“When it comes to California water, there are no silver bullets, only silver solutions,” reads the tagline for the new webinar series from the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources water program team. Organized by Mallika Nocco and Sam Sandoval, water-focused cooperative extension specialists with UC Davis, the series aims to highlight diverse areas of expertise from the University of California and beyond.
Nocco and Sandoval say they were inspired to develop a series that covered a broad range of strategies to address California water issues. “There really isn't a single solution or ‘silver bullet' that will solve all our water challenges. But when taken together, there are groups of ‘silver solutions' that can provide a set of strategies at a systems level.”
Launched late last fall, the series has already covered a variety of issues. In the first webinar, Sam Sandoval discussed the “role of the scientist in decision-making,” where he offered advice to researchers on potential roles and processes that scientists can consider for getting involved with decision-making. Kicking off the new year, Ted Grantham, a cooperative extension specialist at UC Berkeley, explored environmental flows, focusing on the latest research and related application of environmental flows.
Coming up, Safeeq Kahn, a cooperative extension specialist at UC Merced, will cover watershed management on February 11. Mallika Nocco will discuss irrigation strategies on March 10. Ellen Bruno, cooperative extension specialist at UC Berkeley, will cover water economics on April 14 (read our interview with Bruno). Josue Medellin, associate professor at UC Merced, will present on systems management on May 12. The last presentation for the spring series will come from Kosana Suvocarev, cooperative extension specialist at UC Davis, who will discuss evapotranspiration and greenhouse gas management on June 9.
Currently, the series is running 4-5pm Pacific on the second Tuesday of the month via a video conference link, with recordings of the webinars available afterward as well. The series will take a break over the summer months, and resume in the fall. More information and links are available at ucanr.edu/SilverSolutions.
Nocco and Sandoval say that like the strategies that can be applied to address California water challenges, the knowledge and expertise from academics within UC Agriculture and Natural Resources is highly complementary. “We hope that by letting people know about the valuable work that we are doing, we are also working as a group that can be greater than the sum of its parts and spark new thinking and collaborations.”