CPOD Panel Highlights - May 14, 2025
The State Water Resources Control Board continues its hearing for the Department of Water Resources’ (DWR) Petition for a Change in Point Diversion (CPOD). Today, DWR presented its biological panel, which builds on the modeling results by looking at potential impacts to aquatic and terrestrial resources.
Dr. Marin Greenwood’s testimony focused on fishery issues, bypass flow and fish protections. Rachel Gardiner covered the terrestrial analysis, with a focus on sandhill cranes. Both Dr. Greenwood and Ms. Gardiner’s testimony demonstrate the Delta Conveyance Project would not unreasonably affect fish and wildlife and the project would avoid potential take of greater sandhill cranes.
Key Takeaways from Panel 3 – Dr. Marin Greenwood
Hearing Highlights
Documents & Resources
- Delta Conveyance Project CPOD information on the State Water Board’s website
- Watch the hearing on the State Water Board Administrative Hearing Office’s YouTube Channel
Request Access to Hearing Exhibits
To access all of the hearing exhibits through the AHO-FTP download folder, please submit an e-mail request to the AHO at AdminHrgOffice@Waterboards.ca.gov with “Request for AHO ftp password” in the State Water Resources Control Board subject line. After receiving the e-mail request, the AHO will send a reply e-mail with a password to access the download account. It is not necessary to include any other parties in the cc line for such an e-mail request.
- The Delta Conveyance Project’s operational criteria, mitigation measures, avoidance and minimization measures (AMMs), and adaptive management will protect aquatic species of concern, specifically salmonids, Delta Smelt, Longfin Smelt, Green Sturgeon, White Sturgeon and others.
Key Takeaways from Panel 3 – Rachel Gardiner
- The Delta Conveyance Project’s environmental commitments, AMMs and mitigation measures will reduce potential impacts on sandhill cranes to a less-than-significant level and will avoid potential take of greater sandhill cranes.
Expert Witness Biographies
Marin Greenwood, Ph.D., has been a Principal with ICF for over15 years, with the last six specifically on the Delta Conveyance Project. His experience includes assessment of fish and aquatic species on a variety of planning, permitting and research projects, primarily in the Central Valley. For the Delta Conveyance Project, Dr. Greenwood was the lead author of the fish and aquatic resources chapter of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR), including preparation of the impact analyses and development of mitigation measures.
- Ph.D. (Dissertation: The Fish Populations of the Lower Forth Estuary, Including the Environmental Impact of Cooling Water Extraction), University of Stirling, UK, 2002
- M.S., Applied Fish Biology, University of Plymouth, UK, 1997
- B.S., Aquatic Bioscience, University of Glasgow, UK, 1996
- American Fisheries Society Certified Fisheries Professional, Number 3450
Rachel Gardiner has been a Senior Wildlife Biologist at ICF for over 13 years, working on the Delta Conveyance Project as a wildlife biologist since 2020. She was a coauthor of the EIR terrestrial biological resources chapter. Ms. Gardiner also contributed to the project’s Endangered Species Act (ESA) Biological Assessment (BA) and the California Endangered Species Act (CESA) 2081(b) Incidental Take Permit Application (ITPA).
- M.S. Wildlife Ecology, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia. April 2012. Thesis: Comparative stopover ecology of two species of sandpiper: how diet and body condition reflect differences in food and danger trade-offs.
- B.S. Honors Biology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. May 2001. Thesis: The use of microsatellites to determine genetic diversity and paternity in bottlenecked populations of the black rhinoceros.
