Delta Interagency Invasive Species
Coordination (DIISC) Team Activities

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About the DIISC Team
Delta Invasive Species

The DIISC Team has implemented or sponsored multiple projects to strengthen communication and collaboration among organizations involved in invasive species management in the Delta.

On this page you will find:

Delta Invasive Species Symposium 

Since 2015, the DIISC Team has organized a biennial Delta Invasive Species Symposium. The symposium is a forum for Delta managers, researchers, and decision-makers to meet, share and synthesize information, and communicate best practices and lessons learned.

Graphic for the 2025 Delta Invasive Symposium, "Modeling and Managing Invasive Species for Tomorrow's Delta." Contains a QR code to register; event details (date: December 4, 2025, Location: California Natural Resources Agency headquarters in Sacramento); and images of alligatorweed, golden mussels, nutria, and water hyacinth. Background image is an aerial view of the Delta.

2025: Modeling and Managing Invasive Species for Tomorrow’s Delta

The symposium explored management of the future Delta through presentations highlighting modeling, future environmental conditions, using innovative tools and approaches, and methods for dealing with uncertainties.

2023: Making Connections: Understanding Connectivity in an Invaded Estuary
November 30, 2023 at CNRA (hybrid event)

Presentations explored how connections within and among estuaries impact invasive species movement, how connectivity of different types can both help and hinder invasive species control, and how making connections among disciplines, policies, and actors is critical to effective invasive species management.

2021: Early Detection and Rapid Response
December 15, 2021 (virtual event)

2019: Remote Sensing Applications for Management
August 29, 2019 at UC Davis

Presentations explored remote sensing tools and applications for invasive species management in the Delta available today and opportunities for the future. The symposium was sponsored by the DIISC Team, Delta Stewardship Council’s Delta Science Program, and UC Davis.

2017: Tools and Actions to Meet Current Needs and Prepare for Future Challenges
August 29, 2017 at UC Davis

Presentations explored tools and actions being developed to meet today’s management needs as well as to prepare for future challenges. The seminar also explored our understanding of how habitats can be managed to encourage native and deter invasive species, and how social science can be better integrated into invasive species management. The symposium was co-sponsored by the DIISC Team, Delta Stewardship Council’s Delta Science Program, and UC Davis.  

2015: Invasive Aquatic Vegetation

DIISC Team members and speakers from the 2015 symposium co-authored a review article that was published in San Francisco Estuary & Watershed Science in December 2017.

Meetings 

The DIISC Team meets quarterly. Contact Dr. Rachel Wigginton, at contact@deltaconservancy.ca.gov, for information on upcoming meetings. 

Meeting Notes

Resources and Research

Quick-Start Guide to Managing Invasive Aquatic Vegetation (IAV) in Tidal Wetland Habitats of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Suisun Marsh

The Quick-Start Guide to Managing Invasive Aquatic Vegetation (IAV) in Tidal Wetland Habitats of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Suisun Marsh is a resource compiled by DIISC Team members. The authors hope this guide functions like asking an experienced colleague for recommendations at the beginning of developing a site-specific IAV management plan. The guide is not a literature review or a synthesis of the research on IAV control. It includes advice on:

  • Determining IAV management goals and objectives
  • Identification of IAV species likely to occur at a tidal wetland site in the Delta
  • How to prioritize species and sites in control plans
  • Permitting and environmental compliance approaches
  • Choosing control methods
  • Planning project budgets
  • Management uncertainties and research needs

As managers develop site-specific invasive species management plans, please consider the guide a start and not an end to your planning. Click here to access the guide.

Investigations of Restoration Techniques That Limit Invasion of Tidal Wetlands

In 2017, UC Davis received $107,655 from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy’s Proposition 1 Grant Program to investigate restoration techniques to limit invasion of tidal wetlands. The project identifies improved methods for tidal wetland revegetation that reduce invasion by non-native plants at Dutch Slough. The DIISC Team identified this project as a research priority in 2015 and participated in the grant proposal development.