The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (Water Board) is calling for the development of a Russian River Regional Monitoring Program (R3MP) of best available independent science to inform and coordinate environmental regulatory and management decisions throughout the Russian River Watershed.

The anticipated benefits of the R3MP include, but are not limited to:
• Improved inter-agency adaptive watershed management and health care;
• Maximized value and minimized costs of environmental data;
• Robust assessments of baseline conditions and trends;
• Objective evaluation of project and program effectiveness;
• Improved data access and visualization;
• Improved public outreach and reporting; and last but not least,
• Improved protection of aquatic resources for wildlife and people.

The R3MP will be developed in phases. During Phase 1, a Steering Committee will guide development of a governance plan, a business model, and the R3MP Charter. To the extent appropriate and possible, given time and budget constraints, the R3MP will support response and recovery activities related to the catastrophic fires of October 2017. Phase 1 will be completed in 2018. Phase 2 will begin implementation, with a focus on monitoring needs prioritized by the Steering Committee. Supporting the Russian River Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s) permit, and Storm Water Resource Management Plan (SWRP) may have high priority, given the nexus between storm water management and post-fire recovery. Subsequent phases can broaden the R3MP to support additional regulatory and management programs and initiatives, including for example Healthy Watershed, Russian River Confluence, and Cal Forward's Russian River Watershed Pilot.

For additional information about the R3MP please contact:
David Kuszmar, (707) 576-2693
David.Kuszmar@waterboards.ca.gov