Peter Moyle
Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology, UC Davis
Beginning with the original legislation that led to the Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project, the condition of watersheds and aquatic systems was recognized as a critical part of an environmental assessment of the mountain range. As the project evolved, attention given to water-related topics continued to grow. Eventually, about one-third of the chapters in the final report directly concerned water resources and aquatic ecology (see list elsewhere in this issue). In addition, most of the subjects in other parts of the report influence and/or are influenced by aquatic resources. The short articles related to SNEP in this issue of the Networker are intended to provide a brief introduction to a sample of the chapters contained in the thousands of pages of material in the SNEP final reports.
The various aquatic efforts of SNEP found that development of streams and other resources of the Sierra Nevada over the past 150 years has impaired the quality and availability of water for both ecological and social needs in many parts of the mountain range. As human activities have altered characteristics of streams, such as volume of water, flood peaks, duration of low flows, seasonal timing, sediment supply, amounts of nutrients and organic matter, and water temperature, aquatic and riparian ecosystems have been forced to change. Other ecological changes have been deliberate, such as introduction of exotic species, conversion of streams to lakes, and conversion of riparian zones to roads and structures. The net results of a century and a half of these disturbances to the Sierra Nevada are greatly simplified and impaired aquatic ecosystems.
Potential impacts on aquatic systems were assessed on the basis of causative mechanisms and independently in each of the 24 major river basins of the range. Much of this work was designed as a large-scale watershed analysis, using some of the evolving techniques of watershed analysis at a range of nested scales from small catchments to large river basins. Information was organized by resource, impact, and geographically by river basin. Use of natural hydrologic areas was a central tenet of this effort. Consideration of nested catchments from headwaters to large river basins provides a logical hierarchy that makes physical and ecological sense. At the same time that agencies at various levels of government are adopting watersheds as a more common unit for analysis and planning, the SNEP team also found that watersheds and river basins were a highly practical subdivision for organizing information. The Calwater watershed delineation scheme of the California Resources Agency (http://resources. agency.ca.gov) was used for many aspects of the project. The final reports of the project also reflect different scales of assessment and integration. Hopefully, information from the Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project will provide context and contribute to more thorough studies at the small-watershed scale. These detailed watershed analyses are needed for improved management of the Sierra Nevada.
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Addendum
8 Watersheds and Aquatic Biodiversity
2 Climate, 1650-1850 Scott Stine
8 Historical Water-Use Priorities and Public Policies David Larson
16 Effects of Silvicultural Practices and Wildfire on the Productivity of Forest Soils Roger Poff
30 Hydrology and Water Resources Rick Kattelmann
31 Status of Amphibians Mark Jennings
32 Status of Aquatic Habitat Types Peter Moyle
33 Status of Fish and Fisheries Peter Moyle, Ronald Yoshiyama, and Roland Knapp
34 Biotic Integrity of Watersheds Peter Moyle and Paul Randall
35 Status of Aquatic Invertebrates Nancy Erman
36 Status of Riparian Habitat Matt Kondolf, Rick Kattelmann, Michael Embury, and Don Erman
49 Impacts of Floods and Avalanches Rick Kattelmann
52 Camp and Clear Creeks, El Dorado County: Chronology and Hydrologic Effects of Land-Use Change Bruce McGurk and Maureen Davis
53 Camp and Clear Creeks, El Dorado County: Predicted Sediment Production from Forest Management and Residential Development Bruce McGurk, Neil Berg, and Maureen Davis
54 Indexing Current Watershed Conditions Using Remote Sensing and GIS Larry Costick
57 Potential Aquatic Diversity Management Areas Peter Moyle
1 Management of Riparian Areas in the Sierra Nevada Peter Moyle, Rick Kattelmann, Robert Zomer, and Paul Randall
2 Cumulative Watershed Effects: Applicability of Available Methodologies to the Sierra Nevada Neil Berg, Ken Roby, and Bruce McGurk
3 Indexing Current Watershed Conditions Using Remote Sensing and GIS Larry Costick
4 Possible Changes in Water Yield and Peak Flows in Response to Forest Management Sarah Marvin
5 Riparian Areas and Wetlands Rick Kattelmann and Michael Embury
5 appendix Management and Land Use Buffers Don Erman, Nancy Erman, Larry Costick, and Steve Beckwitt
6 Modeling Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecosystem Responses to Hydrologic Regime in a California Watershed Susan Ustin, Wesley Wallender, Larry Costick, Rene Lobato, Scott Martens, Jorge Pinzon, and Qing Fu Xiao
7 Historical and Present Distribution of Chinook Salmon in the Central Valley Drainage of California Ronald Yoshiyama, Eric Gerstung, Frank Fisher, and Peter Moyle
8 Non-Native Trout in Natural Lakes Roland Knapp
9 Potential Aquatic Diversity Management Areas in the Sierra Nevada Peter Moyle, Paul Randall, and Ronald Yoshiyama
23 Economic Assessment of the Ecosystem William Stewart
1 A Review of Current Non-Federal Policies on Non-Federal Lands in the Sierra Nevada that affect Aquatic, Riparian, Upland and Late-Successional Biological Diversity Kurt Menning, Norman Johnson, and Lawrence Ruth
2 Modeling Aquatic and Riparian Systems, Assessing Cumulative Watershed Effects, and Limiting Watershed Disturbance Kurt Menning, Don Erman, Norman Johnson, and John Sessions
7 Lake Tahoe Case Study Deborah Elliott-Fisk and 13 others
