OOS 44-2
The conservation strategy of the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan: Increasing ecosystem benefits through integration of ecological restoration and flood management
Many ecosystem functions of rivers and floodplains in California’s Central Valley have been substantially impaired during the past 160 years. The Central Valley Flood Protection Act of 2008 mandated the preparation of a Central Valley Flood Protection Plan (CVFPP) for the Central Valley’s state-federal flood protection system, and included general objectives for improving ecosystems and habitats and promoting the recovery of native species and overall biotic diversity. More than 500 state and local agencies are involved in flood management in the Central Valley, and there are more than 200 proposed projects for repairing and improving the flood management system. The state-federal flood protection system encompasses most of these agencies and projects. It consists of 1,500 miles of levees, associated control structures, and floodways with nearly 200,000 acres of public and privately owned land that is primarily in agricultural production. The CVFPP will guide the actions of these agencies and the design and implementation of these projects. The question of how to improve Central Valley riverine and floodplain ecosystems through implementation of the CVFPP was addressed through a 2-year collaborative conservation planning process led by the California Department of Water Resources.
Results/Conclusions
The result of the conservation planning process is a conservation strategy that has measurable objectives for restoration of ecosystem processes and habitats, reduction of stressors related to the flood management system, and specific direction for increasing the benefits for a set of target species. These objectives represent the results of achieving a high level of integration of ecological restoration and flood management improvements in multi-benefit projects, and related operation and maintenance. An integration approach was selected because needs associated with both species recovery and flood management exceed potential funding, and integration would make the most efficient use of available funding. The strategy a) describes the mechanisms that can be used to restore ecosystem processes or habitats in conjunction with flood management, and b) provides a general approach for identifying applicable mechanisms and incorporating them into project planning and design. This integration would be supported by funding incentives, multiple regional permitting mechanisms, an implementation tracking and data dissemination system, and periodic system-wide monitoring. This strategy’s collaborative, multi-benefit approach to planning provides a model for restoring ecosystems in conjunction with the infrastructure improvement, operation, and maintenance of infrastructure systems.