By Nicholas Pinter and David Conrad In a turbulent year for US disaster management, changes that seemed unthinkable a few months ago are now coming to pass. California leaders should be planning proactive responses now. The California Flood Future Panel is now assessing potential impacts of federal changes to US disaster management, particularly considering proposed changes or elimination of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

By Claire Kouba, Sarah Yarnell, Leland Scantlebury, and Thomas Harter How much water do fish really need, and is it possible to ask the fish? One approach to answering this question is to monitor the abundance of a local fish population over many years, and determine the degree to which observed streamflow correlates with fishery persistence, increase, or decline. We applied this approach in a recent…

By George Whitman, who is dressed as Dr. John Watson this Halloween While this Sherlockian mystery is fictional, it is inspired by a real event in which a Walleye was illegally introduced into Lake Cascade, Idaho. The events described below parallel the actual research conducted to uncover its origins. Looking back over the notes of my many adventures with Sherlock Holmes, I cannot but reflect upon the remarkable variety of his methods.

“Where are they now:” is a blog series on the California WaterBlog, written in the voices of our alumni. The series celebrates the many alumni who got their start at the Center for Watershed Sciences (CWS) and have now gone on to bigger and better things. Blog posts from “Where are they now:” will be peppered throughout our regularly scheduled line up blogs, and they will highlight both former students and past employees of CWS.

By Kathleen Schaefer Photograph: Brandon Bell/Getty Images In the wake of recent tragic events, such as the devastating floods in Texas, it’s become clear that our current approach to flood m…

By Carson Jeffres Consider for a moment the identity of the Pacific Northwest as a Salmon Society.  When you fly into an airport in the Pacific Northwest, salmon are on the floors and wal…

International Fish Passage Conference 2026 The International Fish Passage Conference will be hosted at UC Davis on May 4–8, 2026 at the campus' Conference Center.

By Peter Moyle and Tom Taylor ____________________ The fresh waters of California support a diverse native fish fauna, 130 taxa by our count (Leidy and Moyle 2021). At least 56 of these taxa are on trajectories towards extinction 7 are already extinct; 32 are listed as threatened or endangered by state and federal agencies. Not surprisingly, the declining species attract lots of attention because protecting them affects water use statewide.

By Lindsay Murdoch, Sarah Yarnell, and Jay Lund California’s local communities and native ecosystems alike have adapted to cycles of flood, drought, and a healthy portion of everything in between. Our river management, on the other hand, has fallen out of natural balance and tends to oscillate between insufficient minimum flows and emergency flood responses, missing much of what our rivers need most: the variability in between.

By Carson Jeffres Consider for a moment the identity of the Pacific Northwest as a Salmon Society. When you fly into an airport in the Pacific Northwest, salmon are on the floors and walls as art. This art is an expression of societal values in which salmon are important. In contrast, when you fly into Sacramento you see art of a river, birds, agriculture, but the salmon are missing.

By Nicholas Pinter A US federal government shutdown is looming, potentially starting Oct. 1, with broad impacts across the government and across the country. The scope of these unfolding events is beyond the wheelhouse of the California Water Blog. But pulled into the slipstream of this potential budget impasse is an important water issue. If Congress does not – or did not – act by midnight on Sept.

By Jay Lund October 1 marks the beginning of California’s new Water Year (WY). Water years here run from October 1 until September 30 of the next calendar year and are named for the calendar year of the bulk of the water year (January-October). October 1 is also the nominal beginning of California’s wet season. California’s hydrology has two basic seasons, wet and dry, with the wet season nominally from October 1 – April 1 (Figure 1).

By Nicholas Pinter and Sarah Yarnell In late June and July of this year, UC Davis convened an Advanced Studies Institute (ASI) on “International Approaches to Freshwater Management,” bringing 11 top graduate students from across the US to study rivers and management systems in California, Italy, and the Netherlands. ASIs are funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to engage US grad students in emergent global issues and collaborative international research.  

By Kathleen Schaefer Photograph: Brandon Bell/Getty Images In the wake of recent tragic events, such as the devastating floods in Texas, it's become clear that our current approach to flood management and disaster preparedness is falling short. The Associated Press reported that a flood warning system, which could have potentially saved lives, was left unfunded due to budget constraints (

By Peter B. Moyle Figure 1. Eagle Lake, Lassen Co. * This is a re-post of a blog originally published 11/26/2023. When Californians talk of lakes, they usually mean reservoirs, the 1500 or so artificial bodies of water behind dams. Alternately, they may be referring to the 4,000 or so natural lakes in the Sierra Nevada or to one of the few large natural lakes in the state, such as Lake Tahoe or Clear Lake.

By Andrew L. Rypel “Way back in the days when the grass was still green and the pond was still wet and the clouds were still clean, and the song of the Swomee-Swans rang out in space...one morning, I came to this glorious place. And I first saw the trees! The Truffula Trees! The bright-colored tufts of the Truffula Trees! Mile after mile in the fresh morning breeze.” …

Deadly floods like Texas’ are rare in California, but climate change-fueled storms could make them more likely, climate scientists say — even in the Bay Area.

By Karrigan Börk Readers of the California Water Blog (Blog) may have noticed some changes over the past year. The Blog is a product of the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences (CWS), and after many years of dedicated service, longtime CWS leaders Dr. Andrew Rypel (Director) and Dr. Cathryn Lawrence (Assistant Director) are transitioning to new chapters.

By Christopher Mouawad This blog provides a glimpse into the complexity of permitting for large water projects like Sites. California water law is as intricate and varied as the systems it governs. What begins as a seemingly simple doctrine, such as “first in time, first in right,” can quickly spiral into a labyrinth of layered principles, regulatory frameworks, and practical tradeoffs.

The International Society for River Science (ISRS) will hold the 7th International Symposium on River Science at the University of California, Davis on October 6-9, 2025. We invite you to attend! The first river symposium was held in 1979 in Norway, and rivers conferences have continued through the decades since, across the globe. Recent conferences have been held in La Crosse, Wisconsin (2015), Hamilton, New Zealand (2017), and Vienna, Austria (2019).