TOOLS FOR MANAGING HYDROLOGIC ALTERATION ON A REGIONAL SCALE

Partners

The Southern California Coastal Water Research Project and the California State Water Resources Control Board

Key researchers

Bledsoe

Project description

Widespread hydrologic alteration creates a need for tools to assess ecological impacts to streams that can be applied across large geographic scales. A regional framework for biologically based flow management can help catchment managers prioritise streams for protection, evaluate impacts of disturbance or interventions and provide a starting point for causal assessment in degraded streams. However, lack of flow data limit the ability to assess hydrologic conditions across a region.

Project goal

To develop a model that would help assess hydrologic conditions across a region in central coastal CA and assess biological condition. To create a hydrologic index based on flow metrics and apply it.

Project status/outcomes

Complete

Relevant links

More information at the Bledsoe lab page