Salmon in California are struggling – facing drought, river heatwaves, polluted runoff, poor spawning habitat, and barriers to fish passage – is it a wonder that the salmon fishing season in California is canceled, again. Robert Lusardi, Associate Director at the Center for Watershed Sciences and faculty member in the Wildlife, Fish, & Conservation Department at UC Davis, says almost half of California's native trout and salmon species could disappear in the next 50 years.
Join us for a webinar on Tuesday March 12, 11:00am – 1:30pm PT, on environmental flows in Chile and California, including several speakers from the Center for Watershed Sciences.
UC Davis' School of Law will host the 2024 Environmental Law Symposium on March 8, 2024 from 9:00am - 3:00pm in King Hall, Room 1001. Of special interest will be the topic of rewilding, the role of habitat restoration and species reintroduction in achieving climate resiliency. The symposium will feature three panels exploring the multiple benefits of habitat restoration, species reintroduction and how to address the potential legal, policy, and social challenges of rewilding.
Karrigan Börk, Associate Director at the Center for Watershed Sciences and acting professor of law at UC Davis' School of Law, has been awarded the Morrison Prize for his 2023 legal paper on water extraction rights. The $10,000 Morrison Prize is a distinguished honor; it is awarded annually to the author of the most influential academic legal article on environmental sustainability pu
Winter 2024Who – Anyone is welcome to attend. What – CWS Winter 2024 Seminar Series When – Mondays, 3:30-4:30 pm & social afterward Where – Center for Watershed Sciences Conference Room, UC Davis, CA
DateTopic + Speaker(s)
1/8
Welcome + 3-4 X 10-minute short talks + discussion
Salmon are trapped behind dams in Oregon's Willamette River Valley, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to address the issue by constructing a novel $450 million trap-and-haul style "vacuum" to suck up juvenile salmon and relocate them to large holding tanks, where they will be subsequently transported downstream via trucks and re-released. UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences researchers Robert Lusardi and Peter Moyle, who published a research article on trap-and-haul programs earlier in 2017, warn that the Corps "should proceed with extreme caution" on the current proposed plan.
CWS Director Andrew Rypel provides valuable perspectives on California’s aging dams and highlights strategic paths that can shape the future of California’s dam infrastructure.
After enduring a drought that spanned several decades, the wet season of 2022-23 has brought a long-awaited source of relief. Now with the snowpack melting rapidly and overflowing rivers and reservoirs, the excess water will need to be released. Read the coverage by ABC News, "Snowpack in the West is melting rapidly.
California has experienced a series of severe storms and intense rainfall this year – but what are the benefits? The storms and heavy rainfall in California throughout the year has led to flourishing vast expanses of wildflowers and has also given a much-needed impetus to certain endangered ecosystems in the state.
