With California's drought rapidly changing the outlook for natural resources, decision-makers must be equipped with information and tools that facilitate clear and rapid decisions. The proposed grant would fund the standardization, visualization, and sharing of Level 3 data. The Delta Conservancy will work through federal and state agency partners as well as the Delta Restoration Network to (a) collect high-priority datasets with strategic value for the region, (b) visualize those datasets geospatially, (c) share those datasets via web services, and (d) implement the best available measures of planning effectiveness, including landscape-scale habitat metrics, provided by an existing project funded by CDFW, that can be used to plan restoration and mitigation projects. By integrating the resources into EcoAtlas, the Delta Conservancy will meet these goals.


EcoAtlas is a tool for visualizing the condition and extent of California's aquatic resources. It has been created under the auspices of the California Wetland Monitoring Workgroup (CWMW) of the California Water Quality Monitoring Council (Council), and supported with funding from EPA Region 9. EcoAtlas is currently incorporated into selected Regional Water Boards to support water quality control planning. It contains a wealth of map-based information (Level 1) and rapid assessment data (Level 2). However, efforts to-date to incorporate site-specific quantitative data (Level 3) have been more limited.Coupling the Level 1 landscape metrics with the Level 3 intensive data will close a critical gap for policy-makers and resource managers whose decisions must rely on a weight-of-evidence approach to meaningful aggregations of the best available information.

 

The following workgroup members help guide and prioritize the work performed under this project:

  • Shakoora Azimi-Gaylon, Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservanc
  • Megan Brooks, Delta Stewardship Council
  • Lita Brydie, Delta Stewardship Council
  • Cristina Grosso, San Francisco Estuary Institute/Aquatic Science Center
  • Tony Hale, San Francisco Estuary Institute/Aquatic Science Center
  • Joanna Jensen, State Water Resource Control Board
  • Paul Jones, US Environmental Protection Agency
  • John Kleinfelter, CDFW-Habitat Conservation Planning Branch
  • Martina Koller, Delta Stewardship Council
  • Kathryn Kynett, Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy
  • Shin-Roei Lee, State Water Resource Control Board
  • Paul Levy, Delta Stewardship Council
  • Bill Orme, State Water Resource Control Board
  • Ruth Ostroff, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Central Valley Joint Venture
  • Seth Paine, California Department of Fish and Wildlife
  • John Ryan, Delta Stewardship Council
  • Steven Slater, California Department of Fish & Wildlife, Interagency Ecological Program
  • Greg Yarris, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Central Valley Joint Venture
Dates: 
2014 to 2017
Programs and Focus Areas: 
Environmental Informatics Program
Software Engineering
Data Services
Geographic Information Systems
Wetland Monitoring & Assessment
Location Information
General Project Location(s): 
California