Sierra Nevada Network river hydrology monitoring protocol: Narrative version 1.0

Skancke, Jennie; Heard, Andrea; Chow, Leslie; Chung-MacCoubrey, Alice

The National Park Service (NPS) Inventory & Monitoring (I&M) Program was established in 2000 as part of the Natural Resource Challenge, a long-term strategy to improve park management by increasing access to and reliance on high-quality scientific information. The Sierra Nevada Network (SIEN) is one of 32 I&M networks that will develop and provide scientifically credible information on the status and long-term trends in selected “vital signs”, or indicators of ecosystem condition. SIEN is comprised of four units: Devils Postpile National Monument (DEPO), Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park (jointly administered units that are referred to as SEKI, or individually as SEQU and KICA), and Yosemite National Park (YOSE). The SIEN Vital Signs Monitoring Plan (Mutch et al. 2008) identified 13 high priority vital signs for which long-term monitoring protocols would be developed. This protocol captures the network’s surface water dynamics vital sign. The overall goal of the SIEN I&M Program is to provide park managers with information needed to make decisions that will maintain the integrity of Sierra Nevada ecosystems. The monitoring objectives in this protocol are to report on long-term trends in surface water hydrology and water temperature of Sierra Nevada rivers. We will collect data from streamgages operated by network parks and other agencies, store these data in a central location, and produce analyses and reports for park managers. We will also share data and analysis results with academic researchers, state and federal agencies, and other cooperators. SIEN will provide support to parks operating protocol stations (three stations). The primary focus of this protocol is the hydrology of rivers (i.e., streamflow timing and volume) in SIEN parks. SIEN will support operation of several stations and acquire discharge values from stations that are operated by other agencies, such as the U.S. Geological Survey and Southern California Edison Electric Company. We will use mean daily discharge values from each station to calculate a suite of hydrologic parameters by station (e.g., number of days to the onset of snowmelt). We have selected 14 existing stations for this protocol. The protocol has the flexibility to incorporate additional stations that meet SIEN objectives and criteria into our reporting. As a secondary objective, SIEN is monitoring water temperature at a subset (10) of the stations. This protocol has two reporting products, hydrologic summaries of each year (produced on a biennial basis) and comprehensive status and trend reports (produced every four years). Biennial hydrologic status summaries will provide standardized information including hydrographs of daily mean discharge, low and high flow values, calculated snowmelt runoff statistics, temperature time series charts, and photographs. Long-term trend reports will include similar information as the hydrologic status reports with the addition of flow-duration curves, flood frequency analyses, and the assessment of trends in selected hydrologic and water temperature parameters. This protocol narrative provides an introduction to river monitoring in the Sierra Nevada, articulates our monitoring goals and objectives, describes the sample design, and provides an overview of our monitoring approach (e.g. data management, analysis, reporting, personnel requirements, and budget). This protocol also includes standard operating procedures (SOPs) for implementing the protocol and appendices that describe the protocol development process, power analyses, historic water data sets in SIEN, and recommendations for expanded monitoring.

Sierra Nevada Network river hydrology monitoring protocol: Narrative version 1.0

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