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About the California Wetlands Portal

Contents

Introduction

The California Wetlands Portal provides free public access to information about wetland projects, habitats, and habitat condition in selected regions of California.

Information on projects includes location, type (mitigation or non-mitigation), size, sponsors, status, and planned changes to habitat. Wetland habitats are mapped for the entire state, using the best available information in each region.

Wetland projects, habitats, and condition are displayed on interactive regional maps. Sortable project listings are also available. Detailed information such as project contacts and events are provided on project information pages.

The project file library provides access to reports, data, photos, videos, and other files related to a project. Anyone can submit files with their browser and make them available for others to download.

Geographic Scope

Information on wetland projects is currently available for:

  • San Francisco Bay Area: tidal baylands
  • San Francisco Bay Area: Napa River watershed
  • San Francisco Bay Area: Water Board permitted projects since October 2006
  • California central coast: estuarine, riverine and depressional wetland areas from Halfmoon Bay to Point Conception
  • California south coast: estuarine, riverine and depressional wetland areas from Point Conception to Tijuana Slough Estuary

Information on modern wetland habitats is available statewide. Regionally developed maps are used when possible.

Information on historical wetland habitats is available for the San Francisco Bay Area and the San Gabriel River watershed of Southern California.

Information on CRAM (habitat condition) assessments is available statewide, where CRAM scores have been collected.

The geographic scope of the Portal will grow over time as data is collected for additional regions in California.

Adding information to the Portal

The Wetland Project Data Form

For use in conjunction with the regulatory permitting process. See “The Wetland Project Data Form,” below.

Project Files & Links

Project managers and members of the public can upload project reports and other project-related files to make them available to others in the wetland community. Use "Files & Links" on a project’s information page to upload.

New Projects

To add a project to the Portal, call (510) 746-7370 or email webfeedbacksfei.org.

Updates

If there is any information on your project that is outdated, inaccurate, or missing, please let Portal staff fix it. Call (510) 746-7370 or email webfeedbacksfei.org with changes.

The Wetland Project Data Form

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Note: the following information is currently applicable only to projects in Region 2 (San Francisco Bay Area) of the Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Information on newly permitted projects is conveyed to the Portal by the Wetland Project Data Form. This form is a 401 permit condition for most new projects. For more information and to obtain the form, visit the Region 2 website.

Maps Required

The Project Data Form requires the submission of two maps:

  • Present habitats
  • Planned habitat changes

These maps can be submitted in a number of formats, as detailed in the Form.

Visit Map Examples to see an example of a completed set of maps suitable for submission with a Wetland Project Data Form.

Habitats

The Wetlands Portal project has created a statewide standard set of Wetland Portal Habitats to provide a consistent basis for tracking wetland habitat changes. The development of this set of habitats was influenced by the federal Cowardin and HGM (hydrogeomorphic) classifications, and California wetland habitat vernacular.

Mapping

Circular approximations

In a few cases, information on a project’s size and general location is known, but detailed boundary information is not. In such cases, the project is mapped as a dashed circle, centered on project location, and with size equal to the known project size. The idea of providing these circular approximations is to provide Portal visitors a visual representation of size and location, rather than leave the project completely off the map. The circle is replaced with an actual boundary when that information becomes available.

Submitting project maps

See "Maps Required," above.

Sources of Information

Habitat Maps

The Portal team is working with the National Wetlands Inventory to develop additional regional updates of California’s wetland habitats. Those will be incorporated into the Portal as they are completed.

Projects—San Francisco Bay Area

Information on existing projects was gathered in large part from the paper files of the San Francisco District of the US Army Corps of Engineers. Information on new projects is being collected using the Wetland Tracker Form, which is a 401 permit condition for the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Projects—Central Coast

Information was gathered by staff of Moss Landing Marine Labs and students of Cal State University Monterey Bay from multiple sources including the Morro Bay National Estuary Program, California Conservation Corps, multiple Resource Conservation Districts, State Parks, California Department of Fish and Game, and local governments.

Projects—South Coast

Information was gathered by the staff of the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project.

Browser Compatibility

The interactive map is compatible with Internet Explorer 7 and above, Safari 3 and above, and Firefox 2 and above. Firefox 2 and above is recommended for best results. Internet Explorer version 6 and below cannot be used with the interactive map due to incompatibility with the transparency feature. If you do not have access to a compatible browser, you can still use the text listing of projects.

Slow internet connections (e.g. dialup modem connections) may also prevent the use of the interactive map.

Feedback

If you have comments or suggestions for the Wetlands Portal, please send them to "webfeedbacksfei.org."

The Natural Resource Projects Inventory (includes some information on Bay Area wetland projects)

San Francisco Bay Joint Venture list of wetland restoration projects

The California Environmental Resources Evaluation System

The San Francisco Bay Area Conservation Commons

Credits

The Wetlands Portal was created by the San Francisco Estuary Institute. The current Portal development team includes Todd Featherston, Patty Frontiera, Cristina Grosso, Josh Collins, Michael May, John Oram, Shelly Moore, Eric Stein, and Martha Sutula. Thanks to Eric Wittner and Jake Schweitzer for their contributions to design and implementation. A special acknowledgment goes out to Karin Tuxen, formerly of UC Berkeley’s Kelly Research and Outreach Lab, who extended the functionality of the Portal under RREA funding. Most of the information for the Bay Area region was collected by Max Delaney, who poured over files at the US Army Corps of Engineers, San Francisco District. Max’s work was made possible through the gracious help of Molly Martindale and other Corps’ staff. Special thanks also go to Andreé Greenberg, Shin-Roei Lee, and Paula White of the Regional Water Quality Control Board for the tireless hours they have spent integrating the Portal with the Regional Board’s permit process. Data collection for the original version of the Portal dataset was conducted primarily by Wetlands and Water Resources and PRBO Conservation Science.

Primary funding is from the US Environmental Protection Agency; additional funders include the US Fish and Wildlife Service Coastal Program; the San Francisco Estuary Project; the Renewable Resources Extension Act; the San Francisco Foundation and CALFED.

Release Notes

Version 2.0.2 – 3/16/10

  • Changed name to California Wetlands Portal
  • Improved integration and display of CRAM data on map interface. Data are provided in a new sortable table.
  • Expanded coverage to include entire state by adding other regions
  • Added a list of common wetland questions and their answers
  • Added background information on wetlands
  • Integrated Wetlands Portal with My Water Quality portals
  • Added “News” section on home page to list highlights
  • Implemented numerous changes to enhance performance of mapping functionality
  • Included “CA Water Boards” layer in map interface
  • Changed the email address for submitting the wetlands data form to wetlandsdata@waterboards.ca.gov

Version 2.0.1—5/14/09

  • Extensive overhaul of backend code, now written with Groovy using the Grails web application framework
  • Clarified in several places that project status refers to status of construction activity
  • Updated construction status for selected projects
  • Integrated search field to search Wetlands Portal projects and files using Google
  • Overall map response time decreased
  • Map now integrated into overall Portal layout and includes left-hand navigation bar. Removed top banner navigation.
  • Map information popup now displays information for all projects and/or CRAM assessments at location of mouse click
  • Improved labeling for Modern Habitats basemap
  • More open layout on project information page
  • All tables on project information page now sortable
  • Revised date format for project Events table, which more easily supports year-only, year-month, and year-month-day date information
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