Abstracts
Economic Analysis of Supply and Demand Management Options in California's Central Valley, Alvar Escriva-Bou
Agriculture is the socio-economic engine of California’s Central Valley. However, by 2040, average annual water supplies are projected to decline substantially due to the transition to groundwater sustainability under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), the impacts of climate change, and increasingly stringent environmental regulations. As a result, hundreds of thousands of acres are expected to be fallowed, with cascading effects on employment and the broader regional economy. To mitigate these impacts, a range of supply augmentation and demand management strategies—including multi-benefit land repurposing initiatives—are being actively considered.
Drawing on multiple studies conducted in the Central Valley, in this presentation I show how economic tools can help prioritize supply and demand management strategies to achieve groundwater sustainability. Specifically, I compare the costs of proposed supply augmentation options with agriculture’s willingness to pay for “new water” to avoid land fallowing, explicitly accounting for uncertainty in key parameters. The analysis identifies the most economically promising strategies and highlights the institutional and technical challenges that must be addressed to achieve efficient and desirable outcomes.
Finally, I discuss how these and related economic analyses can support the design and implementation of multi-benefit land repurposing projects.
Re-imagining a Sustainable Agricultural Landscape Under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, Mike Tietze
Development, funding and implementation of MLRP presents an opportunity for a sensible transition of agricultural landscapes to a long-term sustainable future. ETSGSA’s focus promotes landowner choice and flexibility by providing a “menu of options” that growers can choose from to develop projects incorporated into their working lands that fit their operating goals. A key component is to restore and leverage the hydrologic function of low order drainages by rewilding orchard swales, reconnecting floodplains, dispersing/retaining flood flows, and augmenting natural drainages to deliver irrigation water. In our area, orchard swales typically have low productivity and high tree mortality. Rewilding of swales can be integrated into agricultural operations with little or no yield loss, resulting in about 10% less water demand and restoring seasonal wetland habitat. Similarly, flood flow dispersal/retention projects are being implemented on land prone to flooding and tree mortality. Finally, plans are in progress to use three creeks in the upland area between the Merced and Tuolumne Rivers to route irrigation water from the rivers to local farms, using flow through basins on the banks of the streams as abstraction points. The same infrastructure will be used to deliver diverted flood water for on-farm recharge during the non-irrigation season.
Collaborate and Hydrate, John Cain
The San Joaquin Valley has multiple interconnected environmental challenges including the lack of safe drinking water for disadvantaged communities, a dearth of parks, groundwater overdraft, growing flood risk, and steeply declining biodiversity. Multibenefit land repurposing is an opportunity to address all of these problems under a coordinated public-private investment strategy. The recently completed San Joaquin Valley Regional Conservation Investment Strategy (RCIS) identifies California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) approved metrics for species conservation that can be advanced through investments in multi-benefit land and water management projects. The RCIS prioritizes restoration of habitat corridors across the valley to both improve habitat within the valley and increase connectivity between protected areas in the Central Coast and Sierra Nevada bioregions. Ephemeral streams in Merced and Madera County are particularly promising opportunities for recharging groundwater, reducing flood risk, and increasing habitat connectivity. The RCIS enables agencies and non-profits to negotiate mitigation credit agreements (MCA) with CDFW that could significantly reduce the mitigation costs associated with new land and water management projects.
There's a Path Forward in the San Joaquin Valley to Benefit Farmers, Communities, and Nature—but Only if We Plan...and Plant, H. Scott Butterfield
In 2017, TNC and partners developed a vision for upland habitat restoration on retired agricultural lands, focusing on areas with the highest potential to be restored to habitat for more than 25 imperiled species, and in 2022 partnered with the Tule Basin Land and Water Conservation Trust (TBLWCT) to launch the ~500-acre Capinero Creek project in Tulare County. We introduced microtopography like hummocks back to the landscape, providing habitat for burrowing animals that have started naturally modifying the landscape. A lowcost, non-native annual grass cover crop was seeded to prevent weed establishment, and the site was grazed prior to restoration. In 2023, in collaboration with River Partners and TBLWCT, we tested three native seed mixes and densities, shrub transplants, and irrigation treatments to determine how to create habitat at the lowest cost. Preliminary results show low-budget seed mixes produced lower native herbaceous cover but higher native shrub cover, certain seeded species performed better than transplanted stock, minimal irrigation in April did not significantly impact establishment, vertical tillage prepared the seedbed for native seed germination but also facilitated greater weed establishment. Overall, we successfully created habitat for blunt-nosed leopard lizard and Crotch’s bumblebee, while reducing negative air quality impacts from fallowed lands.
Economic Drivers and Grower Incentives for Land Repurposing Under SGMA, Duncan McEwan
SGMA is fundamentally reshaping the economics of irrigated agriculture by constraining groundwater availability in some areas, increasing water costs, and ultimately affecting the returns to farming and the resulting value of agricultural land. Local GSA initiatives and state funded programs such as LandFlex have incentivized land fallowing to reduce groundwater use. The state MLRP initiative envisions alternative land uses by strategically repurposing previously farmed lands for groundwater and other co-benefits. How do we design effective incentives to encourage voluntary participation in these programs? How is SGMA affecting farming returns and land values? What are the economic implications for local communities? How do we differentiate between payments for private incentives and public co-benefits that state grant dollars support? This presentation describes the economic drivers affecting land repurposing, emphasizing grower incentives, implications for SGMA, and economic incentive strategies that differentiate between private value and public co-benefits.
A Geospatial Toolkit for Mapping the Suitability of California’s Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program (MLRP) in support of groundwater sustainability, Thomas Harmon
This work describes a geospatial toolkit supporting multicriteria decisions aimed at restoring groundwater sustainability in overdrafted regions. It was developed with partners and stakeholders for the Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program (MLRP) in the Kaweah and Tule subbasins. The toolkit integrates data layers using an open-source package (Shiny R) to map land repurposing suitability. We used subbasin data to functionalize key spatial properties then combined those properties using fuzzy logic to create suitability indices pertaining to (1) groundwater recharge, (2) agriculture, (3) solar energy, (4) habitat restoration, (5) flood risk, and (6) environmental health risks in disadvantaged communities. These indices can be further combined as weighted averages to create user-specified multibenefit scenarios. We illustrate the development, application, and possible uses of the toolkit in comparing the Tule and Kaweah subbasins. The toolkit is transferable to other overdrafted regions assuming geospatial data is available. Given its Web-accessibility and user-controlled weighting scheme, the MLRP toolkit can facilitate regional coordination of resource agencies and stakeholders and help to maximize multiple benefits of land repurposing.
Understanding the spillover impacts of agricultural land retirement, Ashley Larsen
Agricultural land retirement has myriad potential risks and opportunities for human and natural systems. While individual landowners make decisions to retire and repurpose land, the implications are not bound by field or farm boundies. Rather, such individual decisions may influence neighbors through the spread of mobile species such as pests and beneficial organisms. In this talk, I will explore how nearby agricultural land retirement impacts neighbors’ control of and perceptions of agricultural pests using a combination of quantitative and quantative analyses in Kern County, CA. We illustrate nearby retired lands lead to a small increase in field-level pesticide use, observed for herbicides, insecticides and fungicides, and as expected these effects differ by crop type. Perhaps more surprisingly, we illustrate that these effects increase with the duration of retirement, but decrease at high levels of vegetation cover on retired lands. We parallel this quantatitive analysis with semi-structured interviews of agricultural producers, conservation practicioners and water resource managers. Again, we illustrate important context dependence where poorly managed retired lands are perceived to increase pests more than well-managed lands, though stakeholder perspectives varied. Policies such as SGMA necessarily generate winners and losers at an individual and landscape level. Our research suggests agricultural land retirement leads to perceived increased risks or pests, weeds, and molds that is reflected in the pesticide use data. Yet, management on and spatial distribution of retired croplands provides potential policy levers to mitigate these impacts.
Consequences of SGMA: Dust and Heat from Fallowed Agricultural Field in California, Adeyemi Adebiyi
California's Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), enacted in 2014, is projected to require the fallowing of up to one million acres of irrigated agricultural land in the Central Valley to achieve groundwater sustainability by 2040. While essential for long-term water security and potentially other benefits, land fallowing carries significant unintended consequences for regional air quality, climate, public health, and agricultural productivity that deserve serious consideration in ongoing policy discussions. Fallowed lands exhibit higher surface temperatures, lower soil moisture, and sparser vegetation than adjacent cultivated areas, creating surface conditions highly conducive to wind erosion and intense solar heating. In this presentation, I will show that these characteristics give rise to two distinct but interconnected consequences. First, I will show that fallowed lands dominate anthropogenic dust sources in the Central Valley - a region already burdened by some of the worst air quality in the United States. Second, I will show that fallowed lands induce a localized "fallowed heat island" effect, whereby exposed bare surfaces radiate heat outward into adjacent irrigated croplands, raising surface temperatures, decreasing evapotranspiration, and increasing water demand in neighboring fields, ultimately reducing crop yields. As climate change intensifies drought conditions and SGMA accelerates the pace of land fallowing, these compound dust and heat threats to regional air quality, climate, public health, and agricultural productivity are likely to worsen.
Water use in fallow and supplementally irrigated winter forage crops, Caitlin Peterson
Resolving 2 million acre-feet of groundwater overdraft by 2040 will likely result in at least 500,000 acres of irrigated farmland coming out of production in the San Joaquin Valley. Some of this land could remain in agriculture with low-input cropping systems, particularly cool-season crops that leverage winter rainfall to partially meet crop water requirements. We explored water use of winter small grain crops relative to fallowed land under water-limited growing conditions. Crop trials in Fresno County found that under limited water availability, early planting of small grains with supplemental irrigation greatly reduced the risk of crop failure relative to rainfed management, and early harvest for forage resulted in the greatest agronomic and economic water productivity. Remotely sensed measurements of evapotranspiration (ET) from fallowed fields and winter wheat crops for three different water year types (wet, dry, and near-average) found that net ET (precipitation minus ET) for winter wheat could comparable to fallow if harvested in early spring. Finally, on-ground ET measurements and crop and soil hydraulic modeling showed that on average, water-limited winter wheat had similar consumptive water use levels and negligible impact on deep percolation relative to fallow. Given that land fallowing might cause unwanted externalities, low-input cropping systems may allow for economic and environmental benefits with little-to-no impact on water resources.
Benchmarking Consumptive Water Use to Assess Land Repurposing Pathways Under Variable Hydrologic Conditions, José M. Rodriguez-Flores
Benchmarking consumptive water use is essential for evaluating the potential benefits of land repurposing strategies aimed at improving water sustainability. Remote sensing–based evapotranspiration (ET) data provide a powerful opportunity to assess historical consumptive water use patterns across crops, land uses, and hydrologic conditions. By analyzing multi-year OpenET data, decision-makers can better understand how the water use footprint changes with crop switching, fallowing, and transitions to non-agricultural land uses, as well as how wet and dry climate extremes influence outcomes.
Using multi-year ET and precipitation records, we quantify differences in consumptive water use across land repurposing pathways and evaluate the effectiveness of alternative strategies under dry, wet, and average hydrologic conditions. We find that conservation benefits vary substantially across the Sacramento, San Joaquin, and Tulare sub-basins, driven in part by interannual precipitation variability and regional differences in irrigation dependence. We demonstrate that pairing strong science with accessible data and reproducible workflows, this framework supports adaptive, climate-informed water conservation decisions.
Land Impingements under MLRP, Emma Adest
Multibenefit Land Repurposing (MLRP) Projects that commit to providing longer-term benefits (>10 years or in perpetuity), can employ a mechanism to restrict, or impinge, certain property rights in order to guarantee the preservation of those benefits for the project’s term. Mechanisms can either be temporary, such as a deed restriction, or permanent, such as a conservation easement. The various types of land impingement mechanisms have different implications for the process, associated costs, and parties involved. The CA Department of Conservation and Valley Eco have worked together over the past year and a half to identify viable land impingement mechanisms under the MLRP, and have arrived at two template documents that may be used with projects. We’ll discuss these different mechanisms and their implications for current and future MLRP implementation projects.
Designing for Grower Participation: Promising Practices to Support Land Repurposing Through MLRP, Katie Carlson
In many MLRP subbasins, the pace and scale of land repurposing depends on grower participation—moving from curiosity to a feasible project concept, to a signed commitment, to sustained cooperation through implementation and annual verification—and ideally becoming a peer proof point and advocate. This talk shares planning practices and practical considerations for supporting a grower participation journey that converts. Rather than focusing on outreach tactics alone, it highlights “fit before outreach”: clarifying the project sourcing pathway, defining the proponent type(s) a region is relying on, and designing an offer that pencils in real farm terms (risk/cost reduction, operational fit, and reasonable administrative burden). The discussion will also flag where participation most often stalls (feasibility screening and contracting/onboarding) and ways programs have built trust and reduced friction while ensuring accountability and multibenefit outcomes. The goal is to surface shared, implementation-grounded lens for designing land repurposing programs that growers will participate in—and that can scale beyond early adopters.
Making MAGIC (Monitoring And Gathering Information Cheaply) Happen Under Realistic Budget Constraints, Britne Clifton
Monitoring And Gathering Information Cheaply, MAGIC though it may seem, is ideal for long-term project evaluations while consistency is vital for sound investigations. Yet, the budgets many MLRP projects operate with do not have the available capital necessary to execute the “ideal” version of any monitoring plan. How can we take advantage of what IS available and make room for what may be available in the future? One approach, deployed in the Kaweah and Merced Subbasins, may be arming subbasins with the protocols and data collection options that are most ideal if funding were available, while taking advantage of the monitoring required today. Each subbasin faces different challenges, thus cultivating different priorities, but supplementing required monitoring with Statewide Support Entity initiatives, GSA objectives, open data, and, perhaps, a bit of luck, MLRP monitoring may support diverse future investigations far beyond the life of the grant term.
Community-Driven and Multibenefit Land Repurposing Solutions for Groundwater Resilience, Roshni Katrak-Adefowora
Achieving groundwater resilience that benefits communities in agriculture-dependent regions requires balanced approaches that support multiple local needs. Cropland repurposing can mitigate negative consequences associated with idle land while generating ecological and social benefits. In Fairmead, a disadvantaged community in the Central Valley that has been impacted by unsustainable groundwater extraction, this transition presents an opportunity for collaborative engagement between farmers and residents to work toward multibenefit community-supportive solutions. This presentation will focus on the strategies, challenges, and process to engage with the community on land repurposing solutions, and the identification of a MLRP-funded* repurposing project that offers benefits for flood risk, habitat, open space, and groundwater supply. The project will serve as an example of how multiple groups can work together to improve groundwater resilience while also benefiting people and the environment. It can also serve as a replicable model for other communities seeking to secure their own water future.
Permits, Process and Long-term Management: Challenges from Two MLRP Habitat Restoration Projects, Gregory Liebau
The MLRP is funding habitat restoration projects in the Kaweah and Merced subbasins with significant differences in approach to scoping, development, and implementation. Project proponents including farmers, water districts, and non-profit organizations have different priorities and expectations for land repurposing projects from the earliest stage of development, and regional variations in historic land cover, current agricultural practices, nearby communities, and economic constraints are all factors that determine a successful path towards implementation and expenditures of public funding.
Habitat restoration is widely considered to be one of the most productive strategies for land repurposing, but it must be accomplished within the context of various interrelated and often competing conditions and priorities. Pertinent details from the Flying Dragon and Bear Creek Ranch MRLP projects highlighting the potential complexity of multibenefit habitat restoration projects will be described to introduce issues that are impacting project development and implementation efforts:
1) Permitting for projects adjacent to natural waterways
2) Feasibility and liability for public access
3) Deliverables and timeline management
4) Coordination between overlapping grants
5) Funding for long-term conservation and management
The intention is to recommend further research and consideration to address potentially recurring issues in MLRP project advancement.
Practical and Proven Strategies for Restoring Farmland at Scale, Laurel Sebastian
Over 25 years of restoration in California, River Partners has found that successful habitat-focused land repurposing hinges on strategic timing, site and material preparation, and weed and water management. The most effective approach to restoring farmland is to begin implementation immediately following the site’s final harvest, minimizing weeds, regulatory complications, and irrigation cost. Seeding into a tilled seed bed substantially improves germination, establishment, and cost effectiveness. Integrated strategies such as cover crops seeding prior to permanent repurposing, pre-irrigation followed by herbicide application or disking before seeding, mowing, wicking, and spot spraying further improve establishment and ecological outcomes.
Locally adapted seed genotypes are essential for resilience and performance, but native seed supply is a major constraint to repurposing efforts. Seed amplification and procurement must begin months, often years, in advance for large-scale projects. Additionally, seeding without reliable irrigation infrastructure is a costly gamble. While establishing native genotypes requires significant upfront investment, failure risks far greater costs from invasive weeds, erosion, dust impacts, non-compliance with permits, and extended timelines.
Poster presentations:
Characterization and Meteorological Drivers of Dust Events over California’s Central Valley, Precious Ebiendele
Dust events in California’s Central Valley pose increasing health risks, particularly due to their compounding effect, yet their climatology and driving mechanism remain poorly characterized due to monitoring limitation. Accurate cataloging and characterization of these events (seasonality, drivers, and duration) is an essential first step toward understanding their trends and modeling how they interact with other climate extremes. Using meteorological observations from 15 Automated Surface Observation System stations, we systematically catalog and analyze dust events across the Central Valley during 2005-2024, leveraging a hybrid approach that combines observer-reported dust codes with meteorological criteria that capture events missed by manual reporting, including those under cloudy and nighttime conditions.We combined these observations with ERA5 reanalysis data to characterize the flow configuration pattern of each identified dust event using a machine learning self-organizing mapping technique. We believe our findings provide a robust foundation for improving dust forecasting and public health interventions in the agriculturally intensive Central Valley, experiencing intensifying drought and land-use pressures.
Geophysical Assessment of Floodplain Restoration Sites, Meredith Goebel
Repurposing land for flood groundwater recharge has been an increasing area of interest in California since the passage of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. There are many factors that must be considered when evaluating if a site is suitable for recharge. One of these is if the has subsurface sediments which would allow for waters applied at the ground surface to effectively infiltrate down to the aquifer. Typically, soil survey or well data are used to understand the subsurface, but these datasets can be sparse and may fail to capture the complexity that exists in subsurface. Working with River Partners at a site planned for floodplain restoration, we demonstrated how tTEM, a towed electromagnetic geophysical method, can be used to map out the spatially varying subsurface sediments, and evaluate where over the large site would be best for groundwater recharge. Furthermore, we show how the method can also be used to identify the best areas for the development of permeant or ephemeral pools to support wildlife habitat.
Agricultural land fallowing amplifies local heat extremes and farmworker heat exposure during heatwave events across California, Md Minhazul Kibria
Heatwaves are intensifying under global climate change and pose increasing risks to human health worldwide. Farmworkers are particularly vulnerable because of prolonged outdoor exposure during extreme heat events. Beyond large-scale climate drivers, local land-surface conditions can modify heat extremes. In California, agricultural lands are frequently left fallow, altering surface energy balance and potentially enhancing near-surface warming. We assess the influence of fallowed lands on heatwave intensity across California using 4-km fallow fractions from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Cropland Data Layer and daily maximum and dew point temperatures from the PRISM dataset for 2015–2022. Heatwave characteristics are analyzed for the May–September season. Our results show a significant positive association between fallow land coverage and heatwave intensity. Regions with higher fractions of fallowed land experience amplified daily maximum temperatures during heatwave events compared with non-fallowed areas. These findings indicate that agricultural fallowing can intensify local heat extremes, increasing heat exposure risks for farmworkers and nearby rural communities and underscoring the need for targeted adaptation strategies.
Developing A Community-Based Groundwater Sampling Plan to Identify Nitrate Mobilization by Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR), Yelenka Nunez-Bolano
Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) projects are expanding across California’s San Joaquin Valley. While replenishing groundwater is critical to the region, there is increasing concern about the potential for MAR to mobilize residual contaminants, such as nitrate, from agricultural lands. This poses a heightened risk for Disadvantaged Communities (DACs). We present a framework for (1) identifying strategic monitoring locations for nitrate around MAR sites, and (2) equipping and empowering communities to monitor groundwater and report water quality issues. The framework integrates spatial and temporal analysis of nitrate concentrations with geospatial aquifer vulnerability indicators. Vulnerability mapping incorporates subsurface hydrogeologic properties derived from publicly available data. Priority monitoring zones near DACs are identified by overlaying vulnerability indicator with the locations of MAR basins and the adequacy of existing monitoring efforts. Participating communities from priority zones, are provided with colorimetric test strips and their results are calibrated using a nitrate-specific spectrometer. To validate the monitoring network design, we compare community-based temporal nitrate trends near selected communities in the presence and absence of recharge basins.
Estimation of economic benefits from Managed Groundwater Recharge in Tule and Kaweah subbasins, Everardo Trujillo
Groundwater overdraft in California’s Central Valley poses a major challenge to long-term water sustainability and is increasingly influenced by climate-driven hydrologic variability. Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) is a promising strategy to reduce overdraft, yet its economic performance remains underexplored. This study evaluates the economic viability of groundwater recharge in the Tule and Kaweah subbasins of Tulare County under the Multi-Benefit Land Repurposing Program. A cost–benefit analysis framework is applied that explicitly accounts for variability in surface water availability. Economic performance is assessed using Net Present Value (NPV) over a 30-year planning horizon under a groundwater recharge credit payment subsidy model. Recharge benefits are estimated by comparing overdraft-related economic costs under baseline conditions with scenarios featuring increasing recharge targets. Uncertainty in water availability is addressed using Monte Carlo simulations to estimate interquartile ranges of economic benefits. Preliminary results suggest that MAR can be economically viable when reliable surface water supplies for recharge are available, while ongoing work focuses on incorporating opportunity costs.
Approved projects maps for the Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program, Jessica Parrish, Department of Conservation
Theory of Change for the Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program, Ivy McElroy, Environmental Defense Fund
Speakers
Gopal Penny, Environmental Defense Fund: Gopal's research at EDF supports resilient water management in arid and semi-arid agricultural regions by balancing the needs of farmers, households, and the environment. In particular, he studies incentives that shape stakeholder behavior with respect to water use in order to identify pathways to achieve agricultural water sustainability. This research unites approaches from hydrological sciences, remote sensing, and resilience of social-ecological systems and is closely tied to ongoing initiatives in California including the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) and the Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program (MLRP). Through this research program, Gopal also engages partners to support resilient water management in multiple watersheds in Asia.
Ann Hayden, Environmental Defense Fund:
Alvar Escriva-Bou, UC Davis: Alvar Escriva-Bou is an assistant professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Davis. His research examines the socio-economic consequences of water availability and scarcity, not only as outcomes of hydroclimatic events, but also as products of policies, institutional structures and human decision-making. His work is characterized by an interdisciplinary approach that combines water systems engineering and economics to address complex challenges. Prior to joining UC Davis, Alvar was an assistant professor at UCLA, and previously, a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. Early in his career, he worked as a civil engineer, managing and developing infrastructure projects in Spain. Alvar holds a PhD and MS in water and environmental engineering and a BS in civil engineering from the Polytechnic University of Valencia in Spain, as well as an MS in agricultural and resource economics from the University of California, Davis.
John Cain, River Partners: John Cain is currently the Director of Conservation at River Partners. In 2017, he was honored as “Floodplain Manager of the Year” by the Floodplain Management Association. Earlier in his career he served as Restoration Ecologist at the Natural Heritage Institute and staff scientist for the Mono Lake Committee. He holds a bachelor’s degree in physical geography and a master’s degree in environmental planning from U.C. Berkeley.
Mike Tietze, East Turlock Subbasin GSA: Mr. Tietze is a hydrogeologist and engineering geologist with over 40 years of experience performing groundwater management, sustainability and planning studies for a variety of municipal, agency, commercial and NGO clients. He has developed particular expertise in the synthesis of multi-disciplined team approaches to address to the environmental impacts caused by groundwater overdraft. He enjoys working on the practical application of science and engineering to address groundwater sustainability issues at the local level and has served as the General Manager of the East Turlock Subbasin GSA since 2021. For ETSGSA, he has assisted local growers and other stakeholders to develop and “operationalize” their Groundwater Sustainability Plan.
David Shabazian, University of Merced: David recently started a position as Senior Advisor to VISTA at UCM. Prior to that he was a consultant to the Central Valley Community Foundation, helping with implementation of their Jobs First initiative, Sierra-San Joaquin Jobs. Most of his career has been in government with 20 years at the Sacramento Area Council of Governments focused on natural resource-based economic development. In 2019, David joined the Newsom administration as the Director of the Department of Conservation.
H. Scott Butterfield, The Nature Conservancy: Scott is the Lead Scientist for the Land Program of The Nature Conservancy in California. He has worked in the San Joaquin Valley for over 20 years, including supporting the Strategic Restoration Strategy.
Duncan McEwan, ERA Economics: Duncan MacEwan is a Principal Economist at ERA Economics, specializing in water resources and agriculture. He co-founded ERA Economics in 2013 and has been instrumental in providing clients with data-driven economic analysis of complex environmental, resource, and agricultural policies and litigation. His expertise includes the economics of water and agriculture, and he has worked extensively with interdisciplinary teams to integrate economic analysis into engineering, policy, institutional, and legal considerations. MacEwan's work focuses on improving the agricultural economy's resilience to drought and water scarcity, new environmental and water regulations, and uncertainties from a changing climate.
Thomas Harmon, UC Merced: Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering: Tom Harmon is Professor and Associate Dean of Engineering and Founding Faculty member at the University of California, Merced. He is also affiliated with the Sierra Nevada Research Institute. He directs contaminant transport observation and management research for the National Science Foundation Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS) at UCLA, and maintains an adjunct position in the UCLA Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering. Professor Harmon earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Environmental Engineering from Stanford University. His teaching and research focuses on the development and application of multi-scale sensing technology to understand and mitigate soil, groundwater, and surface water problems in natural and engineered environmental systems.
Darlene Franco, Wukchumni Tribe: Darlene Franco is currently the Chairperson of the Wukchumni Tribal Council and CEO of the Wukchumni Tribe nonprofit. Darlene also serves as a board member of the Fresno American Indian Health Project, Sequoia Riverlands Trust, Marigold Foundation and the Quaker Oaks Farm. Darlene recently completed a 2-year commitment for the Agriculture Land Equity Task Force for the State of California’s Strategic Growth Council. Darlene grew up practicing traditional ceremonies, singing and learning the Wukchumni language, gathering and caring for native plants to eat, weave baskets with and use as medicines. After directing statewide Native language revitalization programs, and working for other local tribal entities, Darlene was hired by FAIHP as a garden coordinator and eventually established the Native Wellness department incorporating cultural practices for overall healing. During the Pandemic, it became apparent that the Wukchumni community needed food sovereignty and Darlene established the Wukchumni Farms. This volunteer community garden has grown to producing fresh foods, medicinal plants, basket weaving materials, a seed saving shed, a nursery, composting process and chicken eggs. As CEO, of The Wukchumni Tribe, Darlene also oversees the Youth Program, Wukchumni Language & Culture, Land Restoration and the Wukchumni Community Land Trust, where a housing project is underway. In April 2025, Darlene was named the Nexstar’s Remarkable Woman of the Central Valley by the local news station, KSEE 24. At the core of all Darlene’s work is a commitment to staying rooted to the land while honoring her ancestors and serving her people.
Josh Viers, UC Merced: Dr. Joshua Viers is a Professor of Water Resources Management in the School of Engineering at UC Merced. He also serves as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Interdisciplinary Research and Strategic Initiatives in the Office of Research and Economic Development (ORED) where he supports the Vice Chancellor for Research, Innovation, and Economic Development. He has previously held positions as the Associate Dean for Research for the School of Engineering and campus Director of the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS). Josh has led UC Merced's efforts to build an Experimental Smart Farm, develop a joint industry-university consortium on ag-food-tech research, and convene several universities in developing water accounting methods to secure a climate-resilient water future. He teaches environmental engineering with a focus on water resources management, geospatial analytics, ecosystem restoration, and sustainability. With Secure Water Future, Josh currently leads a team of over 80 transdisciplinary researchers and community advisors who are interrogating water management practices to arrive at a climate-resilient future in water-scarce regions of the United States.
Sarah Woolf, Water Wise: With a grounded background in rural California farming and government engagement, Sarah has spent the last 20 years as an agricultural water consultant dedicated to advancing agriculture and water policy for local farmers and communities. Currently, she is the President of Water Wise, an agricultural water consulting firm, directing efforts toward resilient water supply management and maintaining a partnership portfolio of 15 landowner accounts, 4 water districts, and over 100 farmers. Her focus includes water supply strategy, government regulation and compliance, and strategic partnerships.
Aaron Fukuda, Mid Kaweah GSA/Tulare Irrigation District: Aaron Fukuda is general manager of the Tulare Irrigation District, where he oversees the district’s day-to-day operations while continuing to promote the conjunctive use operations of the district and its growers. Mr. Fukuda also was recently appointed interim general manager of the Mid-Kaweah Groundwater Sustainability (MKGSA) agency, where he coordinates water activities with surrounding jurisdictions, including the development of the groundwater sustainability plan for the MKGSA. Previously, he worked for Tulare Irrigation District as the district engineer and spent six years as an associate engineer specializing in agricultural hydraulic design at Summers Engineering. He is a registered professional engineer with the state of California. Mr. Fukuda obtained his Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 2000 and his master's in public administration from California State University, Fresno.
Tekoah Kadara, Allensworth Progressive Association: Tekoah A. Kadara is a community leader, entrepreneur, and advocate for regenerative development in California’s Central Valley. Kadara brings business and economic development experience to his work advancing community driven solutions. Kadara studied Business Management at California State University, San Bernardino. He now helps lead the Allensworth Progressive Association, working to advance land stewardship, water sovereignty, and sustainable economic opportunity in the historic town of Allensworth. He collaborates with tribal leaders, state agencies, and national partners to develop projects in regenerative agriculture, agrivoltaics, and community infrastructure, while mentoring youth and building leadership through athletics and education.
Ashley Larsen, UC Santa Barbara: Ashley Larsen is an associate professor of landscape and agricultural ecology at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, UC Santa Barbara. Her work often focuses how the composition and spatial configuration of land uses impact biodiversity and ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes. She leverages causal inference and geospatial tools to evaluate ecological concepts at scale and often collaborates with natural and social scientists to provides a more wholistic understanding of coupled human-natural systems challenges. Prior to joining UCSB in 2016, she was a UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley. She received her PhD in Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology in 2015 from UC Santa Barbara.
Adeyemi Adebiyi, UC Merced: Dr. Adeyemi (Yemi) Adebiyi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Life and Environmental Sciences at UC Merced. His research focuses on understanding the impacts of atmospheric aerosol particles, such as dust and smoke particles, at the regional and global scales, including its connection to agriculture air quality, public health, climate, among others. Before joining UC Merced, Dr. Adebiyi was a UC President's Postdoctoral Fellow at UCLA. He obtained his Ph.D. in Meteorology and Physical Oceanography from the University of Miami, Florida, and his M.Sc.-equivalent diploma in Earth System Physics at the International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy.
Caitlin Peterson, Public Policy Institute of California: Caitlin Peterson is associate director and a research fellow at the PPIC Water Policy Center. She is an agroecologist whose research spans groundwater sustainability, soil health, diversified cropping systems, agroecosystem resilience, and the intersections between agriculture and water policy. In her previous work, she explored irrigation and soil ecosystem functions in California almond and tomato systems, crop-livestock integration in Brazilian soybean-beef systems, and small farmer adaptation to climate change in Colombia, Tanzania, and Ghana. As a consulting agroecologist, she led programs linking farmers across the US to emerging soil carbon marketplaces. She holds a PhD in ecology and an MS in international agricultural development from the University of California, Davis.
José M. Rodriguez-Flores, CSU Monterey Bay: José is an Applied Geospatial Data Scientist at California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB), working with the OpenET team. His work focuses on applying remote sensing and modeling tools to evaluate the water conservation potential of land and water management decisions, including cropland repurposing, and to assess their impacts at both farm and watershed scales. José collaborates with water managers, practitioners, researchers, and academic partners to explore how OpenET data and tools can support informed decision-making and advance applied water research.
Precious Ebiendele, UC Merced: Precious is a second-year PhD student in Environmental Systems and currently studying dust events in California’s Central Valley. Precious's work also examines post-wildfire dust emissions and how their compounding interactions affect public health and water resources, especially in a warming climate.
Md Minhazul Kibria, UC Merced: Minhazul Kibria is a researcher working at the intersection of remote sensing, geospatial analysis, and environmental monitoring. His work focuses on using satellite imagery and GIS techniques to analyze land use dynamics, vegetation conditions, and climate-related impacts on agricultural systems. He has experience processing and analyzing large geospatial datasets using Python and other geospatial tools to support data-driven environmental research. Through his work, Minhazul aims to contribute to sustainable land management and improved understanding of environmental change.
Sarah Kurtz, UC Merced: After more than 30 years at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Sarah joined UC Merced in 2017. She is now exploring how to make growth of crops under solar panels a success for growers in California.
Yelenka Nunez-Bolano, UC Merced: Yelenka Nunez-Bolano is a PhD Candidate at UC Merced in the Environmental Systems program. Her background is in civil engineering, and she is currently working at the intersection of Land Repurposing, Managed Aquifer Recharge and environmental Justice in the San Joaquin Valley.
Everardo Trujillo, UC Merced: Everardo is a researcher in environmental and economic sciences focused on groundwater recharge and water resource management in California's San Joaquin Valleys. His work integrates hydrological processes with economic valuation to support sustainable groundwater policy and planning.
Emma Adest, Valley Eco: Emma Adest is a Project Manager and Writer with Valley Eco. She has B.A. from Reed College and a Paralegal Studies certificate in progress from CSU East Bay. She grew up with an environmental restoration and education background.
Katie Carlson, Zanjero: Katie Carlson is a senior program and strategy leader at Zanjero, a Trinity Consultants company, working at the intersection of water resources, land use, and public engagement in California. She specializes in designing and delivering complex programs that align groundwater sustainability, land repurposing, and community resilience. In recent years, she has supported MLRP efforts in Madera, Merced, and the Pajaro Valley, with work focused on program design, grower participation strategy, project development, and coordination across technical, policy, and stakeholder considerations.
Britne Clifton, Valley Eco: Britne Clifton is a systems ecologist whose work focuses on the ecology of complex systems where human, natural, and climatic drivers connect and capitalizing on potential Ecosystem Services to deploy Nature-based Solutions for many of the most pressing ecological challenges today. As a Senior Restoration Ecologist II at Valley Eco, Dr. Clifton has developed a comprehensive monitoring plan for both the Kaweah and Merced Subbasins, led and partnered with diverse inter-organizational teams for novel restoration projects, and supported species recovery efforts throughout the San Joaquin Valley.
Dr. Clifton is trained in biology, chemistry, geomorphology, and systems ecology, with an M.S. in Earth System Science from the University of Alabama, Huntsville, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Systems from the University of California, Merced. She has been working in the Central Valley since 2018, with her most recent work as part of the Valley Eco team focusing on land repurposing, ecological restoration, conservation, and multi-benefit responses to climate-driven land management challenges. Dr. Clifton previously served as the Climate Adaptation Specialist for the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, a Researcher with the Geographic Information and Systems Technology team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and a Research Fellow at NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. In these roles, Dr. Clifton investigated the diverse climatic impacts of sea level rise at local, regional, and global levels, economically modeled the impact of climate change on crops across the United States, modeled social movement through space and time, and authored legislation to support the deployment of natural and Nature-based Solutions in California.
Roshni Katrak-Adefowora, Sustainable Conservation: Roshni Katrak-Adefowora is the Senior Data Specialist in the Water for the Future program at Sustainable Conservation. She joined the organization in 2022 with a passion for data analysis, scientific communication, and equitable natural resource protection. Her work at Sustainable Conservation focuses on how flood-managed aquifer recharge and land repurposing can help water managers and communities adapt to a changing climate while achieving social and environmental benefits. Roshni’s interest in multibenefit water resources management developed during the completion of her master’s degree from the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, during which she studied California's groundwater overdraft issue, its various impacts, and potential land repurposing solutions.
Gregory Liebau, River Partners: Gregory Liebau is the Senior Conservation Lands Manager at River Partners and represents the organization on the Merced MLRP planning team. He is experienced with planning, outreach, and implementation on three MLRP block grants and is the project manager for the Flying Dragon Ranch land repurposing project in the Kaweah subbasin.
Laurel Sebastian, River Partners: Laurel works as a Restoration Ecologist and Project Manager for River Partners' Modesto, CA office. She is currently planning and implementing multi-benefit habitat restoration projects on nearly 3,000 acres along the San Joaquin River, Amargosa River, and Bear Creek. Before joining River Partners, Laurel did ecological field research and environmental education for non-profits in Colorado, Washington, Alaska, and California. She earned a master's degree from UC Davis's Graduate Group in Ecology for her research on soil carbon sequestration in California grassland restoration.
Shanna Atherton-Bauer, Department of Conservation: Shanna Atherton-Bauer is the Director for the Division of Land Resource Protection at the California Department of Conservation. She oversees the state's agricultural land conservation programs as well as programs that support regional efforts to meet the state's natural and working lands goals. Shanna led the development of the state's Multi-benefit Land Repurposing Program, which is designed to support the strategic repurposing of agricultural lands likely to come out of production as a result of the state's groundwater sustainability efforts. She also helped launch the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program and has over 10 years of professional experience in the environmental planning, sustainable agriculture, and land conservation fields.
Ashley Swearengin, Central Valley Community Foundation: Ashley Swearengin is president and CEO of the Central Valley Community Foundation, a charitable foundation serving the six counties of Central California and helping secure over $600 million in philanthropic and public grant funding to over 950 civic organizations over the last five years. As CEO, she is responsible for supporting the CVCF board, staff, and partners in pursuit of the organization’s vision of a Central Valley with “no barriers; just opportunity; all people.” She has nearly 25 years of experience in community and economic development in California’s Central Valley, including serving as mayor of Fresno from 2009 through 2016, where she focused her efforts on improving distressed neighborhoods, revitalizing the downtown and urban core, promoting local businesses, securing the city’s long-term water supply, addressing chronic homelessness, and stabilizing the city’s financial position. In addition, she has led the Governor’s Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley, Fresno State’s Office of Community and Economic Development, the Regional Jobs Initiative, and the Central Valley Business Incubator. She was an Aspen Institute Rodel Fellow and serves on numerous boards dedicated to inclusive economic growth, promoting democracy and civic engagement, and fulfilling America’s promise, including New America, the Urban Institute, the College Futures Foundation, California Forward, and the James B. McClatchy Foundation, as well as the PPIC Economic Policy Center Advisory Council. She holds MBA and BS degrees from California State University, Fresno.