Watershed Adaptive Management

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Watershed Adaptive Management

• Fraser Shilling
• Department of Environmental Science Policy
• University of California, Davis
• fmshilling_at_ucdavis.edu

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Watershed Adaptive Management

• Watershed assessment
• Scoping and question formulation
• Basic description
• Watershed management
• What can we influence
• Conceptual modeling
• Policy intersection
• Policies, actions, actors

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(No Transcript)
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California Watershed Assessment Manual
http//cwam.ucdavis.edu
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What is Watershed Assessment?
"The biology lives in the hydrology, and the
hydrology flows over the geology." (Mattole River
Estuary - Dynamics of Recovery, 1995, by the
Mattole Restoration Council)
Assessment is used to mean the analysis of
watershed information to draw conclusions
concerning the conditions in the watershed.
(Nehalem River Watershed Assessment, 1999,
Portland State University)
A watershed assessment is a science-based
process for analyzing a watershed's current
condition and the likely causes of these
conditions.
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CWAM Structure
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Watershed Adaptive Management

• Watershed assessment
• Scoping and question formulation
• Basic description
• Watershed management
• What can we influence
• Conceptual modeling
• Policy intersection
• Policies, actions, actors

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Formulate the Question(s)

• Are you interested in overall watershed condition
  and drivers?
• Are you interested in a particular stressing
  activity or process?
• Are you interested in a specific place(s) in the
  watershed?
• What timeframe are you interested in?

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Things flow downhill/stream and assessing the
whole watershed is relevant for making land-use,
water quality, and water supply decisions
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What is flowing downhill/ downstream?
Pesticides, Metals, Nutrients, Sediment, Flows,
Invasive species
Habitat Quality, Species presence, Flooding,
Permit compliance, Aesthetics
Pesticides, Metals, Nutrients, Sediment, Flows,
Organic carbon, Invasive species
Habitat Quality, Species presence, Flooding,
Permit compliance, Aesthetics
Habitat Quality, Species presence, Beach
pollution, Aesthetics, Flooding,
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Watershed Adaptive Management

• Watershed assessment
• Scoping and question formulation
• Basic description
• Watershed management
• What can we influence
• Conceptual modeling
• Policy intersection
• Policies, actions, actors

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Influence diagrams and conceptual models
Boxes indicate concepts and arrows indicate
influence or connection. The boxes can be
attributes or processes, the arrows can be
hypotheses, or based on knowledge of the system
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Ecosystem Attribute Conceptual Model
General
Reid and Zeimer
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Ecosystem Restoration Conceptual Model
Focused
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Ecosystem Restoration Conceptual Model
Action-Specific
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Ecosystem Attribute Conceptual Model
Policy nexus
Reid and Zeimer
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Ecosystem Attribute Conceptual Model
Endangered Species Act, SWRCB permits, THPs,
CEQA, ACE 404
Policy nexus
Endangered Species Act, FERC re-licensing, SWRCB
permits, ACE 404
Endangered Species Act, Fisheries statutes, Intl
treaties
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Now we are going to draw a conceptual model
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Contact
Fraser Shilling Department of Environmental
Science and Policy University of California,
Davis 95616 530-752-7859 fmshilling_at_ucdavis.edu h
ttp//cwam.ucdavis.edu
Big Sur Coast, Pracheta Kokate (Grade
11) (courtesy California Coastal Commission,
2005, Coastal Art Poetry Contest)