Fish Restoration Program Tidal Wetland Restoration Monitoring in Upper San Francisco Estuary, 2015-ongoing

The Fish Restoration Program Monitoring Team assesses the biological effectiveness of 8,000+ acres of tidal wetland restoration in the Upper San Francisco Estuary (Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Suisun Marsh) through a contract with the CA Department of Water Resources. The restoration is pursuant to requirements in the 2008/2009, 2019, and 2024 Biological Opinions for state and federal water project operations. Data on fish and invertebrate abundance on or near these sites was collected as baseline monitoring data and to determine the most efficient methods for monitoring wetlands. Understanding how invertebrate, fish, and phytoplankton communities change pre- to post-restoration is essential to evaluating the benefits of tidal wetlands to native fish species. Invertebrate data was collected using sweep nets, benthic cores, neuston nets, and zooplankton trawls. Fish data was collected using otter trawls, lampara nets, and beach seines. For each method, the team recorded the catch of fish, invertebrates, and other organisms, length of selected organisms, and a suite of environmental information, including: dissolved oxygen, water temperature, pH, specific conductance, turbidity, chlorophyll a, phycocyanin, and dissolved organic carbon. Additional water quality samples, processed for Chlorophyll a, Dissolved Ammonia, Dissolved Nitrite + Nitrate, Dissolved Organic Carbon, Dissolved Organic Nitrogen, Dissolved Ortho-phosphate, Pheophytin a, Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen, Total Organic Carbon, Total Phosphorus, and Total Suspended Solids, were collected at a subset of sampling sites. Data are collected before and after restoration at project and reference sites (Before-After-Control-Impact design), as well as at adjacent water bodies. Before restoration, projects were either nontidal or had limited tidal exchange.