CRWC Launches Watershed Report Card Project

CSUMB students immerse themselves in fieldwork on the Carmel River

Mikaela Bogdan, CRWC intern and CSU Monterey Bay graduate student, is taking on a new initiative to measure the health of the Carmel River Watershed. The initiative was begun in early 2020 by John Wandke, also a CSUMB graduate student and employee of RANA Nursery. The goal is to create a Watershed Report Card that provides a score of overall watershed conditions by analyzing data on certain indicators of watershed health, including invasive species ( French broom, acacia, striped bass and New Zealand mud snails), benthic macroinvertebrates, and water quality and quantity. This measuring system will be adapted from several existing methods for indexing and assessing watershed health including the California Stream Condition Index and Proper Functioning Condition assessments. It will translate complex biological, hydrologic, vegetative, and geomorphic data into a measure of overall system health. The result will be a score for several important watershed health indicators within the Carmel River Watershed.

The project is still in the early stages. Funding is provided by the Carmel River Watershed Conservancy and an opportunity grant from the Community Foundation for Monterey County. Mikaela expects the project to include several local agencies, such as the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District, the Carmel River Steelhead Association and Trout Unlimited. The final report will be an easily digestible summary of our watershed health, targeted toward policy makers, resource managers, educators, funders and the general public.

​With continued funding from CRWC, this project is expected to continue indefinitely with the intention of improving the accuracy of the score as well as providing data for indicators that have not been as well studied. For indicators that may score poorly, this project will bring comprehensive monitoring and management to enhance conservation efforts.