RB2 boundary & watersheds.jpgThis Prop 50 - funded project was a three-year effort to monitor and track changes in Bay Area wetland condition. This wetland monitoring toolkit meets basic information needs for managing wetlands: to develop a scientific framework with standard methods for monitoring wetlands and for interpreting the results, and to regularly report the findings to the public. These monitoring tools are intended to help provide a public measure of the environmental costs or benefits of most wetland management actions.

 

The toolkit follows the EPA's three-level monitoring framework.

Level 1 is assessment at the landscape scale assessment using GIS, remote sensing, and historical ecology. The WRMP generated a Bay Area Aquatic Resources Inventory (BAARI) base map of natural channels, unnatural ditches, tidal wetlands, aquatic systems and riparian areas using standardized methods.

Level 2 is cost-effective, rapid assessment of condition via the California Rapid Assessment Method (CRAM) Level 3 is intensive assessment of ecological function. This project considered Level 3 methods for monitoring and assessment of 1) mercury bioaccumulation using biosentinel species in riverine riparian areas and 2) standardized geomorphology methods for riverine systems.

WRMP Prop 50 Science Advisory Group (SAG)

 

Learn more about the EPA's 1-2-3 monitoring and assessment framework (PDF)

Programs and Focus Areas: 
Data Services
Information Technology Systems
Software Engineering
Resilient Landscapes Program
Wetland Monitoring & Assessment
Location Information