Delta Landscapes
Photo: "View of Island Land Before Reclamation" (Yardley Collection, courtesy of The Haggin Museum)
The purpose of this project is to develop a set of tools facilitating landscape-scale restoration of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ecosystem. The project will use the historical perspective of the Delta as a basis to identify landscape scale patterns and characteristics that provided ecological functions (based on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Historical Ecology Investigation). The historical perspective will be compared to the present-day Delta to identify opportunities to restore ecological functions, not by replicating the historical Delta, but by recreating viable habitat mosaics with the vision of how they connect at the landscape scale. Conceptual models will be developed to help practitioners identify these landscape level opportunities along with assisting with the development of appropriate metrics to assess individual projects.
The project has four major components:
- Analyzing historical and contemporary Delta landscape spatial habitat patterns
- Comparing past and present ecological function within the Delta
- Developing landscape-scale conceptual models, restoration principles, and target metrics
- Visualizations and public participation
Principal Investigators
Robin Grossinger
Letitia Grenier
Landscape Interpretation Team
The project draws upon a strong multidisciplinary team including:
Stephanie Carlson (UC Berkeley)
Jim Cloern (U.S. Geological Survey)
Brian Collins (University of Washington)
Chris Enright (Delta Science Program)
Joseph Fleskes (U.S. Geological Survey)
Geoffrey Geupel (PRBO Conservation Science)
Todd Keeler-Wolf (California Department of Fish and Game)
William Lidicker (UC Berkeley)
Steve Lindley (NMFS)
Jeff Mount (UC Davis)
Peter Moyle (UC Davis)
Eric Sanderson (Wildlife Conservation Society)
Anke Mueller-Solger (Bay-Delta Interagency Ecological Program and Delta Science Program)
Dave Zezulak (California Department of Fish and Game)
Project Status
This project is scheduled for completion in 2015
Final products will include an interactive website with landscape visualizations, technical memos, and peer-reviewed publication.
