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Parker selected as CWRRI director
After a nationwide search, we are pleased to announce that Doug Parker has been selected to serve as the inaugural director of the California Water Resources Research Institute (CWRRI), effective Oct. 1. He will also serve as leader for the Water Quality, Quantity and Security strategic initiative.
Parker is currently director of the Mid-Atlantic Water Program, an associate professor of agricultural & resource economics and Cooperative Extension specialist at the University of Maryland. His research focuses on environmental economics, economics of non-point source water pollution control, and economics of regulation and water quality in the Chesapeake Bay.
Before joining the University of Maryland in 1997, Parker served as an assistant Cooperative Extension specialist at UC Berkeley from 1993 to 1997.
We are excited to have Doug back at UC. He brings a unique blend of skills and experience that we need to bring together the resources of the UC system to solve the complex issues surrounding California’s water.
CWRRI is a special program within ANR, enabled by the federal Water Resources Research Act, with the mission of supporting research and extension activities that contribute to the efficient management of California’s water resources.
As CWRRI director, Parker will coordinate water-related research, extension and education efforts across the 10 UC campuses and across the ANR system. He will bring together local, state and federal stakeholders to identify issues and sources of political and financial support for water-related research. He will also organize and lead constituency-based advisory boards. To improve the understanding of water issues, Parker will serve as a key spokesperson on California water issues, working with federal, state, regional, nonprofit and campus stakeholders on advocacy and outreach programs.
He earned bachelor’s degrees in economics and environmental studies at UC Santa Barbara and a Ph.D. in agricultural and resource economics at UC Berkeley.
Parker will be based in Oakland and report to Barbara Allen-Diaz, AVP - Academic Programs and Strategic Initiatives.
Executive Working Group
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This announcement is also posted and archived on the ANR Update pages.
Farmers and fisherman unite to restore delta
Family farmers and fishermen, California Indian tribes and grass roots environmentalists are working together to preserve the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and the fish and communities that depend on it for their livelihoods, according to a commentary by Dan Bacher published on Calitics.com.
Calitics is a "progressive online community" that provides individual Californians a platform for discussing state issues and campaigning. Anyone can sign in and contribute to the blog.
Bacher reported on the "Farms & Salmon Summit," held last month in Atwater. During the forum, farmers and fishermen urged political leaders to stop the construction of the peripheral canal, take action to restore salmon, striped bass and other runs, and protect delta and Sacramento Valley agriculture, Bacher wrote. U.S. Representatives in attendence highlighted the importance of keeping the agricultural and fisheries industries healthy.
Ideas and commentary shared at the summit:
- U.S. Rep. John Garamendi said there is a symbiotic relationship between the agricultural community and aquatic interests. "We have to work together to protect the Delta - the solution is not to export more water out of the Delta."
- Rep. Jackier Speier noted that salmon fishing and agriculture are both integral components of the California economy.
- Congressmen Mike Thompson said decisions regarding the Delta and salmon populations should be based on good science. "When science goes out the window, everything goes out the window," Thompson was quoted.
- Vineyard owner Mark Wilson suggested the state start dredging delta river channels. "This would provide material for rebuilding levees, along with restoring the capacity of the delta channels to move water," he was quoted.
- Cathy Hemley from Greene & Hemley Farms in Courtland concluded, "We need to think like a fisherman. We need to think like a farmer. We need to make California sustainable."
Draft delta plan falls short, scientists say
UC Berkeley emeritus professor Henry Vaux Jr. chaired the panel that reviewed the plan, which has been in the works since 2006, has already cost about $150 million and involved hundreds of meetings among state and federal agencies, water districts and environmental and conservation groups.
"Given the time and expenditure of money, people could have reasonably expected to get a plan that was more complete," Vaux was quoted in the story.
AP reporter Gosia Wozniacka wrote that the panel found it unclear whether the main purpose of the plan was simply to build a canal or pipeline, or whether it is a broader plan that would restore and protect the delta ecosystem and provide a stable water supply.
"If you don't know what it is you want to do, it creates a lot of confusion, because the application of science is different depending on what you want to accomplish," Wozniacka quoted Vaux.
Deputy Secretary of the Interior David Hayes said the review provides useful guidance as the plan continues to be developed.
Some farmers opposed to runoff reporting rules
A group of farmers are "adamantly opposed" to new rules that would require electronic reporting of contaminated water discharges from their farms, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times.
Under regulations proposed by the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, farmland would be classified based on the contamination risk. Farms considered most likely to pollute groundwater would have to take certain steps to reduce agricultural runoff. If passed, the new rules would affect 35,000 growers who work about 7 million acres of irrigated land.
The Times reported that more than a dozen growers of rice, hay, grain and other crops in the Sacramento Valley watershed submitted a letter outlining their opposition to the proposed regulations.
"Being a small diversified farmer has become increasingly difficult with regulatory burdens exploding over these last few years," the letter said.
Complying with the electronic reporting requirement would be "an impossibility" for roughly half of its 600 ranchers and farmers. Thirty percent do not have Internet access and do not own a computer, the letter said, adding that another 20 percent use dial-up access or must drive to a free Wi-Fi establishment.
This argument caught the eye of Fresno Bee columnist Bill McEwen. He scoffed at the idea that some farmers don't have Internet access.
"Elementary school children have laptops. Big-rig drivers don't go anywhere without their laptops and cell phones. Detroit makes pickup trucks . . . that serve as mobile, high-tech offices," McEwen wrote. "These days, what business - big or small - isn't online? Only farms, apparently."
McEwen wrote indignantly about farmers' seeming double standard in terms of their technological savvy.
"Heaven forbid that the state cut funding for University of California ag programs," McEwen wrote. "Without the UC, farmers say, they wouldn't have access to the latest research and tips on how to make use of cutting-edge technology."
However, when asked to do their part to ensure clean water for rural populations, "suddenly some growers are Luddites."
The Times said the issue will be taken up by the water board at meetings June 8-10 in Rancho Cordova.
Contentious water meeting unfolds in Fresno
Mark Twain biographers now believe he never said, "Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over." But that doesn't mean the sentiment isn't true. Take for example yesterday's congressional hearing about California water, held at Fresno City Hall.
Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Elk Grove) said the political left is pushing junk science while attempting to pit fishermen against farmers, according to the Fresno Bee.
Rep. John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove) asserted that the hearing was designed to reignite the water wars of the past and pit Californians against each other for short-term gain, according a statement issued by Democratic members of the House Subcommittee on Water and Power. The statement was published on YubaNet.com.
The Democrats' statement provided background about California's ongoing water troubles, citing a 2009 university study about job losses that resulted from pumping restrictions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Professors Richard Howitt of UC Davis and Dr. Jeffrey Michael of University of the Pacific say 1,400 to 3,000 jobs were lost – about the same number of California salmon anglers who lost their jobs when the salmon population declined from Delta pumping.
The article said pumping restrictions have proven critical in helping the salmon population recover. This year, salmon fishermen will be able to return to sea for the first time since 2008. And unemployment in the valley, they said, is an issue even in wet water years.
"Recent job losses since 2008 have been mainly caused by the collapse of the construction and housing sector after the financial crisis. By July of 2009, Stockton, Merced, Modesto, and Bakersfield were among the top 10 cities in the U.S. for foreclosures, affecting thousands of construction-related jobs," the statement said.
According to the Fresno Bee story, west-side rancher John Harris said not much new came out of Monday's hearing, but he thought it was a success because it brought attention to the plight of Valley agriculture.
Despite abundant rainfall, west side farmers are currently guaranteed only 75 percent of their contracted water allocation.
