2013

In collaboration with the Public Policy Institute of California and other researchers, the Center prepared California Water Myths—a report highlighting eight common water myths, focusing on water supply, ecosystems and legal and governance issues. In providing information to combat these myths, the study establishes a more informed approach to water policy and management in California.

The following books and readings will provide a very good understanding of general water issues in California. We don't endorse everything they say, but most educated water wonks in California will have read most of them.

The Center for Watershed Sciences is hosting a weekly series of public speakers on California water policy. The seminar is open to the public and available for credit.

This course seeks to introduce advanced undergraduate and early graduate students to multidisciplinary collaborative watershed and stream analysis through combined laboratory and field study of a selected stream system. Topics relating to management of stream systems will be discussed throughout with emphasis on the management of Sierra Nevada rivers in California. Students from diverse backgrounds will work in cooperative interdisciplinary research teams to collect and analyze field data from the Tuolumne River system. These teams will present the collection and results of the field data in the form of a 5-minute video due at the end of the class. Data collection will focus on key ecological issues relevant to management within the watershed: what are the impacts of regulated flow regimes on aquatic biota in the Tuolumne River watershed and what long-term monitoring data are needed to address on-going conservation strategies in the face of climate change?

Similar to past Ecogeomorphology classes, this year's Graduate class will study the geology, ecology and management of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. Students will be "experts" in their field of study, relaying a topic of interest relevant to river science to their fellow classmates. The class will meet for 3 hours weekly during the Winter quarter for discussion and will be followed by a private rafting trip through the Grand Canyon during spring break. Enrollment is by instructor consent only and is dependent upon participation in the previous year's Colorado River permitting process.