NCA Overview & Developing an Ongoing Communications Network for Assessment and Adaptation, Kathy Jacobs, National Climate Assessment
Kathy Jacobs is the Assistant Director for Climate Assessment and Adaptation at the Office of Science and Technology Policy. She is on a mobility assignment from the University of Arizona, where she is on the faculty of the department of Soils, Water and Environmental Science. She is the Director of the National Climate Assessment and part of a team working to develop a national adaptation strategy. Jacobs recently chaired a National Research Council panel on climate change adaptation within the America’s Climate Choices Project, and has served on six other Academy committees. From 2006-2009 Jacobs was the Executive Director of the Arizona Water Institute, a consortium of the three state universities focused on water-related research, education and technology transfer in support of water supply sustainability. She has 23 years of experience as a water manager for the state of Arizona, including 14 years as director of the Tucson Active Management Area, and has a master’s degree in environmental planning from the University of California, Berkeley.
Water Sector Overview, Carly Jerla, Bureau of Reclamation
Carly Jerla is a Hydrologic Engineer with the Lower Colorado Region of the Bureau of Reclamation. In that role, Carly leads the Region's research and development of modeling applications and decision support for water operations and planning at the University of Colorado's Center for Advanced Decision Support for Water and Environmental Systems. She played an instrumental role in the Secretary of the Interior's 2007 decision implementing guidelines for the operation of Lake Powell and Lake Mead through 2026, assisting various stakeholder groups in the development and analysis of alternatives to be considered in the NEPA process. She has a M.S. degree from the University of Colorado and a B.S. degree from Carnegie Mellon University.
Ecosystem Sector Overview, Patrick McCarthy, The Nature Conservancy
As director of The Nature Conservancy’s Southwest Climate Change Initiative, Patrick works with natural resource managers and scientists from government agencies, non-governmental organizations and academic institutions to design and implement climate change adaptation strategies for natural areas in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. He also serves as conservation director for The Nature Conservancy’s New Mexico chapter, managing a team of scientists and field practitioners who are working to improve the health of natural systems across the state. Patrick received a B.S. in anthropology and zoology and completed the post-graduate Naturalist-Ecologist Training Program at the University of Michigan, and earned an M.S. in ecology from the University of Vermont’s Field Naturalist Program. He has been awarded fellowships from the Mellon Foundation, Switzer Foundation and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Agriculture Sector Overview, Reagan Waskom, Colorado State University and Colorado Water Institute
Reagan Waskom currently serves as the Director of the Colorado Water Institute and as Director of the Colorado State University Water Center. Dr. Waskom is a member of the Department of Soil & Crop Sciences faculty with a joint appointment to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at CSU. In addition, Reagan currently serves as the Regional Director of the USDA-CSREES Integrated Water Program. Reagan received his BS and MS degrees from Texas A&M University and his PhD from Colorado State University.
Selected Research and Outreach Projects include: Irrigation water optimization in water limited environments, evaluation of municipal water conservation programs, ammonia volatilization from sprinkler applied swine effluent, aquifer vulnerability to NO3 contamination, evaluation of runoff water quality from western meadows, development of best management practices for crop production, survey of current irrigation management practices to evaluate constraints to BMP adoption.
Assessing Vulnerability to Climate Variability and Change, Tom Brown, U.S. Forest Service
Tom Brown is an economist with the Rocky Mountain Research Station's Social and Economic Values group. A member of the Station's research staff since 1974, he has focused on methodology for economic valuation of natural resources, and on environmental, economic, and institutional aspects of water resource management. His recent work includes an assessment of past and projected future water use in the United States, a book on nonmarket valuation methods, and a book on the law, policy, history, and economics of water management in the Western United States. Tom received his bachelor's degree in economics from American University, and his master's and Ph.D. in water management and economics from the University of Arizona.
West Wide Climate Risk Assessment, Dave Raff, Bureau of Reclamation
Dr. David Raff is the Program Analyst with the Program Management Office. In his current capacity with the Program Management Office he is responsible for implementation of various aspects of the Secure Water Act including systematic risk assessments of Reclamation's major eight basins through the West-Wide Risk Assessments. This program has led to the recently published SECURE Water Act Section 9503( c ) - Reclamation Climate Change and Water 2011 report to Congress (http://www.usbr.gov/climate/SECURE/docs/SECUREWaterReport.pdf). He is further responsible for administration of the WaterSMART grants on Climate Analysis Tool Development as well as Advanced Water Treatment.
Dave is a registered professional engineer within the state of Colorado. He holds a BS degree in Electrical Engineering, an MS in Rangeland Ecosystem Sciences, and a PhD in Civil Engineering. Prior to joining the Program Management Office in April 2010 Dave had been co-technical lead for Reclamations Research and Development Office Climate Change activities since 2007 and has been active in the development of the Climate Change and Western Water Group. He has authored literature on topics from landform evolution, geomorpohology, remote sensing, and water supply forecasting to a more recent focus on climate change impacts on assessments of flood frequencies as well broader water resources management. This includes being co-author on the 2009 USGS Circular 1331 Climate Change and Water Resources: A Federal Perspective nominated as the USGS publication of the year.
Carpe Diem West Presentation, Kimery Wiltshire, Carpe Diem West
Kimery Wiltshire is CEO & Director of Carpe Diem West. For over twenty years, Kimery’s work has focused on building strategic, solution-oriented partnerships to meet environmental challenges. She is the former Director of the Kenney Foundation, where she worked on initiatives to protect and restore river systems in the western United States. Kimery has led the development of a number of successful projects, including the Diversity Network Project, supporting social justice and housing in the context of urban environmental health; Resources for Community Collaboration, which provided funding and training for western rural communities to more effectively engage in resource decision making; the Sustainable Business Ratings System, an innovative means of assessing companies’ environmental, economic and social performance; and Girl Scouts Save the Bay, which grew to involve the 100,000-strong Northern California Girl Scout community. A bred, born and raised daughter of the American West, Kimery has to be reminded that occasionally important things do happen east of the 100th meridian.
Metrics and Methods for Evaluating Assessment Capacity, Joel Smith, Stratus Consulting
Joel B. Smith, a Principal with Stratus Consulting, has been analyzing climate change impacts and adaptation issues for over 20 years. He is and has been a coordinating lead author or lead author on the on Third, Fourth and Fifth Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Mr. Smith was a member of the National Academy of Sciences “Panel on Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change.” He has provided technical advice, guidance, and training on assessing climate change impacts and adaptation to people around the world and to international organizations, the U.S. government, states, municipalities, and the non-profit and private sectors. Mr. Smith worked for the U.S. EPA from 1984 to 1992, where he was the deputy director of Climate Change Division. He joined Hagler Bailly in 1992 and Stratus Consulting in 1998. He has edited several books and prominent reports on climate change impacts and adaptation and has published more than thirty articles and chapters on climate change impacts and adaptation in peer-reviewed journals and books and has edited a number of books. Mr. Smith received a BA (magna cum laude) from Williams College in 1979, and a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Michigan in 1982.