The Sonoma Ecology Center offers science-based technical capabilities in the areas of fish and aquatic ecology, water quality, riparian and botanic ecology, wildlife, and geomorphology. Our research interfaces with our larger restoration projects and GIS modeling and data management applications.

Capabilities

• Provide watershed planning in the context of land-use and climate change impacts
• Offer geomorphic processes and sediment modeling (landslides, production, delivery)
• Conduct wetland delineation, mitigation design and monitoring
• Conduct fish and species surveys including assessment of salmonid spawning and rearing habitat, evaluation of fine sediment effects on microinvertebrate populations, and study of effects of morphological change on riparian vegetation
• Provide stream flow and sediment entrainment and transport monitoring
• Provide strategic planning and designs for dam removal, creek and river restoration, land use change impact
• Conduct baseline and post-project monitoring and evaluation
• Provide rare plant and invasive plant surveys, monitoring, and planning
• Conduct construction monitoring (per federal and state regulations)
• Conduct sampling and analysis of water quality including testing for aquatic herbicides, point source pollution, sediment and biota
• Provide total maximum daily load (TMDL) assessments for sediment, nutrients, and temperature
• Conduct water temperature and water quality modeling and assessment
• Evaluate special-status species habitat distribution and focal species analysis

Projects

Watershed Health Scorecard

A watershed health scorecard tells us how well we are managing our resources and protecting land and wildlife. Here you will find scorecards for Sonoma and Napa watersheds describing the status and trends of our water resources.

(More research projects to come!)