BUTTE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND

BUTTE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF WATER AND RESOURCE CONSERVATION

PROUDLY PRESENT

CALIFORNIA WATER MANAGEMENT

- A STRATEGIC OVERVIEW -

March 26, 2015 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Gold Country Casino

Oroville, CA

CALIFORNIA WATER MANAGEMENT

A STRATEGIC OVERVIEW

- AGENDA -

8:30 Registration

9:00 Greeting

Paul Hahn, Butte County Chief Executive Officer

9:15

Statewide Approach to Water Resource Management Gary Bardini, Deputy Director for Integrated Water Management

Department of Water Resources

9:45 Implementation Approaches to Water Management

Kate Williams, California Water Foundation

10:15 Questions and Answers

10:30 Break

10:45 California Water Law and Water Management

Tom Hicks, Attorney at Law

Noon Questions and Answers

12:15 Lunch

1:00

Panel: Current Local Water Management Approaches Moderator: Paul Gosselin, Director, Butte County Water and Resource Conservation

Jami Aggers, Environmental Health Director, Stanislaus County

Stacey Harrington, Environmental Management Coordinator, Napa County

Rob Johnson, Chief, Water Resource Agency, Monterey County

Brian Moss, Environmental Health Director, Calaveras County

Vickie Newlin, Assist. Director, Butte County Water and Resource Conservation

3:00 Questions and Answers

3:15 Break

3:30

Stakeholder Perspectives and Roles Moderator: Justin Malan, Ecoconsult, CCDEH Executive Director

Danny Merkley, California Farm Bureau

Laurel Firestone, California Water Foundation Co-Executive Director and Co-Founder, Attorney at Law

Ray Ruminski, Chair, CCDEH Land Use Policy Committee, Lake Co. EH Director

4:30 Adjourn

CALIFORNIA WATER MANAGEMENT

A STRATEGIC OVERVIEW

- SPEAKER BIOS -

Gary Bardini, Deputy Director, California Department of Water Resources

Gary B. Bardini was appointed Deputy Director for Integrated Water Management in August, 2011. In this capacity, he is responsible for leading four divisions and almost 850 employees conducting a variety of programs in support of the 2014 Governor’s California Water Action Plan. Some of the services provided under Mr. Bardini’s leadership include: statewide water management investigations, analysis and planning tied to the California Water Plan; drought management operations; water use efficiency investigations, outreach and local assistance; sustainable groundwater management; storage investiga-tions; technical and financial assistance to nearly 50 integrated water management groups in the state, and climate change. Mr. Bardini is also responsible for the multi-faceted FloodSAFE California initiative which operates and enhances State-owned flood facilities, provides resources for local flood risk reduction projects, and implements the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan, all within the area served by the State Plan of Flood Control. Other services provided by FloodSAFE for statewide benefit include: directing and conducting flood emergency response activities, statewide planning for flood risk reduction, and sup-plying essential hydrology data to government agencies, academia and the public. Additionally, Mr. Bardini oversees the regulation and safe operation of over 1200 dams in the state via the Division of Safety of Dams.

Mr. Bardini’s 27-year career includes a long history with the Department, providing strategic planning, policy development and engineering services to promote integrated and sustainable management of the state’s water resources. Prior to his current appointment with the Department’s Executive team, Mr. Bardini served for two years as Chief of DWR's Division of Flood Management, where he led development and progression of the FloodSAFE California initiative and the 2012 Central Valley Flood Protection Plan. Before serving as Division Chief, Mr. Bardini was Chief of the Hydrology and Flood Operations Office. In addition to leading the work conducted by three major branches, he guided special projects for the Department such as the Feasibility Study for the Restoration of Hetch Hetchy Valley, including water and power replacement. Prior to this time, Mr. Bardini was Chief of the Hydrology Branch for five years and was responsible for the State's flood and water supply forecasting programs and flood management control systems for the Joint Operations Center.

Mr. Bardini worked with the CALFED Bay-Delta Program (CALFED) for over three years, where he managed the Storage and Conveyance Facilities Unit and directed water resource modeling activities. Mr. Bardini also served as Chief of the Water Management Branch and managed the planning activities associated with the water supply reliability element of the CALFED Program.

In 1996, Mr. Bardini joined Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to provide water resource modeling support to State Water Project and Central Valley Project operations and was involved with Bay-Delta issues and Central Valley water rights negotiations. From 1989 through 1996, Mr. Bardini worked on a variety of design and construction projects for the California Department of Boating and Waterways and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Mr. Bardini began his career with the Department in 1987 in the South Central Regional Office (Fresno), where he conducted water resource modeling studies and planned several water supply development projects. He holds a B.S. degree in civil engineering from California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo with an emphasis in water resources and struc-tures.

Laurel Firestone, California Water Foundation Co-Executive Director and Co-Founder, Attorney at Law

Ms. Firestone previously served as the Director of the Rural Poverty Water Project at the Center for Race, Poverty, & the Environment in Delano under a 2004-06 Equal Justice Works Fellowship. In 2009 Ms. Firestone authored the comprehensive Guide to Community Drinking Water Advocacy, and in 2010 she and her Co-Executive Director, Susana De Anda, received the Carla Bard Advocacy Award from the Public Officials for Water and Environmental Reform (POWER), awarded to the out-standing water advocate in California each year. In 2013, Ms. Firestone was awarded the Gary Bellow Public Service Award by the Harvard Law School, which is awarded to one alumni and one student each year.

Ms. Firestone served on the Tulare County Water Commission from 2007-2012, and currently Co-Chairs the Governor’s Drinking Water Stakeholder Group. Ms. Firestone graduated with honors from Harvard Law School and holds a B.A. magna cum laude in Environmental Studies from Brown University.

Tom Hicks, Attorney at Law

Tom Hicks is a California licensed, San Francisco-based attorney and graduate of the University of San Francisco School of Law, bringing a special focus and expertise in water law and policy dating back before law school, most prominently as a water and energy policy associate at the Natural Heritage Institute, where he participated in the drafting of a successful United States Supreme Court Amicus Brief in S. D. Warren Co. v. Maine Board of Environmental Protection (Clean Water Act), 547 U.S. 370 (2006) and facilitated the creation of the Alaska Public Waters Coalition. Mr. Hicks has worked on behalf of the American Bar Association’s Water Resources Committee to help foster the Northwest Water Law Symposium among Pacific Northwest law schools and students.

Mr. Hicks is the founder and Emeritus Board member of the Headwaters Institute (HWI), which coordinates a nationwide series of natural history, interpretation, customer service skills and natural resource seminars for professional whitewater rafting, fly-fishing and other guides. Since 1996, HWI has conducted over 100 seminars that have trained over 7,000 guides who have had direct personal contact with over 2.5 million people.

Justin Malan, Executive Director, California Conference of Directors of Environmental Health, Princi-pal, Ecoconsul

Mr. Malan was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa. He graduated from the University of Cape Town with a Bachelor’s Degree in Law and Public Administration and a Masters Degree in Environmental Studies.

After working for several years in the resource management area, Mr. Malan and his wife sailed a circuitous route to the USA in their home-built sloop. They settled in California in 1986 and have been living in Carmichael outside of Sacramento ever since.

Mr. Malan has managed a large coastal resources grant program for the State, he served as a senior environmental consultant to the Legislature for four years and from 1994 to present has been an environmental consultant - serving as Executive Director to several associations including the California Conference of Directors of Environmental Health (CCDEH), the Cali-fornia Ocean Science Trust and the California Aquaculture Association. In this capacity Mr. Malan has worked extensively with the California Legislature, public interest groups and state regulatory agencies and has served on numerous state-wide committees and task-forces dealing with a wide array of resource management and environmental health issues.

Mr. Malan’s firm, Ecoconsult, currently has an eclectic group of “green” clients including US Green Building Council-California; CCDEH, Distributed Wind Energy Association; StopWaste.Org; California League of Conservation Voters; Union of Concerned Scientists; California Climate and Agriculture Network; California Product Stewardship Council; and Sustainable Conservation.

Danny Merkley, California Farm Bureau

Mr. Merkley joined the California Farm Bureau Federation as director of water resources in December 2007. He represents Farm Bureau before the state Legislature and regulatory agencies on policy issues related to water development and water quality.

Prior to joining Farm Bureau, Mr. Merkley was district director for Congressman Dan Lungren, Republican from Gold River. He previously worked as agricultural liaison with the State Water Resources Control Board, where he specialized in water quality issues and carried farmers’ and ranchers’ concerns to the regional and state water boards. Earlier, he served as agri-cultural commissioner liaison with the California Department of Pesticide Regulation.

Mr. Merkley grew up and worked on the family farm in Solano and Yolo counties, is a former member of the Solano County Farm Bureau board of directors and is currently a member of the Yolo County Farm Bureau. He has also been active in a number of other agricultural and community organizations and is a graduate of the California Agricultural Leadership Pro-gram.

Kate Williams, Program Manager, California Water Foundation

Kate Williams develops and implements strategies and projects for the California Water Foundation. Ms. Williams brings extensive experience in natural resource management and legislation, including four years as principal consultant to Assem-bly members John Laird and Jared Huffman, where she researched, wrote, and negotiated environmental and natural re-source legislation, and four years as Assistant Director of Policy and Finance at the California Bay-Delta Authority, where she advised on water and environmental funding and program priorities. Before that, Ms. Williams served as Restoration Coor-dinator for the California Bay-Delta Authority, Wetlands Coordinator for the California Department of Water Resources, and Senior Fiscal and Policy Analyst at the California Legislative Analyst’s Office. Ms. Williams received a Master’s in Public Ad-ministration from the University of Washington and a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Planning & Management from the University of California, Davis.

CALIFORNIA WATER MANAGEMENT

A STRATEGIC OVERVIEW

- REGISTRATION -

Date: March 26, 2015

Location: Gold Country Casino 4020 Olive Highway Oroville, CA 95966 (see next page for details)

Registration Fee:

Attendance Registration Fee

Conference $35

Continental Breakfast Included

Lunch Included

REHS Contact Hours (6 Contact Hours) Included

Meals: Continental Breakfast Fruit, pastries, coffee, tea, ice water

Lunch Caesar salad, BBQ chicken, pasta salad, rolls, corn-on-the-cob (yum!)

Lodging: Gold Country Casino and Hotel

Gold Country Casino and Hotel has outstanding overnight lodging. The County and State Government rate is $83 and the Federal Government rate is $83. We have reserved a bank of 15 rooms for March 25 and 26 at these rates until March 12. We recommend you make your room reservation at the Hotel as soon as possible by reserving online or calling (855) 447-1797.

CALIFORNIA WATER MANAGEMENT

A STRATEGIC OVERVIEW

- REGISTRATION –

Workshop Location:

Registration:

Mail Form: Complete this form and send it to our office

Pay Fee: There are two alternatives for paying the registration fee:

a) Check: Mail a check payable to Butte County Environmental Health in with your registration form, or

b) PayGov: To pay by credit card, contact PayGov at 1-866-480-8552. There will be a $2 fee by PayGov and you will need to tell PayGov three things: (1) The name of the event is the California Water Management Workshop, (2) The Invoice # is 32615, and (3) The “Facility Name” which is actually your name.

Either way you pay, please complete the form below and mail or FAX it to our office.

Company/Agency: Phone: Attendees: 1. 2. Enclosed: $______ for ____ persons. Check No. _______________, payable to “BCEH”

Mail to: Butte County Environmental Health, 202 Mira Loma Drive, Oroville, CA 95965, or contact Karen Frederick at (530) 538-7149, kfrederick@buttecounty.net or Brad Banner at (530) 538-6772, FAX (530) 538-5339, bbanner@buttecounty.net.

Gold Country Casino 4020 Olive Highway Oroville, CA 95966

(800) 334-9400

mailto:kfrederick@buttecounty.netmailto:bbanner@buttecounty.net