International Approaches to Freshwater Management By Nicholas Pinter and Sarah Yarnell In late June and July of this year, UC Davis convened an Advanced Studies Institute (ASI) on “International Approaches to Freshwater Management,” bringing 11 top graduate students from across the US to study…

The Texas Flood Tragedy was Predictable, but was it Preventable? By Kathleen Schaefer Photograph: Brandon Bell/Getty Images In the wake of recent tragic events, such as the devastating floods in Texas, it's become clear that our current approach to flood management and disaster preparedness is…

California’s Amazing Terminal Lakes By Peter B. Moyle Figure 1. Eagle Lake, Lassen Co. * This is a re-post of a blog originally published 11/26/2023. When Californians talk of lakes, they usually mean reservoirs, the 1500 or so artificial bodies of water behind dams. Alternately, they may be…

Being the Lorax By Andrew L. Rypel “Way back in the days when the grass was still green and the pond was still wet and the clouds were still clean, and the song of the Swomee-Swans rang out in space...one morning, I came to this glorious place. And I first saw the trees! The Truffula Trees! The…

“Anyone out hiking in confined, rugged topography needs to be aware that we have this risk of flash flooding in California, kind of similar to Texas,” @ucdaviswater.bsky.social expert Nicholas Pinter says. Learn more from the experts. via @kqednews.kqed.org www.kqed.org/science/1997...

Change at the Center for Watershed Sciences By Karrigan Börk Readers of the California Water Blog (Blog) may have noticed some changes over the past year. The Blog is a product of the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences (CWS), and after many years of dedicated service, longtime CWS leaders Dr.…

Sites – The Permitting Process By Christopher Mouawad This blog provides a glimpse into the complexity of permitting for large water projects like Sites. California water law is as intricate and varied as the systems it governs. What begins as a seemingly simple doctrine, such as “first in time,…

Announcing the 7th International Symposium on River Science The International Society for River Science (ISRS) will hold the 7th International Symposium on River Science at the University of California, Davis on October 6-9, 2025. We invite you to attend! The first river symposium was held in 1979…

Where are they now: Caroline Newell “Where are they now:” is a blog series on the California WaterBlog, written by our alumni. The series will celebrate the many alumni who got their start at the Center for Watershed Sciences (CWS) and have now gone on to bigger and better things. Blog posts from…

Where are they now: Anna Sturrock Registration is now open for the 7th International Symposium on River Science, held in Davis, California from Oct 6-9, 2025! Early Bird Registration will remain open until 15 August 2025. “Where are they now:” is a new blog series on the California WaterBlog,…

Registration is now open for the 7th International Symposium on River Science, held in Davis, California from Oct 6-9, 2025! Early Bird Registration will remain open until 15 August 2025. watershed.ucdavis.edu/news/7th-int...

Bargaining for Tribal Water in California By Leslie Sanchez and Eric C. Edwards Stark power disparities between Native American tribes (tribes) and nontribal entities in California have shaped tribes’ legal standing to assert water rights claims, bargaining power in resolving claims, and the…

Microplastic Pollution: Impact on the SF Bay Delta and Remediation Strategies "Microplastic Pollution: Impact on the SF Bay Delta and Remediation Strategies" Symposium with Delta Stewardship Council and Coastal Marine Sciences Institute By Miranda Bell-Tilcock In May, I had the privilege of…

AI explanations of California water management By ChatGPT prompted by Jay Lund I was playing with ChatGPT and had some fun and insightful replies.  (I’d interpret these insights, but I am no Professor of Literature, and it would probably get me into trouble.  Please add your interpretations below…

Where are they now: Mollie Ogaz “Where are they now:” is the first in a new blog series on the California WaterBlog, written in the voices of our alumni. The series will celebrate the many alumni who got their start at the Center for Watershed Sciences (CWS) and have now gone on to bigger and…

Build it, and they will come: Early evidence for establishment of Chinook salmon in Putah Creek, CA By Lauren G. Hitt, Malte Willmes, Mackenzie C. Miner, Max Stevenson, Carson A. Jeffres, Robert A. Lusardi, Nann A. Fangue, and Andrew L. Rypel Figure 1. Putah Creek during salmon spawning season in…

Bull Trout and Other Endemic Fishes: McCloud River  By Peter B. Moyle McCloud River near mouth on Shasta Reservoir. / PC Peter B. Moyle There are about 130 fish species (as defined by the federal Endangered Species Act) native to the fresh waters of California. Most (80%) are arguably on…

Data for Lunch: Join us on June 17, 12-1:30pm PT for "Developing Drought Early Warning Systems in California", a virtual seminar by @UCDavisWater Associate Director, Dr. Alvar Escriva-Bou, hosted by the California Water Data Consortium!💧 Register: watershed.ucdavis.edu/news/virtual...

Remembering Professor Harrison (“Hap”) Dunning UC Davis Professor of Law Emeritus Harrison (“Hap”) Dunning based away at the end of March 2025 at the age of 86. You can read the details of his life in the Davis Enterprise Obituary, including the story of his extensive work in the Civil Rights…

Are spring-fed rivers key to long-term persistence of salmon and trout in California? By Nicholas Corline, Emilio Grande, Ate Visser, Jean Moran, Jory Lerback, Tyanna Blaschak, Damon Goodman, Jake Harm, Lauren Tolley-Mann, Dylan O’Ryan, Valerie Muenker, Rollie Nearhood, Amber Lukk, Sarah Howe, and…

The Seven Circles of Jargon Hell By Jay Lund The circles of jargon hell move from “lazy and less effective communication of ideas” to a general audience, to a narrower already-expert audience, to a substitute for substantive communication, to intentionally harmful and pretentious obfuscation, all…

Managed Aquifer Recharge on Agriculture Lands: Infiltration Basins, Flood-MAR and Regional Variability By Sarah Sarfaty Epstein Groundwater has long been the unseen lifeblood of irrigators across the state, and some are now taking an active role in replenishing it. When and where surface water has…

How redefining just one word could strip the Endangered Species Act’s ability to protect vital habitat This blog is a cross-post from one featured on The Conversation on May 13, 2025. By Mariah Meek & Karrigan Börk It wouldn’t make much sense to prohibit people from shooting a threatened…

The International Society for River Science (ISRS) will be holding the 7th International Symposium on River Science at the UC Davis from October 6-10, 2025 hosted by the Center for Watershed Sciences! Abstracts are due Friday May 16. Learn more: watershed.ucdavis.edu/news/7th-int...

Trade-offs in California Water Discussions By Jay Lund In policy and management, we should always be interested in performance, both overall effectiveness and efficiency of solutions, as well as trade-offs across objectives. These are often depicted on plots of Pareto-optimality, showing the…

The Power of Mimics in Aquatic Management and Beyond By Brandi Goss, Marissa L. Baskett, and Robert A. Lusardi Humans might be the ultimate ecosystem engineers in the sense that we constantly modify ecosystems and change the processes which drive them. In some cases, this can harm biodiversity by…

Join us this Thursday to hear from Carson Jeffres, CWS professional researcher, give a public seminar and answer questions on "What's Happening with California's Rivers, Dams and Fish"! Register here: watershed.ucdavis.edu/news/cws-pub...

Wet Season’s end for Water Year 2025 By Jay Lund California’s Water Year runs from October 1 of the previous calendar year through September 30. California’s “wet” season is traditionally October 1 – April 1. The rest of the year (and often parts of the “wet” season) is usually dry. We can get…

Newly Listed Smelt in the Delta By Karrigan Börk, John Durand, Nann Fangue, and Levi Lewis Illustration of Longfin Smelt life stages. Artwork by Adi Khen, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD Late last summer, on August 29th, 2024, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service listed the San…

Data for Lunch: When Rivers Run Hot 🔥 Join us on Wednesday, April 23, 12-1:30pm PT for "When Rivers Run Hot", a virtual seminar by @ucdaviswater.bsky.social Senior Researcher, Jon Walter, hosted by @cawaterdata.bsky.social! 💧 Register: eventbrite.com/e/data-for-l... #ClimateResilience #CAWater

UC Davis Give Day! Seeking Support for our Graduate Students Students sampling the Tuolumne River as part of an Ecogeomorphology trip. Kyle Phillips holds up Mississippi Silversides. Credit: Lynette Williams Duman, UC Davis CWS. California WaterBlog is a long-running outreach project from the UC…

Meet UC Davis' new wild salmon run! Confirmed in study. "The fact that you have Putah Creek-origin fish is a big deal. It means... there’s a future for fish in that place" and provides hope for restored streams. @andrewrypel.bsky.social @ucdaviswater.bsky.social. www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news...

"There's so much local love for these fish," said lead author Lauren Hitt. "If not for local community engaged and supporting local streams, I don’t think we’d have salmon in Putah Creek today ... This is just so special.” 🐟 💙 @ucdaviswater.bsky.social www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news...

Maybe it’s just ‘cause I’m a steelhead-loving Scorpio, but this is my favorite April Fool’s joke so far this year. @eyeballmir.bsky.social, please pass along my thanks to CP!!

A Conservation Footprint for Multiple Species of Wildlife in California Rice By John M. Eadie, Daniel S. Karp, and Andrew L. Rypel Picture a farm. Only one crop type is grown over a vast field stretching to the horizon. Signs of modern agriculture are everywhere— tractors slowly driving by, fields…

Scientists find connections between California fishes and astrology  By Abby Deen  Move over, Pisces, because you’re no longer the only astrological sign connected to fishes! Recent studies by fish ecologists have found links between the native and non-native fishes of California and astrological…

Overlooked choices shape research outcomes: what do “researcher degrees of freedom” mean for how science informs policy? By Jonathan A. Walter, UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences Research results can depend not only on the data itself, but on how they are analyzed.1 This is importantly…

Glasses at 50% in California Engineering a water glass at 50 percent. Source: xkcd.com by Jay Lund How do California’s engineers see a partially-full water glass?  Mostly the same as they did in the original 2012 version of this post, but we’ve added a few more perspectives over the years.…

How Three (Fairly) Wet Winters Could Help California’s Salmon By Sarah Bardeen This piece originally appeared on the PPIC Blog, here. California has just experienced its third reasonably wet winter in as many years. How unusual is this? And how might three such winters in a row affect salmon? We…

@ppicwater.bsky.social and @ucdaviswater.bsky.social discuss what the past three "verywet-to-onlywettish" winters have meant for California's rivers and (particularly) salmon, how its played out, and where we stand now. www.ppic.org/blog/how-thr...

We’re Expanding! Follow the Center and WaterBlog on More Platforms Great news! The Center for Watershed Sciences has expanded its social media presence, giving you more ways to stay connected and engaged with California WaterBlogs and our other new content.  Take a look at all the places you can…

Putah Creek really is one of the greatest env'tl comeback stories I've been a part of. And as Ethan's new paper in Ecological Applications shows (summarized in blog 👇) - the proof is in the pudding/data. And with new models, we can learn how to make env'tl flows/mgmt even better still.

Functional Flows are Good for California’s Native Fishes By Sarah Yarnell, Ethan Baruch, Andrew Rypel, and Rob Lusardi As California grapples with ongoing water management challenges, the question of “how much water to leave in streams” to support native fishes and aquatic species often arises.…