Webinar: Integrated models for environmental flow planning in the Colorado River Delta
Channel: Conservation and Adaptation Resources Toolbox
Date: 2017-03-21

Presenters:
Lianne Daugherty, Hydros Consulting 
Karen Schlatter, Sonoran Institute 
Eloise Kendy, The Nature Conservancy 
Jennifer Pitt, National Audubon Society

The United States and Mexico have engaged in restoration of the Colorado River Delta under Minute 319, a binational agreement on Colorado River management.  Under this agreement, environmental flows have been delivered into the Colorado River below Morelos Dam since 2013, including a large “pulse flow” in 2014.  This presentation summarizes an integration of data and models (IDM) developed from the environmental flows, developed as a tool to support decision makers’ efforts to plan and design future environmental flow deliveries to the Colorado River delta.  The IDM relies centrally on results from the transient HEC-RAS model we developed to predict hydrologic responses to various water delivery scenarios in the limitrophe of the Colorado River Delta, as well as a model to assess the associated benefits to riparian vegetation and habitat. This methodology allows us to 1) delineate areas of low, medium, and high potential for cottonwood and willow germination and establishment, 2) assess potential to support existing cottonwood and willow populations, and 3) identify additional open water areas that would result from each water delivery scenario.