To provide an alternative to the native NHD measuring system of percentage of distance along reach length with one that enhances the ability to examine distance relationships along entire stream courses.

To provide an alternative to the native NHD measuring system of percentage of distance along reach length with one that enhances the ability to examine distance relationships along entire stream courses.National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) high resolution NHDFlowline features for California were originally dissolved on common GNIS_ID or StreamLevel attributes and routed from mouth to headwater in meters. The results are measured polyline features representing entire streams. Routes on these streams are measured upstream, i.e., the measure at the mouth of a stream is zero and at the upstream end the measure matches the total length of the stream feature. Using GIS tools, a user of this dataset can retrieve the distance in meters upstream from the mouth at any point along a stream feature. CA_Streams_v3 Update Notes: This version includes over 200 stream modifications and additions resulting from requests for updating from CDFW staff and others. New locator fields from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) have been added for v3 to enhance user's ability to search for or extract subsets of California Streams by hydrologic area. See the Source Citation section of this metadata for further information on NHD, WBD, NHDFlowline, GNIS_ID and StreamLevel. **See the Data Quality section of this metadata for further explanation of stream feature development. Some current NHD data has not yet been included in CA_Streams. The effort to synchronize CA_Streams with NHD is ongoing.Metadata

Changes to instream flow are known to be one of the major factors that affect the health of biological communities. Flow alteration can degrade physical habitat and alter water quality, reducing the ability of a stream to support aquatic life. Understanding the relationship between changes in flow and changes in benthic invertebrate communities (a key indicator of stream health) is critical to informing decisions about ecosystem vulnerability, identifying causes of stream and watershed degradation, and setting priorities for future watershed management.

Among the range of approaches available for setting flow targets that support biological integrity, a recently completed project in southern California evaluated the Ecological Limits of Hydrologic Alteration (ELOHA) framework to assess the effect of flow alteration on the condition of benthic macroinvertebrate (BMI) communities across the region. The ELOHA framework establishes recommended targets using a process that includes estimation of flow alteration and development of flow-ecology relationships based on the response of biological communities to changes in flow. This project applied to the ELOHA framework to develop regional flow-ecology relationships and targets based on responses in the benthic macroinvertebrate community. The objectives of this project were: 1) Develop a recommended set of flow targets for southern California streams that would maximize the likelihood of maintaining healthy biological communities as indicated by the California Stream Condition Index (CSCI) for benthic invertebrates. 2) Produce a set of tools that can be readily applied to future sites to estimate hydrologic alteration relative to biologically-define targets.

This project was led by the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP) and developed flow-ecology relationships using data from nearly 600 bioassessment sites sampled over the past eight years. The California Stream Condition Index (CSCI), a measure of biological condition based on benthic macroinvertebrate communities, was calculated at each of these sites (for more information on the CSCI, refer to the CSCI Fact Sheet and the Bioassessment scores map that shows statewide CSCI scores and stream hydrologic classifications). The degree of hydrologic alteration at each of these sites was assessed by comparing estimates of present-day and historical flows using a set of regionally calibrated hydrologic models. Differences from historic flow conditions were compared to CSCI scores to estimate the probability of good biological conditions along gradients of increasing hydrologic alteration.

The datasets presented here provide the biological and flow metrics calculated for each site to develop recommended flow targets and management priorities at those sites. For more information, please refer the final report for this project, available here.

National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) high resolution NHDFlowline features for California were originally dissolved on common GNIS_ID or StreamLevel* attributes and routed from mouth to headwater in meters. The results are measured polyline features representing entire streams. Routes on these streams are measured upstream, i.e., the measure at the mouth of a stream is zero and at the upstream end the measure matches the total length of the stream feature. Using GIS tools, a user of this dataset can retrieve the distance in meters upstream from the mouth at any point along a stream feature.** CA_Streams_v3 Update Notes: This version includes over 200 stream modifications and additions resulting from requests for updating from CDFW staff and others***. New locator fields from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) have been added for v3 to enhance user's ability to search for or extract subsets of California Streams by hydrologic area. *See the Source Citation section of this metadata for further information on NHD, WBD, NHDFlowline, GNIS_ID and StreamLevel. **See the Data Quality section of this metadata for further explanation of stream feature development. ***Some current NHD data has not yet been included in CA_Streams. The effort to synchronize CA_Streams with NHD is ongoing.

Geospatial data about Butte County, California Streams. Export to CAD, GIS, PDF, CSV and access via API.

Geospatial data about Placer County, California Streams. Export to CAD, GIS, PDF, CSV and access via API.

This digital dataset contains the locations of, and links to USGS gages on the surface-water network for the Central Valley Hydrologic Model (CVHM). The Central Valley encompasses an approximate 50,000 square-kilometer region of California. The complex hydrologic system of the Central Valley is simulated using the USGS numerical modeling code MODFLOW-FMP (Schmidt and others, 2006b). This simulation is referred to here as the CVHM (Faunt, 2009). Utilizing MODFLOW-FMP, the CVHM simulates groundwater and surface-water flow, irrigated agriculture, land subsidence, and other key processes in the Central Valley on a monthly basis from 1961-2003. The total active modeled area is 20,334 square-miles. The CVHM includes complex surface-water management processes. The hydrology of the present-day Central Valley and the CVHM model are driven by surface-water deliveries and associated groundwater pumpage. The Streamflow Routing Package (SFR1) is linked to MODFLOW-FMP to facilitate the simulated conveyance of surface-water deliveries. If surface-water deliveries do not meet the farm-delivery requirement, the FMP invokes simulated groundwater pumping to meet the demand. The surface-water network represents a subset of the entire stream network in the valley. Even so, it covers about 3,000 kilometers of surface-water and is simulated using 208 stream segments that represent 2244 stream reaches, with 43 inflows and 66 diversion locations providing 64 routed and 41 non-routed deliveries. Most of these inflows are regulated by dams and most of the deliveries are conveyed through an extensive canal network. The routed deliveries are conveyed through the simulated surface-water network, while the non-routed delivery conveyance typically occurs through small canals or diversion ditches and are not directly simulated. Much of the surface-water diversion and delivery information was compiled by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) for 21 water-balance subregions (WBSs) covering the valley floor (C. Brush, California Department of Water Resources, written commun., February 21, 2007). The CVHM is the most recent regional-scale model of the Central Valley developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The CVHM was developed as part of the USGS Groundwater Resources Program (see "Foreword", Chapter A, page iii, for details).

The USGS National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) downloadable data collection from The National Map (TNM) is a comprehensive set of digital spatial data that encodes information about naturally occurring and constructed bodies of surface water (lakes, ponds, and reservoirs), paths through which water flows (canals, ditches, streams, and rivers), and related entities such as point features (springs, wells, stream gages, and dams). The information encoded about these features includes classification and other characteristics, delineation, geographic name, position and related measures, a "reach code" through which other information can be related to the NHD, and the direction of water flow. The network of reach codes delineating water and transported material flow allows users to trace movement in upstream and downstream directions. In addition to this geographic information, the dataset contains metadata that supports the exchange of future updates and improvements to the data. The NHD supports many applications, such as making maps, geocoding observations, flow modeling, data maintenance, and stewardship. For additional information on NHD, go to https://www.usgs.gov/core-science-systems/ngp/national-hydrography.

DWR was the steward for NHD and Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) in California. We worked with other organizations to edit and improve NHD and WBD, using the business rules for California. California's NHD improvements were sent to USGS for incorporation into the national database. The most up-to-date products are accessible from the USGS website. Please note that the California portion of the National Hydrography Dataset is appropriate for use at the 1:24,000 scale.

For additional derivative products and resources, including the major features in geopackage format, please go to this page: https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/nhd-major-features Archives of previous statewide extracts of the NHD going back to 2018 may be found at https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/nhd-archive.

In September 2022, USGS officially notified DWR that the NHD would become static as USGS resources will be devoted to the transition to the new 3D Hydrography Program (3DHP). 3DHP will consist of LiDAR-derived hydrography at a higher resolution than NHD. Upon completion, 3DHP data will be easier to maintain, based on a modern data model and architecture, and better meet the requirements of users that were documented in the Hydrography Requirements and Benefits Study (2016). The initial releases of 3DHP include NHD data cross-walked into the 3DHP data model. It will take several years for the 3DHP to be built out for California. Please refer to the resources on this page for more information.

The FINAL,STATIC version of the National Hydrography Dataset for California was published for download by USGS on December 27, 2023. This dataset can no longer be edited by the state stewards. The next generation of national hydrography data is the USGS 3D Hydrography Program (3DHP).

Questions about the California stewardship of these datasets may be directed to nhd_stewardship@water.ca.gov.

Geospatial data about Mendocino County, California Streams. Export to CAD, GIS, PDF, CSV and access via API.

This data set includes 28 physical watershed attributes for each of 135,118 stream segments (National Hydrodraphy Dataset, Version 1) in California. These data were used to support a report entitled: "Classification of California streams using combined deductive and inductive approaches: setting the foundation for analysis of hydrologic alteration" authored by Pyne, Carlisle, Konrad, and Stein, and published in the journal Ecohydrology. Specifically, these data were used in a classification (ie, cluster) analysis to identify unique groupings of watersheds with similar hydrological characteristics.

In-stream habitat data include measurements of a variety of physical and aquatic stream attributes that collectively reveal a great deal about stream condition for salmonids and trout. Characterizing and inventorying the physical conditions that define stream habitat for salmonids is an important part of the habitat restoration process. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) collects data on a number of physical attributes of streams and classifies these streams by one of several habitat types. The in-stream habitat data collection process involves two distinct steps; identifying channel type and assigning a habitat type. These in-stream habitat data are used for a variety of purposes including analysis of stream suitability for supporting salmonid populations, as part of larger and more complex watershed assessments, and to establish baseline conditions against which future assessments can measure change. They are a critical part of determining restoration priorities and identifying salmonid refugia. The California Salmonid Stream Habitat Restoration Manual published by the CDFW, describes the process of using in-stream habitat data and other data and information for identifying streams with restoration potential and working through the stream restoration process.The objective of stream inventory reports are to document the current habitat conditions and recommend options for the potential enhancement of salmonid habitat. Recommendations for habitat improvement activities are based upon target habitat values suitable for salmonids in Californias streams.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife California Streams and Rivers. feature service.

This dataset represents state designated wild, scenic, and recreational (WSR) streams per California Public Resources Code. The line segments used for this dataset were derived from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) "California Streams" dataset which is based on National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) High Resolution data. Information regarding the "California Streams" dataset is described in that datasets documentation. FEDERALLY DESIGNATED WSR STREAMS ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THIS DATASET.

Geospatial data about Yuba County, California Streams. Export to CAD, GIS, PDF, CSV and access via API.

Summer Steelhead Distribution October 2009 Version This dataset depicts observation-based stream-level geographic distribution of anadromous summer-run steelhead trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus (O. mykiss), in California. It was developed for the express purpose of assisting with steelhead recovery planning efforts. This dataset represents stream reaches that are known or believed to be used by steelhead based on steelhead observations. Thus, it contains only positive steelhead occurrences. The absence of distribution on a stream does not necessarily indicate that steelhead do not utilize that stream. Additionally, steelhead may not be found in all streams or reaches each year. This is due to natural variations in run size, water conditions, and other environmental factors. It is found only in the Northern Region of California.

The information in this data set should be used as an indicator of steelhead presence/suspected presence at the time of the observation as indicated by the 'Late_Yr' (Latest Year) field attribute. The line features (converted to a 30m raster) in the dataset may not represent the maximum extent of steelhead on a stream; rather it is important to note that this distribution most likely underestimates the actual distribution of steelhead. This distribution is based on observations found in the ASOD database. The individual observations may not have occurred at the upper extent of anadromous occupation. In addition, no attempt was made to capture every observation of O. mykiss and so it should not be assumed that this dataset is complete for each stream.

Examples of appropriate uses include: - steelhead recovery planning - Evaluation of future survey sites for steelhead - Validating steelhead distribution models.

Examples of inappropriate uses include: - Assuming absence of a point feature means that steelhead are not present in that stream. - Using this data to make parcel or ground level land use management decisions. - Using this dataset to prove or support non-existence of steelhead at any spatial scale. - Assuming that the point feature represents the maximum possible extent of steelhead range.

The scope of data covered in this set consists of 4984 stream samples from 2997 unique geographic locations across the state of California, constituting a 23-year period (1994-2016). Every sample contains the following data: benthic macroinvertebrates (BMIs) enumerated and sorted to a standardized level (generally a genus-level identification except chironomids which were identified to subfamily), sample site altitude in meters, U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Unit Code 8 level watershed, and the percent developed land use (agricultural, urban, and managed landscapes) within a 5 km clipped buffer of the watershed upstream of the sampling site, and a bioassessment index score (California Stream Conditions Index) based on a composite of taxonomic and functional diversity within BMI assemblages.

Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP) applied the Ecological Limits of Hydrologic Alteration (ELOHA) framework to develop regional (Soutern California) flow-ecology relationships and targets based on responses in the benthic macroinvertebrate community. SCCWRP developed a statewide classification system using a two-step approach: 1 - cluster streams into 7 classes based on differences in winter precipitation, geology, soil characteristics, and mean watershed elevation; 2 - used flow data from a subset of streams with gauge information to test and refine stream classes determine which hydrologic variables best separate streams into respective classes. SCCWRP then collaborated with UC Davis to come up with 9 stream classes.

© State Water Resources Control Board, Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Aquatic Bioassessment Laboratory, University of California Davis, Stormwater Monitoring Coalition, Perennial Streams Assessment

This layer is a component of Nine Stream Classes.

Hydrophobic (sediment-associated) pesticides were measured in sediment samples collected from 82 wadeable streams and in biofilm in 54 of those streams in the Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains ecoregion.115 current-use and 3 legacy pesticides were measured in stream sediment; 93 of the current-use pesticides and the same 3 legacy pesticides were measured in biofilm. On average 4 times as many current-use pesticides were detected in biofilm at a site (median of 2) as in sediment (median of 0.5). This data release provides data for the pesticide concentrations, information on the pesticide compounds, and input data and R scripts for statistical models used in the analysis presented in the journal article "Biofilms provide new insight into pesticide occurrence in streams and links to aquatic ecological communities," by BJ Mahler, TS Schmidt, LH Nowell, SL Qi, PC Van Metre, ML Hladik, DM Carlisle, MD Munn, and J May, http://dx.doi.org/xxxxxxxx.

These data are from joint visual encounter and environmental DNA (eDNA) surveys conducted for northwestern pond turtles (Actinemys marmorata) in streams on privately-owned timberlands in northern California.