Napa Watershed Profile - Goals and Objectives
Photo courtesy of Mike Napolitano
Regional Water Board
This project, funded through a Proposition 40 Agricultural Water Quality Program Grant awarded by the State Water Resources Control Board is designed to develop a geographic framework for solving agricultural management challenges related to the 303(d) listing of sediment. The project will use a watershed-based approach to meet the following goals:
- Fill information gaps that currently prevent evaluation of alternative restoration and management alternatives required for removal of the Napa River from the 303(d) list of waters impaired by sediment
- Utilize existing partnerships in the Napa River watershed to promote technical transfer and monitoring guidance to landowners in prioritized reaches of the Napa River and major tributaries and to assist in the preparation of implementation plans.
Project objectives:
- Compare and contrast the historical and current aquatic habitat mosaics of the Napa River ecosystem, with a focus on the Napa River and its tributaries within the Napa Valley;
- Identify how land use changes have contributed to current undesirable conditions in the ecosystem;
- Describe relationship between agricultural land use practices and the major attributes of a highly functioning, healthy river ecosystem;
- Identify management approaches or practices that could help improve the health of the river ecosystem;
- Increase understanding within the agricultural community of the Napa River Watershed about the relationships between past and present agricultural practices and river health;
- Expand regular forums for transferring information from this project to the local agricultural community.
