WATERSHED INFORMATION

WITS

Watershed Information Technical System: the goal is to provide the information and tools to support local watershed planning, restoration, monitoring, and education.

 

About RCDs

A good overview of RCDs from the Department of Conservation's new Source Book.

 

FRAP

Fire and Resource Assessment is part of California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF). FRAP projects address important issues within the State, such as project development patterns and associated impacts, monitoring vegetation change by magnitude of change and cause. Various mapping tools are available, as well as information on the number of people structures in the State Responsibility Areas, critical hardwoods and range data.

 

SFSCCF

Forest Stewardship Coordinating Council: Stay current on funding sources, calendar events, and new resources of interest to forestland owners and others.

 

CDF Resource Management Program

Forest practices impact all watersheds. Get information on available data, assistance programs, pest management, urban forestry.

 

WPI

Watershed Projects Inventory (WPI) is an integration of project data compiled as part of the California Watershed Project Inventory (CWPI) plus project data gathered as part of the more comprehensive Natural Resource Project Inventory (NRPI). WPI chronicles past, current and future resource-based restoration, mitigation and conservation projects in or bordering California. WPI focuses on projects handling multiple resource issues involving several cooperators such as Habitat Conservation Plans (HCPs), Coordinated Resource Management Plans (CRMPs), Natural Community Conservation Plans (NCCPs), as well as local cooperative conservation efforts.

 

CERPI

California Ecological Restoration Projects Inventory: A combined private/non-profit/government effort to establish a database, accessible through the Internet, containing information on restoration projects in California. This information will further the practice and science of restoration and assist agencies and practitioners during restoration planning and implementation.

 

CALWEED

California Noxious Weed Control Projects Inventory (also known as CALWEED) has information on noxious weed control in California. This information will further the practice and science of noxious weed control and assist agencies and practitioners doing noxious weed control throughout the state.

 

ICE

The Information Center for the Environment is a cooperative effort of environmental scientists at the University of California, Davis and collaborators at over thirty private, state, federal, and international organizations interested in environmental protection. ICE hosts the Natural Resources Projects databases and hosts numerous additional major environmental projects (like SNEP) as separate data bases, maps, and reports.

 

CERES

California Environmental Resources Evaluation System hosts multiple databases. You can look up environmental information by county, watershed or bioregion.

 

California Agriculture Census

If you need facts fast, this unique database has 39 mini-reports for every county on nearly every facet of agriculture.

 

LUPIN

Land Use Planning Information Network hosts county general plans, zoning plans, environmental assessment documents by county and bioregion.

 

CalFlora

CalFlora exists to provide information on California plant biodiversity for conservation, research, and education. Query the CalFlora species database of 8,363 vascular plant names by plant, county, elevation, lifeform.

 

Sudden Oak Death Info

There is a dramatic and problematic dieback of tanoaks, coast live oak, and black oak trees in several areas of coastal California. Information from CalFlora and IHRMP is being shared and the tree disease is being tracked across many counties.

 

IHRMP

Integrated Hardwood Range Management Program: sources for oak assistance, research on oak woodlands, wildland interfaces and numerous online leaflets useful in watershed work.

 

Soils

Check the status of your areas soil surveys through USDA-NRCS. Some areas are already digitized an online. Others surveys can be requested from NRCS offices. These provide a wealth of information vital to watershed work - it all starts with the soil.

 

WQSID

Water Quality Standards Inventory Database from CalTrans. Click on county name for list of waterbodies. You can search by beneficial uses, keywords, SWRCB region.

 

CDEC

California Data Exchange Center: Access point to the Department of Water Resources Operational Hydrologic Data. Get realtime information on rivers, snowpack, water supply.

 

USGS Water Resources

Get current conditions on sediment, streamflow, basins, groundwater, and more. The U.S. Geological Survey provides the Nation with reliable, impartial information to describe and understand the Earth. In California, these issues include natural hazards, such as earthquakes and floods, and the effects on water resources of population growth and industrial and agricultural development.

 

NonPoint Source

California's Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Program includes managing runoff and citizen monitoring.

 

EPA Watershed

Surf your Watershed by county name through EPA's gateway. Up will pop a map where you can find extensive information about each watershed.

 

EPA-WATERS

EPA's newest site unites water quality information previously available only on individual state agency homepages and at several Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) websites. State and federal water quality managers, as well as interested citizens, can use WATERS to quickly identify the status of individual waterbodies of interest to them. It can also be used to generate summary reports on all waters of a state.

 

Ground Water Atlas

part of the USGS Hyrdological Investigations, this will give you a better understanding of the different types of groundwater aquifers.

 

GIS Watershed Planning

The NRCS California Watershed Planning Services staff, along with the NRCS Watershed Science Institute, is working to develop and transfer GIS technology to watershed planning groups in the field. Local land managers and watershed stake holders are becoming more interested in using GIS technology to assist them in consensus based watershed planning, management and research. Our goal is to help these groups develop the GIS capabilities they need so that members of the watershed group can use it.

 

Stormwater Center

The Stormwater Manager's Resource Center is designed specifically for stormwater practitioners, local government officials and others that need technical assistance on stormwater management issues. Created and maintained by the Center for Watershed Protection, the SMRC has everything you need to know about stormwater in a single site, including rapid assessment aids, fact sheets, resource protection templates and much, much more.

 

Water Librarian

Extensive and excellent list of reference sites from a librarian in a California water agency. NOTE: This page may not display in Netscape but it will display in IE.

 

WRCA

Water Resources Center Archives has everything but the water. The mission of the Water Resources Center Archives is to maintain and continue to develop a collection of current and historic water-related materials to meet the needs of the University of California and the people of the state.

 

National Watershed Library

National Watershed Library houses watershed guides, educational resources, partnership development tools and more.

 

Groundwater Level

California Department of Water Resources is providing access to data and hydrographs for nearly 20,000 wells in groundwater basins throughout California.

 

California Resources Agency

Direct links to all of California's resource departments, boards, conservancies, commissions and programs. RCDs frequently call upon Department of Conservation for both technical assistance and partnership development.

 

USDA-NRCS

The California branch of Natural Resources Conservation Service provides technical assistance through many programs to both RCDs and landowners. Online resources are extensive.

 

WRC-Experts

Wildland Resources Center has a Directory of Expertise which is a searchable, comprehensive database of resources specialists, their affiliations, and areas of expertise.

 

ENDANGERED SPECIES

TESS

Fish and Wildlife ESA Listings: Threatened and Endangered Species System (TESS), listings are by state and territory. You can get more information on the listing process by going to the main menu. Both pages load slowly.

 

WHDA

Wildlife Habitat Data Analysis: California Fish and Game has now put most of their in information into pdf files. You can download files which include the Guidelines for assessing proposed projects.

 

MAPS

RCD Map

Resource Conservation Districts in California.

 

Enviromapper

EnviroMapper, a dynamic way to use maps to see environmental information. With the EnviroMapper, you can select an area (state, county, or ZIP code).

 

Groundwater Map

This map provides access to groundwater level monitoring data through a series of progressively larger-scale maps.

 

Soil Surveys

Natural Resources Conservation Service enables you to see the status of area soils maps, and locate the nearest office to request a copy. Some are already digitized and online.

 

Bioregions

California Biodiversity Council provides detailed information on the 10 major bioregions in the state.

 

Vegetation

This catalog allows you to find a variety of vegetation map data sets that cover the entire state or specific parts of the state, with an emphasis on county-level or larger data sets. You can find information by county, ecoregion or hydrologic unit.

 

Unified Watershed Assessment

Clean Water Action Plan: California Unified Watershed Assessment. The Clean Water Action Plan, requested that States and Tribes, with assistance from federal agencies and input from stakeholders and the public, convene a collaborative process to develop a Unified Watershed Assessment (UWA) to guide allocation of new federal resources for watershed protection. The many categories cover various aspects of the Watershed Assessment Process including extensive maps.

• Watershed Boundaries
• Watershed Categories
• Priority Watersheds
• Impaired Watersheds
• Fuels Hazard
• Threatened Species
• Wetlands
• Salmon Areas

 

Earthquake Map

Realtime data on earthquakes for California. Additional information can be found at Department of Conservation.

 

Farmland Maps

The Department of Conservation's Farmland Mapping and Monitoring Program (FMMP) biennially maps agricultural and urban land use covering 44.1 million acres in California. The goal of the FMMP is to provide data to decision makers for use in assessing the present and future uses of California's agricultural land resources. To meet this goal, FMMP provides maps, reports, and data to the public, academia, and local, state, and federal governments to assist them in making informed decisions for the best utilization of California's farmland.

 

TerraServer

Terraserver has aerial photographs of much of California. Usng the 'advance search' feature you can start with the name of a town, river, mountain or stream and really see the watershed from a birds eye view.

 

TopoZone

Topozone: through their Partners Program we gathered the topo-segments used on RCD-WISP. Topozone can be used interactively to zoom in or out of the terrain. It's a great for watershed planning, and the online convenience makes it ideal for working with groups that are scattered.

 

I.C.E. MAPS

Information Center for Environment at UC Davis has a mapping center which enables you to identify layers and get specialized maps online. The service is somewhat complicated to use and slow loading but it's worth the wait.

 

MapQuest

Now that you've got the topography you might need a map of the streets. Mapquest is the grand-daddy service for street maps. also great for giving directions to watershed meetings.

 

NRCS Maps

The main menu gives you information on various USDA-NRCS programs and activities including a variety of maps.

• California Resource Conservation Districts
• Major Land Resource Areas
• US Congressional Districts
• State Senate Districts
• State Assembly Districts
• Hydrologic Units

 

SNEP Maps

Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project: improved access to data files, records, digital data, and other information produced as part of the 1996 report to Congress of the Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project (SNEP), a comprehensive assessment of the status of Sierra Nevada natural resources and the relationships of these resources to human well-being.

 

California Air Districts Map

Air Districts and Air Basin Maps. Also you can find Air District web sites under Consumer Information

 

TRIBES

California Indian Tribes

California map shows counties in pale colors for reference. Listings and links for California recognized tribes as published in November 1996 in the Federal Register. Tribes names included with the rancherias grouped by tribe, and arranged roughly from north to south. Tribes with info about them somewhere on-web are clickable from list.

 

TRIBAL PLANS

Select from a list of Tribal Plans hosted at LUPIN. The list is minimal. You may need to contract the Tribe directly for their current plan.

 

Tribal Search

EPA's listing of web sites for Tribal Nations in California. No map, so use with one of the other links.

USDA Help

Guide to USDA Programs for American Indians describes the wide array of USDA programs and services available to American Indian communities

Tribal Publications

EPA's publications on working effectively with Tribal governments, plus the Tribal Environmental and Natural Resources Assistance handbooks.

WAM - Watershed Analysis for Tribes

EPA's The WAM approach utilizes five steps that can be applied to all watersheds: Scoping (identify issues and stakeholders): Watershed Assessment (acquire and analyze data), Synthesis (integrate results of the assessment), Management Solutions (develop options for improving conditions), and Adaptive Management (monitor conditions and modify plans).

 

DEMOGRAPHICS and LAWS

Division 9

California's RCD are empowered and operate under this section of State law.

 

California Fedpage

News from California's Federal Natural Resource Agencies. This is a good page to keep tabs on public reports and check for meetings and comment periods.

 

Special Districts

California's Legislative Analyst Office has information on conservation districts and other special districts. Check under 'soil conservation' to find RCD data.

 

Counties Data

Fast facts on the demographics of California counties. This is very useful to quickly gather data for projects and potential impacts on population.

 

County Snapshots

The County Snapshots provide individual profiles of counties in California. These profiles include brief summaries of geographic, demographic, labor force, industry and occupational conditions within each county.

 

Environmental Laws and RCDs

Quick overview of the major legislation affecting natural resources planning and activities.

 

Guide: Capitolink

Capitolink provides a quick-click guide to the federal legislation affecting natural resources planning and activities.

 

California Legislation

Check up on legislation that might impact Resource Conservation Districts or their landowner constituents. Complete status and calendar reports of current legislation being followed by the Law Offices of Tim Yaryan on behalf of CARCD.

 

ASSISTANCE

Stewardship

California's Forest Stewardship program has a both technical assistance and funding opportunities for interested landowners.

 

NRCS Programs

Natural Resources Conservation Service has a significant number of technical assistance and funding opportunities for Landowners.

 

CRMP

Coordinated Resources Management Program has high quality workbooks, example projects, and technical assistance contacts.

 

Watershed Academy

Distance Learning Modules let you learn about watershed planning and monitoring right at home.

 

CTIC

Conservation Technology Information Center has extensive information on "Putting Together a Watershed Management Plan" as well as "A Guide for Watershed Partnerships"

 

Conservation Center

Over 2000 links to resources for conservation districts and their partners.

 

DOC Grants

Department of Conservation has grants for RCDs as well as information on conservation easements and open space programs.

 

Tribal Grants

USDA has online information for persons working with tribal groups or tribal lands.

 

RCD News

CARCD Newsline is a great newsletter for keeping up-to-date on RCD funding opportunities, news and events. Sign up today.

 

Grant News

'Jean's News' carries extensive information on grants, conservation activities and issues.

 

Agency Phones

Can't find that phone number? Try here.

 

Fed Funds

Download a copy of the Federal Funding for Watershed Programs Guide.

 

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