# Presentation: 413449

## San Francisco Bay Pilot

- Mike Connor
- Executive Director
-  San Francisco Estuary Institute

##    Partners

***Federal Agencies***
- EPA - Karen Schwinn, Associate Director, OW,, Region 9
- NOAA - Rebecca Smyth, California Regional Coordinator
- USGS - Jim Cloern, Dave Schoelhamer, Research Scientists
- USFWS -   Colin Eagle-Smith, Environmental Contaminants
***State of California   ***
- Steve Ritchie, South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project
- Dr. Paul Siri, State Coastal Conservancy
- Tom Mumley, San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board
- Chuck Armor, Interagency Ecological Program
- Marcia Brockbank, San Francisco Estuary Program
- Barbara Washburn, OEHHA
- Dr. Terry Fleming, SWAMP, (EPA on-loan)
***Academia***
- Dr. Toby Garfield, San Francisco State University
- Dr. John Largier, UC Davis, Bodega Bay
***Non-profit Sector***
- Heather Kerkerring, CeNCOOS
- Dr. Francisco Chavez, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
- Denise Greig, The Marine Mammal Center

## Replumbing the Bay:The CA Water ProjectsSince 1956 ~30% of inflow routed to irrigation and Southern California

**Replumbing the Bay:**The CA Water ProjectsSince 1956 ~30% of inflow routed to irrigation and Southern California

## Delta Smelt (IEP)

## Spring Calanoid Abundance  (IEP)

**Spring Calanoid Abundance  (IEP)**

*P. amurensis*

*L. tetraspina*

**Number per cubic meter**

## Current Projects in the San Francisco Bay Region

## Few Contaminants Account for Most Risk

- Ratio of Amounts in Fish to Benchmark

**5**

**1**

**10**

**Hg**

**PCBs**

**Dioxins**

**Se**

**Dieldrin**

**DDT**

**Chlordane      **

## Legacy Pollutants: Amount in Bay >30x larger than annual inputs

## Bay Sediment PCBS

**Bay Sediment PCBS**

## Hydraulic Mining Dominates the Bay Sediment Budget

- Practiced from 1863 – 1884, then outlawed.
- >100 million m3 of sediment washed into Central Valley.
- Main bed sediment pulse passed Sacramento ~1950.
- Channel and floodplain deposits remain. still moving thru system.

- Expected response

- time

- Sediment  yield

**Expected response**

## Sentinel Species for Evaluating Mercury Release

Mississippi silverside 2005

**Unpublished data provided by Darell Slotton**

- Sentinel Species for Evaluating Mercury Release
- Mississippi silverside 2005

## Linking Mercury to Effects:A Conceptual Model

- Trophic Transfer

- Maternal Transfer

**Fail-to-Hatch**

- Hatch

**Mortality (<10 d)**

- Survive

- Incubation

**Abandon**

**(Obj. 1A)**

**(Obj. 1B)**

**(Obj. 2)**

**(Obj. 3)**

**Egg Hg**

**Abandonment**

**Egg Hg**

**Hatchability**

**Egg Hg**

**Chick Survival**

## Wetland Goals Project

*Past*

*Present*

*Future*

- Wetland Design Guidelines:  www.wrmp.org

## Updates linked to Ca 401 Certification Program

**Updates linked to Ca 401 Certification Program**

## Part of a Developmental Framework for Comprehensive Assessment and Monitoring

**Level 2: **Rapid assessment using checklists or other semi-quantitative devices to score wetland sites relative to a range of condition from least impacted to highly degraded (e.g. ORAM, CRAM).
**Level 3: **Evaluation of ecological services in their own regard (e.g., Unit Hydrograph, IBI’s) and to validate Level 1 and Level 2 results

## CRAM Design Template

*Wetland Condition*

- Four attributes of wetland function contribute to the overall wetland condition
- Scores are recorded for metrics for these attributes

## Multiple Level of Effects (MLOE)

## International Importance for Migratory Birds

***	******• ******Pacific Flyway Migration and Wintering Area (20% of N. A. waterfowl in the Central Valley & SF Bay)***
***	******• ******Western Hemispheric Shorebird Reserve Network**** *

**Notes:**
 San Francisco Baylands provide important habitat. Over a million shorebirds spend the winter in San Francisco Bay as does half the pacific flyway’s waterfowl populations.  

## SF Bay Seals

- Major estuary use
- Blood sampling common

**Draft Interim Report to NOAA Fisheries/NMFS, April 2001.** http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~halmark/tagging.htm

## PFOS Detections in Baltic, Artic, and SF Bay

- n=18

- n=12

- n=18

- n=26

**Source:  Giesy and Kannan 2001, ES&T;**

- n=3

**Notes:**
Based on Houde, it looks like most of this is from stranded dead animals.   Concentrations in dolphin plasma are higher from Charleston Bay (914+- 515 ng/mL and Sarasota Bay Florida 340 +-208)  Dolphins have a higher body burden because they don’t molt  

## Sewage Treatment Upgrades 

**Sewage Treatment Upgrades**

## Cloern, 2006

**Notes:**
Which we can see graphically by plotting the 25-75%ile range of the data on an expanded scale.

## Nutrient Sampling

## Slide 24

## Summary

- Heavy Emphasis
- Fresh Water Flows
- Nutrients
- Contaminants
- Wetlands
- Biology
- Little Emphasis
- Air
- Groundwater

## 12

- 6

- 6

- 9

- 6

- 6

- 9

- 11

- 9

- 81

- 20

- 21

- 24

- 32

- Score card summarizes the results for sub-metrics, metrics, attributes and the AA.
- Scoring is transparent and allows for easy evaluation of AA strengths and weaknesses.
- Stressor Checklist can be used to identify possible corrective actions

## Steps of CRAM Assessment

- Step 1:	Identify and classify the Focal Wetland
- Step 2: 	Assemble background information
- Step 3:	Sketch the CRAM Assessment Area (AA)
- Step 4:	Conduct the office assessment of AA
- Step 5:	Conduct the field assessment of AA
- Step 6:	Complete CRAM QA/QC
- Step 7:	Submit assessment results using *e*CRAM

**Notes:**
Seven steps to CRAM assessment, nine in the manual.  Calculating size and timing not included.

## Fill out site info ...

**Fill out site info ...**

## And score the site conditions ...

**And score the site conditions ...**

## Upload data from Field PC or transcribe from paper forms

**Upload data from Field PC or transcribe from paper forms**

## Then view the data. Select a site ...

**Then view the data. Select a site ...**

## Zoom to it...

**Zoom to it...**

## On an aerial image ...

**On an aerial image ...**

## Of the AA ...

**Of the AA ...**

## And compare site scores to ambient condition

**And compare site scores to ambient condition**

## Average PBDEs in SF Bay Seal Plasma

**Notes:**
Preliminary data indicate that PBDEs were detected in blood at concentrations in the range of 4.4 to 17.2 ng/g.   Dominant congeners were 47, 99, 100, and 154 with concentrations of congener 47 being an order of magnitude higher and accounting for 80 to 90 percent of the total PBDE observed.  Concentrations previously observed in California seals were 2.8 ng/g wet weight (SD=1.8; n=33)(Neale et al. 2005).  Congener 47 was also the dominant congener (84% of the total PBDE).

## 4

**4**

*-*

- Janet Thompson, USGS

**Notes:**
Finally, the major grazer of phytoplankton (Asiatic clams)  has declined. This hypothesis is one of our favorites. But then what has caused the decline in the clams?