Treesearch

The woodlands and other streamside habitat of the Sacramento River's riparian system have been severely reduced within the last century. This riparian habitat and its ability to sustain diverse populations of fish, migratory birds, mammals, and other wildlife have been significantly impacted by water control projects, agricultural developments, and other land uses. The species of particular concern are the western yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus), Swainson's hawk (Buteo swainsoni), bank swallow (Riparia riparia), wood duck (Aix sponsa), chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha),...

Riparian habitat along California's San Joaquin River in the 25 miles between Friant Darn and Freeway 99 occurs on approximately 6 percent of its historic range. It is threatened directly and indirectly by increased urban encroachment such as residential housing, certain recreational uses, sand and gravel extraction, aquiculture, and road construction. The San Joaquin River Committee was formed in 1985 to advocate preservation and restoration of riparian habitat. The Committee works with local school districts to facilitate use of riverbottom riparian forest areas for outdoor environmental...

Loss of riparian habitat along the Middle Sacramento River, over the last 100 years, has reduced a once contiguous riparian forest to a series of disjunct remnants of varying size and quality. With limited financial resources to purchase and protect some of the remaining riparian plant communities, it has become necessary to develop methods to select which of the remaining habitats are to become protected. A site evaluation method was developed that included vegetation quality, type and rarity, size, viability, unique features, rare plants, shape, and potential for growth. Using this...

The National Registry of Natural Landmarks is a program established by the National Park Service that seeks to recognize nationally significant examples of the Nation's natural history. Nearly 100 Great Valley riparian sites were evaluated using Park Service criteria. Three sites illustrative of the range of this biotic theme were recommended to the National Park Service for designation as National Natural Landmarks.

The California State Water Resources Control Board is conducting hearings to set quantity and quality standards for river flows into San Francisco Bay. Comparisons of present conditions with "natural conditions" prior to European settlement were introduced into the hearings. Consumptive use relations were developed for various riparian and water-related plants, and estimates of the total annual volume of runoff production and consumptive use were developed. A discussion of those computations and a general discussion of the relation of historic riparian forests to "natural flows" into San...

Within the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan Desert subdivisions of the North American Desert in the U.S., more than half of 143 total amphibian and reptilian species perform as riparian and/or wetland taxa. For the reptiles, but not the amphibians, there is a significant inverse relationship between riparianness (obligate through preferential and facultative to nonriparian) and desertness. In addition to the nondesert species (N=36) present, there are two evolutionary kinds of desert species in the herpetofauna: true desert species (N–20), and desert-included species (N=87); the former are...

Annual monitoring of Bank Swallows (Riparia riparia) along the Sacramento River, California has been conducted since 1986 to determine population trends, evaluate impacts from bank protection and flood control projects, and implement and monitor mitigation efforts. The population of Bank Swallows in a 50-mile river reach remained static over 3 breeding seasons from 1986 to 1988 despite ongoing bank protection projects. The proportion of burrows occupied by breeding swallows and the mean number of young/nest with young in a nesting colony was not significantly different between 1986 and...