New direction for Sierra Nevada forests

nal language of the legislation includes incentives for voluntary efforts to address NPS pollution. The Rangeland Watershed Program has been involved in other water quality issues as well, such as when the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and Contra Costa Water District considered moratoriums on livestock grazing in their watersheds because they feared cattle might contaminate their drinking water supplies with Cryptosporidium parvum. Key faculty in hydrology, microbiology, ecology, animal health and other disciplines have supplied science-based information to such controversies. In addition to George and Tate, they include Rob Atwill, a veterinarian and environmental health specialist with the Veterinary Medicine Teaching & Research Center; Randy Dahlgren, a UC Davis biogeochemist; and Barbara Allen-Diaz, a UC Berkeley range ecologist. Atwill and Tate are analyzing the links between grazing and waterborne pathogens including Cryptosporidium parvum. Dahlgren’s laboratory is quantifying nutrient flow processes that directly affect rangeland water quality. Allen-Diaz is studying biodiversity in riparian areas under various grazing schemes. Related research is taking place on nine coordinated experimental and demonstration watersheds at the Sierra Foothill and Hopland research and extension centers and the San Joaquin Experimental Range, where different grazing, fire and other treatments are under study. This summer UC will be evaluating all its projects dealing with watershed management and will conduct focus group interviews with several of the state’s many watershed groups to assess current research and extension efforts. Additionally, an inland fisheries specialist will join the team to work on interrelated water quality and endangered species issues. -John Stumbos