Aquatic Monitoring
Our employees and the staff of the Fish and Game Department are constantly monitoring and evaluating our streams. This process includes stream and habitat analysis, biological sampling and fish counting, watershed erosion and sediment yield analysis, substrate analysis and other activities which we've jointly defined.

As a result of these efforts, we are changing the way we operate to help return streams to their optimum condition or maintain these conditions where they already exist. For example, in several areas we are working to stabilize erosion sites and keep topsoil out of the streams. At other locations, we are building weirs to create and improve spawning habitat.

The environmental variables we monitor include:

• Water temperature
• Large woody debris
• Juvenile fish
• Adult fish
• Sediment
• Canopy and Habitat
• Macroinvertebrates
• Thalweg and Cross Section

The selection of these monitoring variables was guided by the Properly Functioning Conditions Matrix, which outlines optimum habitat conditions for aquatic species. For more information on the habitat conditions necessary for supporting aquatic species, please visit the following websites:

USDA Forest Service Fish and Aquatic Ecology Unit http://www.fs.fed.us/biology/fish ecology/index.html

Southwest Regional Office (NMFS) Salmonid Guidelines for Forestry Practices in California http://swr.ucsd.edu/psd/sgfpc.htm