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photo: Mountain Meadows Wetlands

Sierra Nevada

Most of California’s water and much of its energy supply originates with the rain and snow that fall in the Sierra Nevada. Changing climate patterns, fire and human activities are putting increasing pressure on this critical ecosystem. Watershed Center scientists are studying ways for people, plants and animals to better share and conserve the resources of California’s upper watersheds. Visit hydra.ucdavis.edu for a more extensive collection of projects, data, and methods centering on the use of hydroinformatics, riverscape ecology, and watershed science to improve decision making and management of California's Sierra Nevada watersheds.

 

Mountain Meadow Wetlands Project

Mountain meadow wetlands provide disproportionally important ecological services as compared to the area they cover in the Sierra Nevada by providing wetland-associated biodiversity, attenuating floods, and by contributing to downstream water quality and flow. However, degradation and loss of hydrologic function are widespread in Sierran meadows due to past and continuing anthropogenic effects including grazing management, diversions, roads and culverts, as well as non-native species. Meadow restorations have become increasingly common; however, monitoring for success and sharing results still lags. State and federal agencies have begun to survey the condition of mountain meadows in the Sierra, but historically these efforts have not been integrated or analyzed in such a way as to identify restoration or protection priorities. In recent years, there has been a concentrated effort on the part of many organizations and individuals to form collaborative partnerships in the interests of meadow science and restoration which is represented by several of the reports below.

The reports below include efforts to: 1) determine the condition of meadow systems throughout the Sierra Nevada; 2) analyze potential causal relationships between land and water use and meadow condition; 3) develop aquatic monitoring protocols appropriate to Sierran meadows, based on fish, aquatic invertebrates, amphibians, vegetation, and hydrology; 4) examine the effects of meadow restorations on fisheries resources; and 5) develop tools to aid in planning and executing successful meadow restorations.

Collaborators/Funders include: The National Fish and Wildlife foundation, the Natural Heritage Institute, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the California Department of Fish and Game, the US Forest Service, California Trout, Trout Unlimited, University of Nevada, Reno, the Resource Legacy Fund, and many more.

Publications

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Hydropower Relicensing Project

Hydropower generation activities from powerhouses and dams on the streams of the Sierra Nevada have an enormous impact on Sierran aquatic ecosystems. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is responsible for periodically relicensing hydropower facilities; and the relicensing process provides the only formal opportunity to mitigate negative impacts through new license conditions and settlement agreements.

With support from the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation's Preserving Wild California initiative, the Watershed Center has assembled a multidisciplinary team of experts to explore the development of new approaches to FERC relicensing. The project is: examining legal and institutional barriers to change; exploring the possibilities of a more coordinated regional approach to relicensing; and seeking to forecast climate change impacts on the hydrology and ecology of the Sierran bioregion. The goal of the project is to develop the technical tools to allow licensees, stakeholder groups, regulators and others to evaluate or promote alternative strategies or efficiencies in relicensing.

Publications

 

Pulsed Flow Effects on Foothill Yellow-legged Frog

Over the last half century, the Foothill Yellow-legged Frog (R. boylii) has declined dramatically, especially in Southern California and the southern Sierra Nevada mountains. Dams and reservoirs have been cited as likely factors in this decline because they drastically alter the flow regime and sediment budget of rivers in which this species has evolved, resulting in permanent alteration to in-stream habitats. The ensuing impact on R. boylii status has been a focus of study over the last decade, but many knowledge gaps remain. Perhaps one of the largest gaps in understanding the effects of dams is determining the role of large aseasonal fluctuations in water discharge, referred to as pulsed flows, in R. boylii decline. In this study conducted jointly with the U.S. Forest Service Sierra Nevada Research Center, pulsed flow effects on R. boylii are examined by combining: (1) analyses of existing empirical data; (2) laboratory and field experiments that quantify the physical tolerances and behavioral responses of tadpoles to changes in velocity; and (3) development of a 2-dimensional (2D) hydrodynamic modeling approach that evaluates the effects of pulsed flows on breeding and rearing habitat.

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Friday July 29, 2011