a changing global climate.",environmental-flows;hydropower;hydrology,China
Cosumnes,Cosumnes Research Group,josh-viers;anna-rallings;daniel-gomez;bobby-nakamoto,16-Mar,"The Cosumnes River is the only free-flowing river on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada, and because of its natural flow regime it has become the centerpiece for decades-long research on the benefit of floodplain reconnection for the purposes of ecological restoration and preservation of ecosystem services, such as local groundwater recharge, flood wave attenuation, and temporal spawning habitat for native fishes, such as splittail, and rearing habitat for juvenile anadromous salmonids, such as chinook salmon. Our work in the Cosumnes River Preserve is in cooperation with the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences, The Nature Conservancy, and other partners in the region. Our projects have focused on restorations on the lower Cosumnes floodplain and the McCormack Williamson Tract at the confluence of the Cosumnes and Mokelumne Rivers. ",modeling;habitat-restoration;invasive-species;management;floodplain;riparian,cosumnes-river
avocet,Hydrologic Monitoring and Modeling for Management and Restoration Analysis,anna-fryjoff-hung,15-Nov,"The objective of this project is to better understand the interface of topography and hydrology on the UC Merced Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve. Using a combination of empirical data and model development, our team seeks to better understand how water moves throughout the preserve. By using a combination of modeling (e.g., HEC-RAS) and data collected in a variety of ways -- including but not limited to pressure transducers, time-lapse imagery, aerial LiDAR and imagery, and RTK GPS surveys -- over a large area and long periods of time, we will develop a better understanding of potential management strategies for the preserve and evaluate the feasibility of potential hydrological restoration activities.",modeling;LIDAR;habitat-restoration;vernal-pools,california
nri-usda-rapid,NRI-USDA: RAPID,josh-viers,16-Sep,"Robot-Assisted Precision Irrigation Delivery (RAPID) is a co-robotic approach using a team of humans and robots that move through farms fields, enabling farmers to adjust low-cost drip irrigation emitters at the plant level based on water use data and ground conditions. Deployment of this technology is aimed at increasing irrigation precision and plant yield. The project involves the design, development, and evaluation of a series of prototypes of low-cost, robust, co-robotic systems compatible with existing drip irrigation infrastructure in vineyards and orchards. Field testing will be implemented on vineyards in the Central Valley, Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino Counties of California.",agriculture;management,california
streamdev,StreamDev,lorenzo-booth,18-Oct,Forecasts of surface water availability are improved by ground truth measurements by stream gaging stations. This project aims to improve stream discharge measurements for regions that lack the infrastructure of access to establish a formal gaging station. Water surface elevation (stage) information can be extracted from images of the stream's banks. The objectives of this project seek to establish open-source methods for the automated partitioning of water surface levels from stream images. Target sites were chosen across a range of geomorphologic conditions and measurements will be compared with traditional methods of stream monitoring.,environmental-flows;hydrology,
agriculture-water-footprints,Agricultural water use accounting through water footprints,lorenzo-booth,15-Nov,"Questions regarding California's water security have drawn public attention to the equivalent volume of water required to produce a unit of food crop, such as the often cited gallon of water required to produce an almond, or five gallons to produce a head of broccoli. Similar to the concept of a carbon footprint, this water footprint has emerged as a useful tool for quantifying and comparing the water demand of various goods and activities. A water footprint (WF) is defined as the volume of water consumed to produce a good or render a service, calculated over the entire supply chain of the product. Consumption, refers to any use of water, that renders it unavailable for reuse within the area of interest. Some of the ways that water can be consumed include incorporation into the product or service, or conversion to grey water through inputs of pollution. The WF can be calculated on various spatial scales, from the footprint of an individual, to a collective footprint of the entire world. This project aims to produce an extensible, open-source software tool to calculate water footprints of agricultural activities across variable regions of interest. The tool will incorporate the wealth of environmental data available in California and establish methods that allow for application in novel regions. Informed water management is essential, as increasing pressures are placed on global freshwater supplies, and water footprints are one of many means that can assist with data-driven decision making. This project is in a preliminary stage of development, with California irrigation districts as the initial regions of interest.",modeling;remote-sensing;agriculture;management;water-rights;hydrology,california
al2al3lidar,AL2 / AL3 LiDAR,mike-kalua,13-Jan,"The VICElab team is exploring novel applications of LiDAR in environmental monitoring. Our efforts have included geomorphic evolution of floodplains, ephemeral wetland hydrology in vernal pool ecosystems, and perennial crop growth. We continue to work with Phoenix Aerial Systems to develop public datasets and creative methodology.",GIS;LIDAR,
caljep-geodatabase,CalJep Geodatabase,josh-viers,16-Mar,"At some point in mid-nineties there was a desprate need to spatially reconcile two competing databases of plant diversity in California. Between the CalFlora database using the sub-county designation of Lum and colleagues, and the Jepson demarcation by ecoregions, the CalJep geodatabase was born. It is fully described in Viers et al. 2006. The geodatabase has been used in about 30 different studies (as of 2016), but remains in version 1 status. Changes in taxonomy and distribution should be investigated. Otherwise, the file can be downloaded here: CalJepGeoV1 [240 MB] formatted as ESRI Personal Geodatabase (.mdb).",,california
earthwatch-sierra-sea,Earthwatch: Sierra to Sea,jefferson-laird,15-Jun,"As California faces its fourth straight year in severe drought, we have a critical need to assess the vulnerability of the state's water source in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The scale of the challenge is vast, and requires a broad effort that engages as many stakeholders as possible. In the meadows of the Sierra Nevada mountains, citizen scientists are collecting important research data that will inform the management of these critical habitats, and help build a more resilient California. They also see firsthand how important nature is in providing resources such as drinking water. The program aims to increase the understanding of the impacts of climate change; participants will measure meadow stability, greenhouse gas emission and absorption, and biodiversity value. By working together with local scientists, nonprofits and communities, we will provide local land managers with insights into management and restoration efforts to help protect California's valuable water for both humans and wildlife. Research in meadows is the first phase of the Sierra to Sea program. The program will expand to include more key regions required for a resilient California, such as the riverine habitats of the Central Valley and coastal forests along the Pacific Ocean. http://earthwatch.org/scientific-research/special-initiatives/sierra-to-sea",climate-change;biodiversity;hydrology,sierra-nevada
vernal-pool-landscape-patterns-fragstats,Vernal Pool Landscape Patterns: FRAGSTATS,jenny-ta,14-Nov,"California's vernal pools provide habitat for a suite of rare and endemic species and its continued loss highlights the importance of conservation and mitigation efforts. Due to the unique geologic and hydrologic characteristics required of vernal pool habitat, mitigation projects often result in the creation of new pools in natural vernal pool systems. However, little is known about the impact this alteration in spatial pattern of vernal pools may have on landscape ecology. This study aims to develop a better understanding of the effects of vernal pool creation on the spatial complexity of natural vernal pool systems at the landscape scale using FRAGSTATS, a spatial pattern analysis software. Spatial data collected by remote sensing for six vernal pool sites located in Butte, Placer, Sacramento, and Madera County in the California Central Valley serve as input for a spatial landscape pattern analysis using FRAGSTATS to calculate a suite of metrics to compare natural vernal pool systems with their mitigated states. This work is conducted in collaboration with Vollmar Natural Lands Consulting.",modeling;GIS;biodiversity;vernal-pools,california
securing-environmental-water-mill-creek-flows,Securing Environmental Water: Mill Creek flows,jenny-ta,14-Jun,"Stream flow is critical to sustaining riverine plants and animals, many of which have adapted to historic flow patterns. These species include the foothill yellow-legged frog, whose reproduction is timed with the annual spring snowmelt, and Pacific salmon that migrate up the Sacramento and spawn in the creek. Mill Creek, a tributary of the Sacramento River, hosts one of the highest elevation salmon-spawning habitats in California and is one of the few streams that still support threatened spring-run Chinook salmon. However, the stream routinely goes almost completely dry during irrigation season (June through mid-October) when landowners with senior water rights divert flows to irrigate nut orchards and cattle pasture. This research focused on the development of a spreadsheet model that calculates and identifies environmental-flow shortages based on seasonal diversion demands and water management scenarios, such as water exchanges, water-rights purchases and substituting groundwater for creek water as a useful first step in deciding how to address environmental water shortages in diverted creeks and rivers. This work was conducted at The UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy.",modeling;biodiversity;management;water-rights;hydrology;salmon,california
water-wildlife-refuges-calvin,Water for Wildlife Refuges: CALVIN,karandev-singh,14-Apr,"The historic wetlands of California's Central Valley once supported millions of migratory bird species along the Pacific Flyway. With significant loss of these natural historic wetlands, the managed wetlands of California’s wildlife refuges now support some of the largest concentrations of wintering waterfowl. However, due to rising water costs and competing demand, these refuges have not received their legislatively-mandated deliveries of water as specified in the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) of 1992 and increasing water scarcity further increases uncertainty in future water supply. Through application of the California Value Integrated Network (CALVIN) model, an economic-optimization model of California’s water supply system developed by researchers at the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences, this research aimed to understand potential water supply portfolios of Central Valley’s wildlife refuges in the face of climate change and major water infrastructure developments such as the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP). This work is conducted in collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.",habitat-restoration,central-valley