Cristina Grosso

This project will create an EcoAtlas user community for the Lahontan region of the Sierra Nevada to develop capacities within the region to apply EcoAtlas through existing local, regional, state, and federal programs to track projects and summarize map-based and rapid assessment information at the watershed scale.

The Contaminant Data Display and Download Tool is a public tool for accessing and visualizing contaminant data. All data are comparable to CEDEN, the California Environmental Data Exchange Network.

We are happy to announce the release of some new enhancements to CD3 including:  

This project consists of an effort to enhance EcoAtlas to serve as the shared and primary point of collection for project data, then actively transfer the data to Delta View.

RMP Keys to Success Highlighted in Two Manuscripts

This project expands the current capabilities of the wetland project tracking system for the monitoring and assessment of California’s aquatic resources to meet the project tracking, assessment, and reporting needs for current and planned habitat restoration in the San Francisco Bay-Delta and Central Valley.

Healthy streams, rivers, and lakes provide safe drinking water, recreational opportunities, and important habitat for species ranging from the red-shouldered hawk to steelhead to crayfish and dragonflies. Maintaining healthy streams, rivers, and lakes can reduce the need for water treatment and water supply costs and make landscapes more resilient to climate change.

The Lahontan Water Board (Regional Water Board 6) has formally adopted EcoAtlas and the California Rapid Assessment Method (CRAM). This will enable the Water Board to visually track and assess the extent of project impacts on a watershed basis throughout the region.

Beginning August 1 of this year, 401 Certifications and Waste Discharge Requirements will require applicants to upload project information into EcoAtlas. Applicants will be encouraged to use CRAM in pre- and post- project assessments.

The California Environmental Data Exchange Network (CEDEN) has implemented several new developments and decisions over the last six months that have the potential to impact SFEI's Regional Data Center (RDC) data providers.

Caltrans funded this wetlands research to fill important gaps in knowledge about the ability of the California Rapid Assessment Method (CRAM) to assess small wetlands, wetlands stress, and the rate at which wetland restoration projects develop into mature habitats. Caltrans proposed specific tasks based on the research priorities provided by the CRAM Commitee of the statewide California Wetlands Monitoring Workgroup.

Eelgrass (Zostera marina and Z. pacifica) is recognized as an important ecological resource in nearshore open coast areas, shallow bays, and estuaries throughout coastal California. Access to regional maps and related monitoring reports for eelgrass is crucial to monitor the extent of eelgrass habitat and how it is changing over time, evaluate the effects of coastal development projects on eelgrass habitat, and inform interested stakeholders and the public about eelgrass distribution.

The California Wetlands Portal, one of the State of California’s My Water Quality portals, is the common data management system for the State’s primary wetland protection policies and programs, including the 401 Certification and WDR Programs, the proposed Wetland and Riparian Protection Policy, and the State’s No-Net-Loss Policy.

This tool provides a permit negotiation tool for applicants and Regional Water Board staff to work together on preparing a permit for a 401 Water Quality Certification or Waste Discharge Report for projects impacting waters of the US or California. The application tool will streamline 401 Certification applications, provide access to historical 401 cases, and enable standardized reports on the status and trends of 401 projects and ambient conditions for watersheds, regions, and statewide.

Information and maps for 168 projects from the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board were uploaded to the Project Tracker database. These projects can be viewed on EcoAtlas and the California Wetlands Portal. This project also provided guidance and training to support the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board's participation in the Online 401 Pilot Study.

 The CRAM Bar-Built Estuarine module is used for assessing reaches of coastal rivers and streams that are ecologically influenced by seasonal closures of their tidal inlets. 

CRAM is a cost-effective and scientifically defensible rapid assessment method for monitoring and assessing the ecologcial conditions of wetlands throughout California. It takes less than half a day to assess a wetland area, and is designed evaluate the condition of the wetland based on it's landscape setting, hydrology, physical structure and biological structure.  Because the methodology is standardized for over seven types of wetlands, ecological condition scores can be compared at the local, regional and statewide landscape scales.  

SFEI's Tony Hale helped to lead a collaborative effort to advance California's management of its environmental data and derived information. This white paper is a synthesis of ideas explored during the Data Summit (June 2014) based on initiatives, current programs and the experiences of individuals from State and federal agencies, academia, private and non-governmental entities.

Upload and access data from vegetation surveys of intertidal-upland ecotones

Help us improve CD3 to better meet your visualization and reporting needs by completing a brief survey. We're interested to learn which features you use and to read your suggestions on any desired, new functionality.

Other enhancements in this release include: