2010 Project Highlight

How will climate change impact waterfowl populations in the Central Valley?

A collaborative project among the U.S. Geological Survey, Central Valley Joint Venture, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Delta Waterfowl Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, University of California-Davis, Stockholm Environment Institute, and PRBO Conservation Science.

Funding from CA LCC: $99,450.

Wintering waterbirds headed for the Central Valley require wetlands, flooded rice fields, and other agricultural lands as their preferred habitat. These areas, which rely on managed surface water supplies stored in reservoirs, could be reduced by climate change; urbanization and other factors, which could greatly impact the birds’ ability to find the food resources and habitats they need each winter.

To better understand management options ... (more)

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Visualizing the San Francisco Bay Under Sea Level Rise

A new online tool for resource managers

When you picture San Francisco Bay 100 years from now, what do you imagine? Scientific models project a rise in sea level of two to five feet in the Bay by 2110. What will this mean for the unique habitats that fringe the bay’s shoreline? And for the species that inhabit them, like the endangered California Clapper Rail, salt marsh harvest mouse and other plant and animal species that depend on the tidal marshes of San Francisco Bay?

To help address these questions and plan future wetland restoration, the CA LCC funded PRBO Conservation Science to produce an interactive website where habitat managers and agency planners can visualize future tidal marshlands – under a range of sea level scenarios – throughout San Francisco Bay. You can explore this powerful new conservation tool at www.prbo.org/sfbayslr. To learn about some of the most important findings of that work see the article in PRBO’s summer Observer issue, now available on their website.