Science

Scientific Research and Monitoring

Research and Monitoring Strategies

  • Partner with the UC Davis Watershed Center and other science stakeholders to begin full scale  monitoring and assessment of existing conditions
  • Evaluate and address critical uncertainties in watershed, riverine, riparian, floodplain restoration and conservation efforts.
  • Partner with the Fall River Resource Conservation District to prioritize restoration projects and sources of potential funding

Research and Monitoring Objectives

  1. Determine baseline conditions
  2. Identify conservation targets
  3. Prioritize stressors and threats to conservation targets
  4. Develop metric indicators for measuring success of future conservation actions
  5. Make management recommendations for future restoration projects

Background

FRC recently established a  partnership with the UCD Center for Watershed Sciences to  help facilitate objective, credible, and useful science throughout the valley.   The Center for Watershed Sciences, a unit of the John Muir Institute of the Environment, is dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of critical issues in watershed science — with a focus on the sustainable and cost-effective restoration and management of stream, lake and estuarine ecosystems.

Watershed Science Center Approach

  • The Center for Watershed Sciences conducts problem-solving research in restoration and water resource management, principally within the Central Valley, Sierra Nevada, Coast Range and San Francisco Estuary of California.
  • The center seeks to evaluate and address critical uncertainties in watershed, riverine, riparian, floodplain and tidal marsh restoration and conservation efforts.
  • Center projects typically involve teams of researchers drawn from both the physical and biological sciences that work in partnership with public and private agencies.
  • The center seeks to produce notable peer-reviewed contributions to the literature in the environmental sciences and apply this knowledge to solving practical problems related to watershed management.