Last year, the FRIENDS were excited to receive a grant from the Napa County Wildlife Conservation Commission to help start the RCD’s new Stream Watch program, a citizen-science project to observe systematically the varying levels of streamflow at a wide array of key sites on the Napa River system. One year later, here is a report on the current status of the project from RCD scientist Paul Blank:
To carry out the program RCD will recruit and train volunteers to collect frequent observations of streamflow, and other information such as trash accumulation, from a large number of sites covering a large portion of the stream channels of the Napa River system on the valley floor. Volunteers will make observations over a period of several years to understand dry-season streamflow conditions in wet years and drought years.
Stream Watch data will be quality controlled, scientifically defensible, and will help provide much-needed information to make better decisions and improve local water use sustainability and environmental health. The data will allow detailed mapping of dry-season streamflow persistence and dry stream reaches, help better delineate groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs), inform local groundwater sustainability management and improvement efforts, improve understanding of steelhead summer rearing habitat, and identify potential sites for stream restoration or flow enhancement projects.
Stream Watch also builds a connection between the community and our creeks by motivating people to take an interest in their local creeks and notice the seasonal changes they go through and the wildlife they support. RCD plans to advertise the volunteer opportunity broadly and provide simple instructions in both written and video formats. RCD’s goal is to provide additional creek-related outreach to volunteers, such as short videos, social media posts, and workshops, to extend the connection beyond the Stream Watch observations.
A pilot version of the program, in which Napa County interns and RCD staff are making observations at a small number of sites, is currently underway. The recent FONR funding support helped RCD increase the number of observation sites in the pilot program from 12 to 26, and assisted with several other elements of program development such as locating and assessing dozens more observation sites, associating sites with the stream reaches that they represent, developing observation schedules and data management strategies, and planning education efforts, promotion, and volunteer recruitment. Stream Watch is now ready for quick launch when additional funding arrives. RCD is currently seeking funding to support implementation and expansion of this promising and much-needed local effort.
-Paul Blank, Napa RCD Senior Hydrologist
for more, go to https://www.napawatersheds.org/observation-help
