Outreach to User Groups

Left: Field trip to the Catalina Mts. north of Tucson; Right: Session during the Tucson workshop. See Dendrohydrological workshops for more information.

Through workshops, conferences, personal interactions, web sites and written documents, the WWA hopes to communicate climate and hydrology information to key water-resource decision makers. The goal being to increase decision makers level of knowledge about climate science so they can become better consumers and demanders of climate products and assessments, and help WWA set its research agenda. The following is a list of recent WWA sponsored or hosted workshops:

Climate Workshops for Front Range Water Managers: Climate workshops geared towards municipal, state, and federal water managers, extension specialists, other policy makers interested in climate and water resources management. Topics include long-term climate trends and projections and potential impacts to water resources in the West, as well as seasonal forecasts and outlooks. WWA has an ongoing effort to host or co-sponsor workshops with water managers to develop and maintain two-way communication on needs for climate information by this sector and climate research and products.

Dendrohydrological Workshops.  Increasing interest by water managers in tree-ring reconstructions of streamflow has led to demand for a hands-on workshop on how the reconstructions are generated and assessed. The goal of these workshops is to provide managers with the tools to better interpret and apply the reconstructions to planning. Researchers Woodhouse, Lukas, Webb.

Dendrohydrological Capacity Building.  Researchers in Wyoming have expressed interest in learning technical details about streamflow reconstructions.  This workshop explores the technical details of streamflow reconstruction; providing researchers with the capacity to begin streamflow reconstructions.  Researchers Woodhouse, Lukas.

Forecast Verification Workshop.  In order to gage forecast quality, users must know the accuracy and skill of seasonal forecasts.  This workshop will introduce water managers to the basics of forecast verification statistics.  Invitees will include Colorado and Wyoming managers. Researchers Ray, Webb, Wolter, Hoerling, Hamill, Udall.

Climate and Tourism Workshop.  Tourism and recreation in the West are a large part of the economy and are strongly linked to climate.  This workshop will result in an applied research and services agenda. Workshop is scheduled for January 23-24, 2007. Researchers Pulwarty, Kenney, Alvord, Udall.

Water Availability Task Force. Provide technical support for Governor’s drought task force as needed. Researchers Wolter, Lowrey, Ray.

Climate Change and the Future of the American West, Natural Resource Law Center, University of Colorado.  WWA assists as a co-sponsor for the CU Law School Workshop on climate change for attorneys and other decision makers.

Hard Times on the Colorado River: Drought, Growth, and the Future of the Compact (2005)
Twenty-sixth annual conference at the Natural Resources Law Center in Boulder, Colorado from June 8-10, 2005

NIDIS Remote Sensing Workshop: NIDIS workshop co-sponsered by the WWA featuring satellite remote sensing technologies and products useful in monitoring, planning, and mitigating drought in the United States.

Colorado Compact Transcripts
The Colorado River compact was negotiated by representatives from the seven states that surround the Colorado River (Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming) and a representiative from the U.S. Department of Interior.  The negotiations took place over 27 sessions in 1922. This website contains transcripts from Colorado Compact negotiations. Researchers Kenney, Lowrey, Ray, Udall.

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