Talks & Presentations
- Summer/Fall 2007: Creek Speak – Community Talks on the Putah Creek Watershed
- 2006-2007: Searching for Environmental Solutions: Challenging Issues, Scientific Investigations, and Policy Implications
- 2005-2006: Coastal Environments and River Deltas at Risk
- 2005: On Salmon and Tribes - The deterioration of the salmon fishery and health of a Northern California tribe in the Klamath River watershed
Summer/Fall 2007: Creek Speak – Community Talks on the Putah Creek Watershed
Second Thursday of Every Month, 7 - 8 pm, Winters Community Center, 201 Railroad Ave., Winters
CREEK SPEAK is a series of community talks on nature, art, science and culture in the Putah Creek watershed held on the second Thursday of each month, June through November 2007, at the Winters Community Center located at 201 Railroad Avenue, in downtown Winters. Each talk will run approximately one hour from 7:00 to 8:00 pm with time for questions afterwards. The purpose of the Creek Speak series is to share knowledge about the natural and cultural resources of the Putah Creek watershed and to inspire audiences to actively explore the watershed we live in. Talks will be interactive and engaging and include information about associated events.
- June 14 - Putah Creek Rocks!! - Dave Osleger, UC Davis Geologist
- July 12 - Hydrology of Putah Creek - Eric Larsen, UC Davis Geomorphologist
- August 9 - Farming in our Watershed - Craig McNamara, Local Walnut Grower
- September 13 - Building Monticello Dam - Don Burbey, Solano Project Senior Supervisor, Solano Irrigation District
- October 11 - Berryessa Valley: A History - Mike McGraw, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
- November 8 - Return of the Salmon - Peter Moyle, UC Davis Fish Biologist
Sponsored by the UC Davis John Muir Institute of the Environment, Putah Creek Council, Putah Creek Discovery Corridor Cooperative, and City of Winters.
2006-2007: Searching for Environmental Solutions: Challenging Issues, Scientific Investigations, and Policy Implications; Monthly Presentation Series
Tuesdays from 12 - 1 pm, 3201 Hart Hall, UC Davis Campus
The search for solutions to environmental problems involves finding ways to successfully link science with policy. This presentation series examines environmental issues that are of critical importance primarily in California, but which also have implications and applications to other regions. Over the course of the year, speakers will take a problem-focused approach. They will discuss current scientific findings, various tools that help us to deal with environmental problems, and potential applications of research to decision-making, management, and policy implementation. Our goal is to foster ongoing analysis of critical environmental issues and relevance to policy, as well as to demonstrate that solution-oriented research can make a difference. The series is sponsored by PSRP and JMIE.
- October 10 - California Water Problems: Solution-Oriented Approaches - Jay Lund, JMIE & Civil & Environmental Enginerring
- November 7 - Agricultural Effects on Water Quality in California – Michael Johnson, Director, Aquatic Ecosystems Analysis Laboratory
- December 5 - Can We Keep Lake Tahoe Blue? – Geoff Schladow, Director, Tahoe Environmental Research Center
- January 9 -Impact of Climate Variation and Change on Mosquitoes and the Viruses They Transmit - William Reisen, Center for Vector-Borne Disease Research
- February 6 - Can Environmental Law Learn to Swim? The Challenges of Protecting and Restoring Aquatic Environments in California - Holly Doremus, School of Law
- March 6 - Global Sustainability: The Dilemma of Scale - Deb Niemeier, Director, JMIE & Civil & Environmental Engineering
- April 10 - Towards Environmental Health in the San Joaquin Valley – Kent Pinkerton, Director, Center for Health & Environment
- April 24 - Beyond the Peripheral Canal: Envisioning Futures for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta - Jay Lund & Peter Moyle, JMIE
- May 8 - Wildlife Connectivity and Landscape Division by Roads and Highways - Fraser Shilling, Researcher, Environmental Science & Policy, Center for Road Ecology
- June 5 - Challenges in Conserving Plant Diversity: Endemism, Urbanism, and Global Warming - Mark Schwartz, Environmental Science & Policy
2005-2006: Coastal Environments and River Deltas at Risk; Monthly Presentation Series
A 2005-2006 Critical Environmental Issues Series of monthly talks presented by UC Davis researchers was sponsored by JMIE, PSRP, and International House and examined coastal environments and river deltas that have been affected by human actions. All talks were from noon to one pm at 3201 Hart Hall on the UC Davis Campus. The series examined coastal and riverine systems from an international and geographic perspective focusing on the relationship between people and the place in which they live and the decisions that are made. The impetus for the series was the New Orleans Disaster and we began by examining and comparing two river deltas - Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta and the Mississippi Delta.
- October 12 - The Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta: Flooding and Landscape Change - Jeff Mount, UC Davis, Center for Watershed Sciences
- November 9 - Rivers and Cities: Challenges in New Orleans and Elsewhere - Ari Kelman, UC Davis, Department of History
- January 11 - Is the Delta Smelt a Canary? Natural and Anthropogenic Impacts on CA Coastal and Delta Fisheries - Bill Bennett, UC Davis, Center for Watershed Sciences, Bodega Marine Laboratory
- February 8 - Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Pacific Coast and River-Deltas - Susan Ustin, UC Davis, Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, CalSpace, CSTARS, WESTGEC
- April 12 - Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and Coastal Environments - Ken Verosub, UC Davis, Department of Geology
- May 10 - Interactions Among Flows, Fish, Hippos, and Termites: Ecology of the Okavango Delta, Botswana - Peter Moyle, UC Davis, Center for Watershed Sciences, Putah-Cache Bioregion Project, Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology
2005: On Salmon and Tribes - The deterioration of the salmon fishery and health of a Northern California tribe in the Klamath River watershed; Panel and Video Presentation
On June 2, 2005, a panel discussion and video documentary examined how the lives of Native American people are impacted by the loss of salmon due to the damming of the Klamath River. This complex case of the Karuk Tribe is under the national spotlight as an important case of tribal social and environmental justice. The Karuk tribe, whose 3,300 members make up the second-largest Indian tribe in California, have said that dams on the Klamath River have destroyed the salmon runs on the river, depriving the tribe of their traditional diet. They have been fighting to remove several dams along the Klamath River to revive salmon runs and regain their health. As heard on NPR's All Things Considered and reported in the Washington Post.
- March 17, 2005 California Tribe Fights Back (All Things Considered at npr.org)
- January 30, 2005 Tribe Fights Dams to Get Diet Back (washingtonpost.com)
The purpose of the panel and video documentary "Salmon on the Backs of Buffalo" was to introduce the UC Davis community to the complex issues surrounding water diversions, health of the Karuk people, and decline of the salmon fishery. The panel consisted of representatives from a public agency, a nonprofit organization, the university, and a member of the Karuk tribe and was moderated by Edward Valanda, Sicangu Lakota Nation and Assistant Professor, Dept. of Native American Studies, UC Davis. It was sponsored by JMIE, PSRP, the Putah Cache Bioregion Project, and the Department of Native American Studies.
The talks focused, first, on the Klamath River fishery and impacts on the tribe with the decline in the fishery, and, secondly, on governmental and legal actions.
- The Status of the Fishery: Peter Moyle, Assoc. Director, Center for Integrated Watershed Science & Management; Fish Biologist, Department of Wildlife, Fish & Conservation Biology, UC Davis
- Impacts on Way of Life: Ron Reed, Cultural Biologist and Traditional Dipnet Fisherman, Karuk Tribe of California
- Impacts on Health: Kari Norgaard, Environmental Sociologist, Center for Population Biology, UC Davis
- Affects of Dams: Russ Kanz, Environmental Scientist, State Water Resources Control Board Division of Water Rights
- Dam Re-Licensing Issues: Kelly Catlett, Hydropower Reform Policy Advocate, Friends of the River