Peter C. Hartsough

In somewhat of a new area for me, I have been working on a project involving several resored wetlands as part of the NRCS CEAP Project.  Restored wetlands represent an important component of NRCS conservation programs and as such, as part of the Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP).  This project, funded under the Watershed Assessment Studies, focuses on the water related effects and benefits of NRCS wetland restorations.  Working on a surface water quality project in California’s Central Valley (CCV) can be a tricky proposition, with recent years fluctuating between multi-year drought, where there was little water to measure, to wet El Niño years, when any water quality signal is wiped out by excess precipitation and water quality is dominated by mud and silt.  Despite these challenges, we have established an interesting field experiment at two restored wetlands in the northern portion of the CCV, near the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers. One restoration is on a 3000 acre privately held property that is managed for waterfowl.  A second restoration is on a 711 acre property adjacent to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta that is also managed for waterfowl.  Both properties have been participating in NRCS wetlands programs for multiple years.  We instrumented both sites with water quality sensors situated along multiple flow paths within the wetlands.  These in situ sensors were supplemented with monthly grab samples along the same flow paths.  Although it is early in the experiment, we already see  several interesting time series that document water quality along these flow paths.  We see sensitivity to pumping time and amount as well as length of flow paths.  We also see seasonal changes across the wet winter to dry summer season.  These data will eventually be used as calibration data for water quality models, including SWAT.