Delta Salmon Rearing
The objective of this project is to summarize existing research and knowledge around suitable rearing habitat for Chinook salmon in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta; identify areas of suitability for rearing salmon using a combined suitability analysis of four mapped habitat parameters; and to provide recommendations for types of restoration needed to improve or restore rearing habitat, as well as to identify where in the Delta these restoration efforts could be prioritized.
We reviewed the scientific literature and studies from the Delta and other similar estuarine systems, collected input from our technical advisor committee, and facilitated a workshop in May of 2019 to get feedback on suitability mapping and identify additional site-specific knowledge about habitat suitability in the Delta. We created a combined habitat suitability map which weights existing rearing habitat in the Delta based on four mapped parameters: water depth, water temperature, wetland proximity, and weighted wetland edge.
The results from this report can be used to inform restoration decisions in the Delta and also provides a first step towards more accurately identifying suitable habitat for Chinook salmon and other species at the landscape scale using spatial data. Spatial analyses developed for this report are available here.
Dates:
2020
Associated Staff:
Bruce DiGennaro
Associated Data:
Programs and Focus Areas:
Resilient Landscapes Program
Delta Science & Management
Related Projects, News, and Events:
"A Delta Renewed" report released at the 2016 Bay-Delta Science Conference (News)
The San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) released A Delta Renewed – A Guide to Science-Based Ecological Restoration in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Delta Landscapes Project (Project)
The Delta Landscapes Project, which began in 2012 and will run through 2016, has developed a body of work to inform landscape-scale restoration of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ecosystem.
"A Delta Transformed" report released at the 2014 Bay-Delta Science Conference (News)
The newly published A Delta Transformed: Ecological Functions, Spatial Metrics, and Landscape Change in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta provides the first analysis of landscape ecology metrics in the pre-disturbance and contemporary Delta to help define, design, and evaluate functional, resilient landscapes for the future.
Salmon Habitat Quantification Development (Project)
The Chinook salmon habitat quantification tool is a science-based approach for use by restoration planners to evaluate existing or potential habitat across spatially- and temporally-variable floodplain inundation conditions in the process of planning, designing, and implementing restoration and management activities.