Technical Resources

Permitting Guidance

Resources for practitioners to accelerate habitat restoration projects statewide

• Accelerating Restoration Website
  • Find Permitting Pathways by Agency
  • Restoration Permitting Tips
• Essential Guide for Accelerated Restoration Permitting

Habitat Restoration & Enhancement Act (HREA)

Expedited review for restoration projects. Check out our training videos for step-by-step assistance with your HREA application below!

• Fact sheet
• Application Guidance
• HREA Informational Video
• HREA Training Videos for Applicants (Playlist)
  

Sustainable Conservation Sponsored Permits & Authorizations

• Fact Sheet: New Statewide Tools to Accelerate Aquatic Habitat Restoration Permitting
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Statewide Restoration Programmatic Biological Opinion
  • Appendix A: ESA Section 7(a)(2) Review Form
  • Attachment to Appendix A: Protection Measures
  • Appendix B: Post Construction Report Form
  • Appendix C: Status and Environmental Baseline for Covered Species and their Critical Habitat
  • Appendix D: Analysis for NLAA Species and Critical Habitat
• State Water Resources Control Board Statewide Restoration General Order (SRGO) and Programmatic Environmental Impact Report (PEIR)
• National Marine Fisheries Service: North Coast | Central Coast | South Coast | Central Valley, Central Valley Fact Sheet
• California Coastal Commission: North & Central Coast | South Coast

Reports

• Creating a Statewide Program for Voluntary Restoration on Private Lands: Accomplishments and lessons learned from our past Partners in Restoration Program (Read the Executive Summary here)
• Voluntary Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) Programs: Results of our Mokelumne River PES pilot program and recommendations for future programs
• Removing Barriers to Restoration: 2002 report by the California Natural Resources Agency-convened Task Force

Reports

Collaborative Solutions for California’s Climate-Resilient Agriculture: Harnessing the Water-Related Benefits of Soil: An analysis of the barriers preventing California’s growers from implementing soil health practices and solutions to address them.

Cover Cropping in the SGMA Era | Executive Summary: A multi-disciplinary committee-authored report including a literature review, policy analysis, and recommendations pertaining to the water impacts of cover crop practices in California’s Central Valley under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA).

Water Quality

Resources for farmers, industry and stakeholders to reduce water quality impacts from manure management.

Subsurface Drip Irrigation System Overview

Manure Subsurface Drip Irrigation Summary Evaluation

Considerations for Switching From Flood to Manure Subsurface Drip Irrigation for Forage Production: A guidance document, sharing lessons learned and key areas for consideration when switching to a manure sub-surface drip irrigation system.

Cost Analysis of Manure Subsurface Drip System on California Dairies: An analysis of the capital, operations, and maintenance costs of the manure sub-surface drip irrigation system.

Evaluation of the Agronomic and Environmental Impacts of Manure Subsurface Drip Systems: Outcomes of switching to manure sub-surface drip irrigation on crop performance and resource use efficiencies.

Nutrient and Salinity Management Guidance for Manure Subsurface Drip Systems: A guidance document of key areas for consideration when using a manure sub-surface drip irrigation system to apply nutrients.

NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program: NRCS’ voluntary financial and technical assistance program for growers.

Nutrient Management Field Guide: Helping dairies stay profitable while meeting water quality standards

Greenhouse Gas Reductions

Resources for farmers, industry and stakeholders to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in California’s dairy industry

CAPCOA GHG Rx

Registry and exchange for California greenhouse gas emissions reductions credits

• Guidelines & Protocols
• Brochure

Reports

• Biomethane from Dairy Waste: A Sourcebook for the Production and Use of Renewable Natural Gas in California: Report on the feasibility of producing biomethane from dairy manure, including technologies, applications and markets for products
• Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Strategies for CA Dairies: Report examining strategies for CARB in developing a short-lived climate pollutants (SLCP) emissions-reduction plan that includes reducing methane emissions from dairies (Read Summary here)
• Compost: Enhancing the Value of Manure (Full Report): Report that examines the barriers to and mechanisms for creating a market for dairy manure compost (Read Executive Summary here)
• Nitrous oxide emissions in subsurface drip and flood irrigated dairy forage production systems: Study of the impact on nitrous oxide emissions from switching from flood irrigation to drip irrigation using manure (Poster)
• Cost-effective and Environmentally Beneficial Dairy Manure Management Practices: Report examining potential dairy manure management practices, economic impacts and environmental benefits
• An Assessment of Technologies for Management and Treatment of Dairy Manure in California’s San Joaquin Valley: Report examining dairy manure management technologies, their feasibility and further research needed

Water Quality Guidance

• Protecting Groundwater Quality While Practicing On-Farm Recharge (two-page overview): 600,000+ Californians rely on nitrate-contaminated drinking water from public supply wells. Sustainable Conservation’s resources help address this issue. [Spanish version]
• Management Considerations for Protecting Groundwater Quality Under Agricultural Managed Recharge (AgMAR): This paper – intended for those interested in a deeper dive on water quality under AgMAR – summarizes current research on potential mobilization of nitrate and salts under AgMAR and presents field- and regional-scale considerations to protect water quality for communities.
• Protecting Groundwater Quality While Replenishing Aquifers: This brief – intended for growers, water planners, and communities – summarizes the nitrate-specific findings from the research paper. [Spanish version]

Recharging Groundwater

Resources for water agencies, irrigation districts and farmers in achieving groundwater sustainability

• Overview of Groundwater Recharge Initiative
• Introduction to Groundwater Recharge: Introductory manual produced by the Almond Board of California in partnership with Sustainable Conservation
• On-Farm Recharge Methods Manual: Produced in partnership with and with funding from the California Department of Water Resources
• On-Farm Recharge Case Studies: Ten case studies of growers who are both new to recharge and who’ve been practicing, on a variety of crops
• District Recharge Program Guidance: How to set up a district-wide recharge program
• Central Valley Groundwater Recharge Incentives and Strategies: A list of possible incentives for growers to practice recharge

Guidance

• On-farm Recharge Guidance Sheet
• LandIQ Land Suitability Map – Central Valley
• Groundwater Recharge Suitability developed by LandIQ & subject to limitations of public soil & groundwater data resources used in analysis. Index derived from the Soil Agriculture Groundwater Banking Index (SAGBI) developed by UC Davis, depth to groundwater from Department of Water Resources data, and subsoil characteristics from USGS well log data analysis used in Central Valley Hydrologic Model. PDF version. To explore map in detail, use GRAT Viewer.

CA Department of Water Resources & Sustainable Conservation Watershed Studies

Watershed Climate Studies Demonstrate Vulnerability, Climate Adaptation and Multi-Sector Benefits

Multibenefit Recharge

Maximizing recharge for benefits to water supply, people, and wildlife.

• Building Multi-Benefit Recharge Basins: Single Page | Full Spreads

Groundwater Recharge Assessment Tool (GRAT)

Online tool to maximize and optimize groundwater recharge in over-drafted regions of California

• Website
• GRAT Overview Fact Sheet
• GRAT Viewer | Instructions
• Demo video | Note: no audio. Turn captions on.

Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA)

Systems map that identifies relationships between people, entities and actions related to SGMA implementation`

• Interactive Systems Map
• PDF Version

Assessing Opportunities for SGMA and CV-SALTS to Drive Better Outcomes in Water and Sustainable Agriculture: This white paper seeks to address the following research question: “How can findings from SGMA and CV-SALTS activities be integrated to identify and pursue opportunities for improved and more equitable regional-scale climate and water outcomes?

Sustainable Conservation Reports

• Bachand & Associates: 2017 On-Farm Recharge Demonstration Site Monitoring & Analysis: Results from our 2017 recharge demonstration sites
• McMullin Grower Survey: Survey of 12 farmers on the perceived benefits and risks of on-farm groundwater recharge in the Kings River basin
• On-Farm Flood Capture and Recharge at an Organic Almond Orchard, Recharge Rates and Soil Profile Responses: Study summarizing Sustainable Conservation’s 2016 on-farm recharge events and effects on almond crop
• On-Farm Infrastructure Needs Assessment & Costs To Implement Groundwater Recharge Report: Study of on-farm infrastructure needed to implement groundwater recharge on cropland
• M. Cubed: Analyzing Cost Effectiveness for Kings Basin Flood Flow Recovery: Report examining the economic modeling and costs of various on-farm recharge scenarios as compared to dedicated recharge basins
• Modeling Nitrate Leaching Risk from Specialty Crop Fields During On-Farm Managed Floodwater Recharge: Report on the potential nitrate leaching risks from on-farm recharge, supported by a USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant

Partner Reports

• Implications of Using On-Farm Flood Flow Capture To Recharge Groundwater and Mitigate Flood Risks Along the Kings River, CA | Fact Sheet: Study summarizing Sustainable Conservation & partners’ on-farm recharge study at Terranova Ranch in 2011
• RMC Water and Environment: A New Opportunity – Groundwater Recharge through Winter Flooding of Agricultural Land in the San Joaquin Valley: Study highlighting the need for increased groundwater recharge and viability of on-farm agricultural recharge

Regional Strategy

Water Resources on the Central Coast: A Collaborative Systems Journey

This collaborative systems map, made together with 20 regional stakeholders, looks at how we can better understand and collectively transform water challenges on California’s Central Coast.

Water Efficiency

Resources for farmers and water managers in measuring water use and improving conservation

California FarmLink Loan-Rebate Program

Incentive loan program that rewards farmers for using water and nutrients efficiently

Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops (SISC) Case Studies

Stories of how California farmers are using performance metrics to be more sustainable with the water and nutrients they use to grow crops

Tools

• Plant Risk Evaluator: Industry tool designed to screen potentially invasive plants before they are introduced to retail markets

Retail Nursery Partnership Program

• Become a PlantRight Retail Nursery Partner
• Find a PlantRight Retail Nursery Partner near you
• Continuing Education Program

Invasive Plant Data & Alternatives

• Suggested Alternatives for Invasive Garden Plants: List of commonly available invasive plants by region in California, and suggested non-invasive alternatives (También disponible en español)
• Spring Nursery Survey: Annual survey that tracks California invasive plant sales based on our “Suggested Alternatives” list above (See the Survey Fact Sheet here)

Proposition 3: The California Water Infrastructure and Watershed Conservation Bond Initiative

• Endorsement
• Proposition 3 Gets Our Vote: Interview with former Sustainable Conservation Policy Director Stacey Sullivan

Proposition 68: The California Parks, Environment, and Water Bond of 2018

• Endorsement
• Understanding the 2018 Water Bonds: Interview with Sustainable Conservation Policy Director Stacey Sullivan

Partnership Information

Brake Pad Partnership Information: Operating Plan | Study Plan

Copper Use Reporting

Copper Use Monitoring Program Results: Documenting the amount of copper in automotive friction materials for automotive models years 1998-2006

Bay Modeling

• Modeling the Fate of Copper in the San Francisco Bay: Summary of Findings, Final Report 

Watershed Modeling

• Estimates of Copper in Runoff to the San Francisco Bay: Summary of Findings, Final Report
• Companion to Final Report: Watershed Response Time and Improved Estimate of Brake Pad Copper in Runoff
• Land Use and Land Cover Analysis for Watershed Modeling
• Street Sweeper Removal Estimates

Air Deposition Modeling & Monitoring

• Estimates of Air Deposition Rates of Copper in the San Francisco Bay Watershed: Summary of Findings |Final Report
• Copper Deposition in Bay Area Watersheds: Final Report
• Air Deposition Monitoring: Final Report

Brake Pad Wear Debris Characterization

• Generating a Representative Sample of Brake Pad Wear Debris: Final Report | Non-Airborne Representative Debris | Airborne Debris

Copper Source Loading Estimates

• Copper Releases in the San Francisco Bay Watershed: Summary of Findings | Estimating Copper Loading from Brake Sources | Estimating Copper Loading from Non Brake Sources

Stormwater Quality Monitoring

• Castro Valley Creek Water Quality Monitoring: Final Report | Analytical Data, Rainfall Data, USGS Flow Data