Santa Rosa Plain Wetlands Profile: A Demonstration of WRAMP
The Santa Rosa Plain WRAMP project demonstrated the use of the State’s standardized monitoring and assessment tools in a North Coast watershed setting and described how the results can be used to support watershed based management and planning decisions to protect and manage the state’s wetland resources at a landscape scale. Use of the watershed approach presumes that optimal environmental benefits are achieved by sustaining and improving the overall abundance, diversity and condition of aquatic resources in a landscape context.
The Santa Rosa Plain WRAMP project focused on developing a landscape level, base line assessment of the aquatic resources in the study area by addressing the following question: what are the abundance, diversity, and ecological conditions of wetlands, streams, and their riparian areas within the Santa Rosa Plain?
Project tasks included:
- Developing a detailed GIS map of the aquatic features within the study area the Bay Area Aquatic Resources Inventory (BAARI) mapping protocols, and further developing the methods for local aquatic features not previously mapped in BAARI. The mapping methods are documented here.
- Conducting field assessment to characterize the ecological condition of the streams, depressions and sloped wetlands within the study area.
- Three separate probability based sample draws were developed using the EPA’s Generalized Random Tessellation Stratified (GRTS) spatially-balanced sampling methods.
- Condition assessments were conducted using the California Rapid Assessment Method for wetlands (CRAM) ~ 30 sites for each wetland type.
- Assessing and reporting on the distribution, abundance, diversity, and condition of wetlands, streams, and their riparian areas within the Santa Rosa Plain, based on the level-1 aquatic resources base map and the CRAM stream assessments.
The Final Project Report, further describes how WRAMP monitoring and assessment methods and online reporting tools support comprehensive watershed-based approaches to wetland impact avoidance, minimization, compensatory mitigation, assessment, and reporting.
Collins, J.N., S. Lowe, S. Pearce, and C. Roberts (2014). Santa Rosa Plain Wetlands Profile: A Demonstration of the California Wetland and Riparian Area Monitoring Plan. Final Report prepared for the California Natural Resources Agency - STD Agreement # 0CA10043-2. San Francisco Estuary Institute & Aquatic Science Center, Richmond. CA. SFEI Contribution # 724.
Related Projects, News, and Events:
EcoAtlas (Project)
California's EcoAtlas provides access to information for effective wetland management. EcoAtlas is a set of tools for generating, assembling, storing, visualizing, sharing, and reporting environmental data and information. The tools can be used individually or together, and they can be adjusted or tuned to meet the specific needs of environmental planners, regulators, managers, scientists, and educators. The maps and tools can be used to create a complete picture of aquatic resources in the landscape by integrating stream and wetland maps, restoration information, and monitoring results with land use, transportation, and other information important to the state’s wetlands.
Santa Clara Valley Water District Priority D5 Project's Watershed Condition Assessments (2010 to 2018) (Project)
SFEI and the Santa Clara Valley Water District's Priority D-5 Project are assessing the distribution and abundance of wetlands, and the overall condition of streams in five major watersheds in Santa Clara County, CA by employing the District's Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Framework that includes BAARI and CRAM.
Statewide Wetland Tracking, Science, and Policy Development Support (Project)
SFEI’s Wetland Science Focus Area’s Director, Josh Collins, is a leader in the coordination of statewide science advisory teams and acquiring funding to develop monitoring and assessment tools that support the State’s Wetland and Riparian Area Protection Policy.
Tahoe WRAMP Demonstration: Watershed Assessment (Project)
The Tahoe WRAMP Watershed Demontration Project transfered statewide wetland monitoring and asseement tools to Sierra Nevada environmental agencies and organizations through a pilot project that assessed the distribution and abundance of wetlands, and the overall ecologcial condition of streams in two watersheds within the Lake Tahoe Basin.
Russian River Watershed Projects at the San Francisco Estuary Institute (Project)
Our projects in the Russian River Watershed help us to understand our past, understand our present, and envision our future. Learn more about what SFEI is doing in partnership with others to advance our scientific understanding of this valuable landscape.
Developing a Sustainable Business Model for the EcoAtlas Toolset (Project)
This project is funded by a USEPA wetland development grant (2015-2017) to develop a recommended funding and business model for the EcoAtlas toolset. EcoAtlas is a framework and toolset recommended in the State's Wetland and Riparian Area Monitoring Plan (WRAMP) of the California Wetland Monitoring Workgroup (CWMW). The tools enable users to visualize and assess the distribution, abundance, diversity, and condition of surface waters in a landscape or watershed context. The Business Plan project is developing several overview and planning memos and a final, compiled recommendation for an EcoAtlas business plan. Those documents are made available here as they are completed.