The Upper Tuolumne River Ecosystem Program: UC Davis travels to the bottom of the Rim Fire

Thursday, September 26, 2013

UC Davis travels to the bottom of the Rim Fire

Several UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences staff received permission from the Stanislaus National Forest to hike into the mainstem Tuolumne River near the Clavey River confluence to investigate the fate of river monitoring gear after the Rim Fire. Here's what they found.

About the Program

The Tuolumne River is located on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada in central California. With headwaters in Yosemite National Park, the Tuolumne flows westward 150 miles to its confluence with the San Joaquin River in California's Central Valley.

The Upper Tuolumne River Ecosystem Program (UTREP) is a collaborative, long-term, science-based river management program led by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC).

The UTREP monitors river ecosystem conditions and develops recommendations for river management downstream of Hetch Hetchy Project facilities to support broad river ecosystem values, while maintaining water supply reliability for 2.6 million San Francisco Bay Area customers and providing clean hydropower for San Francisco municipal facilities.

Scientific collaborators include Yosemite National Park, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Stanislaus National Forest, consultants, researchers, and academics.

STATUS: UTREP efforts are currently focused on technical review and revision of the O'Shaughnessy Dam Instream Flow Management Plan and routine annual monitoring.