Statewide Bioassessment Program
Perennial Streams Assessment
The Perennial Streams Assessment (PSA) is an ongoing, long-term statewide survey of the ecological condition of wadeable perennial streams and rivers throughout California. The PSA is funded by SWAMP and other partners, including the USEPA. The PSA collects samples for biological indicators (BMIs and algae) and chemical constituents (nutrients, major ions, etc.), and also conducts habitat assessments for both in-stream and riparian corridor conditions.
A key to the success of SWAMP's PSA is the role it has played in standardizing, linking and supporting numerous independent programs conducting probability surveys in California. Partners include the EPA's National Rivers and Streams Assessment, Southern California Stormwater Monitoring Coalition, Bay Regional Monitoring Program, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Forest Service. Such partnerships help create a statistically robust, yet cost-effective and efficient approach to answering important water quality monitoring questions. Reports on the PSA and its collaborative projects can be accessed using the link below.
Reference Condition Management Program
The Reference Condition Management Program (RCMP) is California's program for establishing and maintaining a network of reference sites for wadeable streams and rivers throughout California. This network is vital to the establishment of reference conditions, which define the biological conditions expected in healthy streams when human activity in the environment is absent or minimal. The RCMP plays a central role in developing assessment thresholds for biotic integrity and in establishing a biological integrity assessment implementation plan, and is supplemented by reference programs of several partner agencies, such as the U.S. Forest Service, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, and the USEPA.
