Wednesday September 23, 2026
DWR via Maven’s Notebook —
Suisun Marsh is a rich and vibrant environment, teeming with growth and wildlife. DWR is harnessing that natural productivity to explore a new approach to ecosystem improvement – one that works with the marsh’s ability to produce the food and habitat native species need to thrive.
This approach involves strategically managing wetlands to produce and export tiny, shrimp-like organisms called zooplankton that super-charge the food web to the benefit of native fish species. It involves adjusting water levels, tracking food web production and modeling how that food moves through Suisun Marsh.
“Normally these sites are dry in the summer, which means production is zero,” said Rosemary Hartman, DWR environmental program manager. “Now that these sites are wet, there are zooplankton out there, and they are at way higher densities than you get in the surrounding sloughs.”
Importantly, this effort isn’t driven by the needs of any single species. Its value is cumulative, with benefits that extend across the ecosystem — from improving ecological conditions to deepening the collective understanding of how the Delta functions and how it can be best managed for the future.