Future Operations and Adaptive Management

The West Coast Region’s Future Operations and Adaptive Management Branch is part of the Central Valley Office located in Sacramento, California. The Branch supports the Central Valley Office's engagement with partners in science and management actions to conserve Central Valley salmonids and sturgeon listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Branch efforts include:

• Coordinating and synthesizing Central Valley science efforts and products.
• Contributing to assessments of future Central Valley water delivery operations with consideration of climate change impacts.
• Building relationships with principal investigators to better connect Central Valley Office needs to science efforts.
• Educating our partners and the public on science and biology about salmonids and sturgeon and their habitats.

The collective expertise of the Branch is diverse, including fisheries and wildlife biology, ecology, modeling, water quality, data science, engineering, structured decision-making, economics, human dimensions, and education and outreach. This breadth of knowledge allows the Branch to successfully engage with a wide range of partners and efforts to connect Central Valley fish management, science, and stakeholders, as well as ensure that the West Coast Region uses the best available science and remains engaged with novel science efforts throughout the Central Valley. 

Branch Efforts

Projects and collaborative partnerships in which the Branch participates include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) Science Integration Team (SIT)
• Central Valley Project Long Term Operations
• Collaborative Science and Adaptive Management Program (CSAMP) and Collaborative Adaptive Management Team (CAMT)
• Delta Conveyance
• Delta Plan Interagency Implementation Committee (DPIIC)
• Delta Structured Decision-making
• Education and Outreach
• Green Sturgeon Recovery
• Interagency Adaptive Management Implementation Team (IAMIT)
• Interagency Ecological Program (IEP)
• Interagency Telemetry Advisory Group (ITAG)
• NMFS Winter-run Chinook Life Cycle Model
• Sacramento River Science Partnership (SRSP)
• Sites Reservoir
• Voluntary Agreements

Juvenile southern distinct population segment (sDPS) green sturgeon captured in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Juvenile sDPS green sturgeon live primarily in the Delta until ocean entry around the age of five.

Additional Links

Major past projects include the Bay Delta Conservation Plan and California WaterFix.