Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
Development of a Scientific Framework and Integrated Information Management System for the Trinity River
Trinity River Restoration Program
Legislated restoration of California's Trinity River through the Trinity River Restoration Program (TRRP) includes direct in-channel actions and watershed rehabilitation activities, as well as more variable flow releases to build gravel/cobble bars, scour sand from fish spawning areas, provide adequate temperature/habitat conditions for fish and wildlife, and control riparian vegetation encroachment. ESSA has been retained to help the TRRP develop a rigorous adaptive assessment and management (AEAM) approach to monitor and improve the effectiveness of these restoration activities.
ESSA's role has been to bring together scientists and water/resource managers in the Trinity basin to determine the current state of scientific understanding of the river system and its component biota. Through a series of workshops, ESSA has helped build conceptual models that illustrate how diverse components of the system function and provide the foundation for hypotheses about how the system will respond to management actions. ESSA is assisting with the development of an overall Trinity River Monitoring Strategy centred on quantitative performance measures that include nested multi-scale designs to allow regional, site specific and agency specific issues to be addressed. ESSA is also leading the design and development of a TRRP Integrated Information Management System (IIMS) in coordination with the science framework conceptual models and monitoring plans. The IIMS will bring together frequently used datasets and support their analysis as a means to inform TRRP management decisions.
All these elements are being incorporated into an AEAM-based monitoring program to assure that funded restoration projects for the Trinity River collect data that will increase knowledge, reduce uncertainties, and incorporate adaptive management into all planning, design, implementation and monitoring phases of the TRRP.