watervulnerability

Shasta Trinity National Forest Watershed Vulnerability Assessment, Pacific Southwest Region (R5)
It is vitally important to understand that healthy hydrologic units are the most resilient to change and thus
are a first step in considering where to apply future management. Proven management actions that
maintain or improve resilience include the following.
• Maintain or increase habitat accessibility
• Prioritize aquatic habitat connectivity in refugia
• Road improvements to reduce sediment delivery and disconnect channel crossings
• Implementation of erosion prevention BMPs
• Replace undersized and damaged culverts
• Practice water conservation practices such as replacing leaky pipes, installing floats to force
pump shutoff, and better controlling or eliminating overflow from developed water sources.
• Riparian improvements- thinning, enhancing native communities
• Meadow and stream improvements
• Maintain or increase water developments supporting key species
• Acquire water rights for critical resources
• Promote stricter enforcement of illegal water drafting, contest new applications for use and
storage
• Explore creative solutions for FERC flows, relocating species above dams, removal of natural
barriers, collaboration and communications
• Apply actions strategically (where infrastructure replacements or restoration can be most
meaningful to increase aquatic species and watershed resiliency)
The list is not complete and should be expanded to consider things like strategic planting of aquatic
species that favor adaptation to expected change to increase survival. It could also include fuel treatment
to break up continuity of continuous dead fuels to make the watersheds more resilient to wildfire.
Reducing road densities and other erosion and sedimentation sources also help promote watershed
resiliency. Maintaining or improving riparian areas through distributions of diverse native species of all
age classes is also key.
Maintaining and increasing habitat accessibility, accomplished primarily by replacing and removing
anthropogenic barriers that block access to historic or suitable is also important, especially to replace
habitat loss to warming. These actions include upgrading road stream crossings and reducing or
mitigating the barriers associated with dams and diversions.
The other major area of critical focus is careful management of water supplies. There is a need to consider
potential climate change effects in the review and implementation of FERC licenses. Consider developing
additional water sources and acquiring water rights to provide supplies for threatened and endangered
species. Consider objecting to water-use developments that might further limit water supplies. Maintain
and improve water infrastructure to reduce water loss and waste. Increasing the enforcement of illegal
water drafting will become even more prevalent and more significant to maintain water in streams. Illegal
drafting is already completely dewatering portions of streams that would otherwise be perennial.
While the Forest has the experience and capacity to implement these actions, it does not have the
resources to implement them everywhere. Therefore planning is needed to identify priority areas for
implementation. Results of the vulnerability assessment should be used to review, and modify as
necessary, existing forest improvement and restoration plans.
Finally, there is a need to share our experience and knowledge with partners and adjacent landowners
with whom the Forest can collaborate to provide watershed-wide climate adaptation strategies that will
205 Assessing the Vulnerability of Watersheds to Climate Change