❮ Projects page Sierra Streams Institute

Spatial Analysis Project:

Sierra Streams Institute (SSI) is a non-profit based in Nevada City, California. Currently, SSI is working in the Bear River Watershed completing a Disturbance Inventory and drafting a Restoration Plan. In the Restoration plan document, we outline the primary issues of concern in the Bear River Watershed and define potential restoration projects.

The work proposed for the Summer of Maps fellow will support identifying, prioritizing and developing potential restoration projects within the Bear River Watershed. These projects will address the watershed’s many pressing demands, which include coordination of land management, cleanup of legacy mining contamination, improvements to water quality, restoration of ecologically important habitat, and addressing climate change and wildfire pressures. While completing the Disturbance Inventory, numerous datasets were collected and several informational maps were developed. The Summer of Maps fellow would be responsible for conducting spatial analysis and modeling on this information to inform and develop restoration projects.

Data available:

The following data is currently available and will be provided to the fellow:

• watershed and subwatersheds boundaries
• basic hydrology
• groundwater basins and subbasins
• groundwater quality monitoring
• groundwater elevation monitoring
• California Statewide Groundwater Elevation Monitoring (CASGEM) groundwater basin priorities
• wetland locations
• active, inactive, underground and surface mines
• surface water quality monitoring
• 303(d) listed areas
• elevation and topography
• slope steepness
• vegetation communities
• soil classification
• special-status flora and fauna species
• threatened and endangered flora and fauna species
• permitted toxic release and cleanup sites
• disadvantaged and severely disadvantaged community boundaries
• human population density
• land ownership
• land use and crops
• major roads
• county planning designations
• county parcel boundaries

Maps and Reports that will be created:

The fellow will be responsible for producing maps and models accompanied with a brief written summary to address the following tasks:

1. Analyze linkages between Disadvantaged Communities and poor water quality to identify strategic project areas.

2. Identify endangered plants, animals and habitat (i.e. giant garter snakes, tricolored blackbirds, black rails, western pond turtles, and/or coast horned lizards, Scadden Flat checkerbloom, Pine Hill flannelbush, Stebbins’ morning glory, and Vernal Pools) locations needing protection by comparing special status species and soil type information to county parcel, land use and ownership data.

3. Create a prioritization model that ranks potential projects and project areas. We are excited to have discussions with Azavea and the project fellow about how we might further utilize models produced through the project.

How the maps and reports will be used:

The final product will be a series of maps and models that will help guide stakeholders in developing restoration projects, identifying project areas, and prioritize projects. This deliverable will synthesize and translate the information discussed in the disturbance inventory to help develop a comprehensive restoration plan with ready – to – implement project plans, prioritized list of projects and possible project collaborators. Spatial analysis will help address emergent challenges including examining the ecological diversity represented within the watershed as a whole, the larger scale and scope of projects resulting from this sub-watershed diversity as well as consequences and/or future mitigation of a controversial proposal to build a major dam on the Bear River. Maps and models developed will support grant applications by providing data to identify the importance and anticipated effect of the proposed restoration work. Overall, this will guide future restoration work in the most logical and strategic manner.