NRC Announces New Studies of Sustainable Water and Environmental Management in the California Bay-Delta

Today the National Research Council, one of the National Academies, formally announced the study of the California Bay-Delta and the 15-person committee [you can comment on the choices] that will undertake this task.

[Disclosure notice: I am on the committee. Note that I am the former Director of the Institute for Water and Watersheds.]

The study will last two years and will produce two reports:

1) In its first report, the committee will focus on scientific questions, assumptions, and conclusions underlying water-management alternatives in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) Biological Opinion on Coordinated Operations of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project (15 December 2008) and the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) Biological Opinion on the Long-Term Central Valley Project and State Water Project Operations Criteria and Plan (4 June 2009). This report is tentatively scheduled to be completed by 15 March 2009.

2) Second, in the fall of 2011, the committee will issue a second report on how to most effectively incorporate science and adaptive management concepts into holistic programs for management and restoration of the Bay-Delta. 

The first meeting is scheduled for 24-28 January 2010 in the ARC Ballroom on the UC-Davis campus. Sounds like the perfect spot:

With its private courtyard and calm ambiance [emboldening mine], the ARC Ballroom is the perfect location to host wedding receptions, banquets, and professional conferences.

Here is the complete announcement:

Download Bay-Delta Study Announcement

Here is the committee:

   Robert J. Huggett, Professor Emeritus, College of William and Mary,

  Seaford, VA, Chair

   James J. Anderson, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

   Michael E. Campana, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR

   Thomas Dunne, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA

   Albert E. Giorgi, BioAnalysts, Inc., Redmond, WA

    Patricia M. Glibert, Horn Point Laboratory, University of Maryland

   Center for Environmental Science, Cambridge, MD

   Christine A. Klein, University of Florida College of Law, Gainesville, FL

   Samuel N. Luoma, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA

   Michael J. McGuire, Michael J. McGuire, Inc., Los Angeles, CA

   Thomas Miller, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, University of Maryland

   Center for Environmental Sciences, Solomons, M

    Jayantha Obeysekera, South Florida Water Management District,

   West Palm Beach, FL

   Max J. Pfeffer, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

   Denise Reed, University of New Orleans, LA

   Kenneth A. Rose, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA

   Desiree D. Tullos, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR

 

   David Policansky, NRC Study Director

 

  More information is available here.

“In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.” – Warren Buffet

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Comments

[Arian]

These studies should go a long way in determining what needs to be done in order to maintain a stable equilibrium between the conservation of the environment and building advances.

[Michael]

Hi, David.

Regarding the status quo: the mere existence of the committee may be an impetus for change.

[David Zetland]

Have fun with that. Two years. Does that mean that status quo (pumping/not pumping) will continue until then?

[Michael]

Thanks, Jeff. You're right. They had it wrong in the announcement but correct in the online biography.

[Jeff Andrilenas]

Did you mean James J. Anderson of the University of Washington?