1. Inverted river delta – one of only a few worldwide

3. Freshwater Ocean Estuary Salmon life cycle 2 adults return to spawn
4,000 eggs are laid
800 fry hatch
200 smolts go to sea
10 reach adulthood
Freshwater
Ocean
Estuary

4. Central Valley Runoff MAF

6. 1594 Dams in California
National Inventory of Dams, Army Corps

7. Now Then Consider the fade to black scene
Modified from Lindley et al. 2006

14. 1873 Delta: Long residence time Marsh connections Two rivers connect
to bay
Waterways dendritic

15. Modern delta Short residence times Rip-rapped Cross Delta flows
Rare San Joaquin
connection to bay
Waterways web-like

16. Estuarine habitat conceptual model (Peterson 2003)
Stationary Habitat
Production Area
Tidal and River Flow
Fish
Recruitment
Dynamic Habitat

17. QoutWet and Dry.OPJ

18. Most fishes follow salinities
Marine species
Kimmerer 2004

19. What Changes As Flow Increases?
Salinities move downstream
Suisun Marsh
Location of
Any Salinity
Range L S Z
stratification 1

20. Suisun Marsh
Sacramento River at Decker Island

21. With deep appreciation to Allison Whipple, Robin Grossinger, and many others at SFEI

22. Open water:Marsh
1: 14 historically
6: 1 now
Open water:Marsh
1.4: 1 historically
6.3: 1 now

23. Thanks to Wim Kimmerer

25. Salmon – refresh portfolio diversity:
cold water assurance
manage different streams differently
manage hatcheries differently
make habitat for fry and for smolts
make habitat widely spread, including juvenile rearing in non-natal streams
Smelts – ensure steady return every year:
protect spawners on way up
protect young on way down
aim for smooth arcs of habitat through range of likely salinities
plan for drought actions before droughts hit, plan a year ahead
Other native freshwater fish – Occasional jackpots are fine
improve wet year connectivity and duration of flooded conditions