I see my major role as helping make the idea of adaptive management work. What we've done to date is we've relied on some scientific recommendations to tell us what to do, but we know that these are just our best guesses. So we're relying on science in the next eight years to get better numbers and to be sure these numbers get turned into policy. Well, the most glaring one is the lack of confinement on lower Lee Vining Creek. That's number one.
Confinement keeps the flows deep for a given discharge, which then mobilizes the bed.
Right now we just have shallow flow. The process that will probably bring confinement back the quickest is the riparian vegetation establishment close to the channel, which is happening at a fairly rapid rate. The riparian vegetation is going to create enough roughness in the stream channel to create a lot of deposition, which will start bringing back that confinement. But I think that the main issue is to see the confinement come back to Lee Vining Creek. And it's going to take a while.