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I'm a fish biologist by trade, but even when I'm not at work,
I spend most of my time playing on rivers, kayaking and fishing. I
have an inherent interest in what happens in my local watersheds. I want
my kids to have the opportunity to use the same resources that I've used.
California's watersheds are very fragmented right now. Dams and
levies have fundamentally changed how California's watersheds have worked.
Stacking on top of that, we have a changing
climate, we have increased population, we have increased demand
on our water resources. Managing California's water is very
complicated. The key is finding creative solutions to deal
with the competing needs of environmental water use, and
human water needs. If we don't address challenges with water
in California, we'll have environmental collapse as well
as water delivery challenges. The Center for Ocean
Science is a interdisciplinary watershed science group here
at UC Davis. We have economists, we have
geologists, we have hydrologists. Fish, bugs, if it's
part of a watershed, we study it, and
we're able to provide the science and the
backbone for California water policy. The Yolo Bypass
is a flood control structure that diverts
high water flows around the city of Sacramento.
Without it, the Sacramento metropolitan area would
flood on a regular basis. On the Yolo
bypass, having a collaborative group with resource
agencies, research institutions, and farmers. We've been able
to benefit not only the local economy. But the wildlife that use that land, also.
An interdisciplinary team like what we have on Nag's
Ranch is very important. Because it's so complicated. We
have a farmer who's managing the land, we have
the agencies who are the permitting specialists and have
scientific specialties, and then we have the research group
that provides interdisciplinary science. When you go to look
for solutions in a watershed, you have to have
a team that's equally diverse. And we think that
that's the way you should
look at a watershed, if you
wanna get real solutions to
a complicated problems.