Overcast waterlogged fields

Watershed scientists prescribe stress relief for Delta

Scientists and interest groups involved with the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta generally agree on the actions needed to improve conditions for native fish, but most parties would prefer if someone else bore the financial burden of making the fixes. That's the general finding from confidential surveys conducted last year by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California and discussed in a new institute report released April 29, 2013.

 The report, Stress Relief: Prescriptions for a Healthier Delta Ecosystem, calls for more provide consistent planning, more integrated and accountable management and more comprehensive regulatory oversight. The authors also recommend the creation of a Delta science joint powers authority that would pool resources, share data, foster broad consensus on scientific results and link science to management decisions.

 Six of the report's authors are affiliated with the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences: John Durand, a doctoral candidate in ecology; William Fleenor, research engineer; Jay Lund, the Center's director; Josué Medellín-Azuara, a research scientist; Jeffrey Mount, professor emeritus in geology; and Peter Moyle, a fish biology professor.

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