Five-year workplan finalized for statewide estuary monitoring program

SCCWRP and its partners have developed a workplan covering the next five years of coordinated estuary monitoring under the California Estuary Monitoring Program (CalEMP) – a milestone that reflects the program’s evolution from a pilot monitoring project to a long-term program tracking the ecological health of California’s coastal wetland ecosystems.

The 2027-2031 workplan, finalized in October in partnership with the California Ocean Protection (OPC) and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, outlines key estuary monitoring priorities to help create a statewide picture of estuary health over the next five years.

CalEMP is the statewide umbrella program that brings enhanced structure and organization to California’s regional estuary monitoring programs, including the Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project (WRP) Regional Monitoring Program. The monitoring program will also directly inform California’s 2032 Marine Protected Area (MPA) Decadal Management Review.

Field sampling under CalEMP’s 2027-2031 workplan is expected to begin in spring 2027 and will target 21 estuaries statewide.