About the UCD Center for Watershed Sciences
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.
New Knowledge for a New Era
The next great advances in water resource management will occur at the intersection between disciplines. Single-species or single-issue approaches have failed to resolve water resource challenges, particularly within California and the western United States. The center was created to address the demand for more creative, integrated, and multi-objective approaches to watershed science and policy. Along with developing novel monitoring and research programs, the center is training a new generation of scientists, engineers and managers who can work across multiple disciplines.
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.