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Introduction III recelll YNln, iWeres! has gro~\'Il in ell\'i1"On- melllol reJtorarion. a Hun-emenlto return California's ecosystems 10 some semblallce oj their condition bl10re major derelopmelll or growth began. California's diverse environment covers 158,693 square miles ranging from Alpine peaks to sandy beaches, with arid deserts, marshlands, towering redwood forests and fertile valleys in between, That environment has undergone major changes, some say irretrievably, and continues to do so. But in recent years, interest has grown in environmental restora- tion, a movement to return California's ecosystems to some semblance of their condition before major development or growth began. Even the most ardent supporters of environmental restoration concede, however, that the clock cannot be turned back 150 years to pre-Gold Rush days when California's ecosystems were relatively undisturbed by human activity. Since then, urban centers have consumed open space, some native vegetation has been replaced by agriculture, many natural river systems were replumbed to supply irrigation and drinking water, and nonnative species of fish, wildlife and plants were introduced deliberately or accidentally, Development of California's natural resources, especially its water, helped transform it into a world agricultural and economic juggernaut. Widespread interest in environmental restoration is a relatively recent phenomenon. Its roots date back to the 1960s and 1970s with enactment of federal legislation such as the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 1968 and the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 1973. Together with companion laws enacted in California, these measures helped create the legal apparatus for protecting endangered native populations of wildlife, fish and plants that has since expanded to encompass broader restoration objectives. The courts also played a role by expanding the Public Trust doctrine and enforcing state laws to protect fisheries, Since the California Supreme Court's Mono Lake decision in 1983, conservation groups have sought to apply that decision's rationale to restore not only Mono Lake, but also other water bodies such as the San Joaquin River system. In addition to these legislative and judicial mandates, grassroots efforts were begun to restore critical salmon runs, riparian habitats and other resources. Property owners are joining hands with conserva- tion groups and government agencies to repair creeks and rivers, replant riparian areas with native plants and improve wildlife habitat. By the 1990s, the seeds sown a generation earlier had begun to bear fruit. In that decade, environmental restoration reached parity with other water-related policies through enactment of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) in 1992 and the initiation of the CALFED Bay-Delta process in 1994, CVPIA made protection of fish and wildlife a policy objective of the U,S, Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau) by mandating habitat improvements for migrating fish and dedicating about 10 percent of annual CVP yield for environmental purposes such as instream flows for fish, Environmental restoration is one of eight key program elements in the CALFED Bay-Delta process, CALFED is a collaborative eflart by state and federal agencies and numerous stakeholders to craft a consensus solution to decades-old problems