{"id":1479,"date":"2017-01-19T08:07:40","date_gmt":"2017-01-19T16:07:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/?p=1479"},"modified":"2017-01-17T18:21:36","modified_gmt":"2017-01-18T02:21:36","slug":"more-on-delta-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/?p=1479","title":{"rendered":"More on Delta Science"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"More<\/a>I have written often on Delta science and what has been or could be learned from science to support water management.\u00a0 Yet another biennial Delta science conference<\/a>, the 9th<\/sup>, was held this past November.\u00a0 This year\u2019s conference theme was: \u201cScience for Solutions:\u00a0 Linking Data and Decisions.\u201d\u00a0 Another year has passed, and more has been studied and learned.\u00a0 More dots have joined the dozens of previous dots in data charts from annual surveys of Delta organisms and habitat conditions.\u00a0 More dots lament the loss of water and habitat.\u00a0 The huge Delta Science Program has progressed yet another year.<\/p>\n

Opening Talk<\/h1>\n

In Phil Isenberg\u2019s opening talk, \u201cA Guide for the Perplexed\u201d, the former legislator and former chair of the Delta Stewardship Council suggested that scientists learn to smile more.\u00a0 He asked: \u201cWhy should science be involved in policy anyway?\u201d\u00a0 He talked about how policy makers view science.\u00a0 (Obviously, many are perplexed.) \u00a0He forgot that the universe and Mother Nature are vastly mysterious things, which are often more complicated than human understanding, but sensitive to human actions at the same time. \u00a0Yes, science is perplexing.<\/p>\n

Mr. Isenberg talked about \u201cindependent science\u201d and \u201ccombat science,\u201d as though they were two different things.\u00a0 To borrow a legal term, science is not self-executing.\u00a0 Then he asked: \u201cHow do we know when we are using the best-available science\u201d? \u00a0His answer: \u201cWhen it is good enough to avoid doing something stupid.\u201d \u00a0Clearly, we have yet to reach that point.\u00a0 The problem has been in choosing to do the best thing, not that good choices or unknown or not \u201cavailable.\u201d\u00a0 He then quoted Churchill:\u00a0 \u201cAmerica will always do the right thing after trying everything else first\u201d.\u00a0 <\/em>At least we have gotten past the point where we thought the world is flat.\u00a0 It is all very perplexing.<\/p>\n

Mr. Isenberg concluded by suggesting: \u201cIt\u2019s the notion that scientists live looking farther out than the rest of us do with the gift of foresight that if properly utilized, can inform, educate, and ultimately motivate policy makers.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0He forgets that ultimately policy makers must trust scientists to get the job done.\u00a0 Example: the Trinity Project and the atomic bomb in the 1940\u2019s.\u00a0 As long as water managers and policy makers lead the science, the Delta\u2019s problems will not be solved.<\/p>\n

The Delta Science Program<\/h1>\n

Clifford Dahm, former lead scientist for the Delta Stewardship Council, spoke on his Delta Science Program, which was forced upon us in the 2009 Delta Reform Act to ensure water and environmental policy are guided by the \u201chighest caliber\u201d science.\u00a0 He spoke on the program\u2019s Independent Science Board, outsiders who meet once a year to review \u201cour science\u201d.\u00a0 He spoke on their Adaptive Management Program, which ensures that we evaluate everything and learn nothing.\u00a0 He spoke on the program\u2019s efforts to coordinate science and inform decision makers, and to develop and implement the Delta Science Plan<\/a> and promote the Science Action Agenda<\/a>.\u00a0 He talked about their modeling efforts: \u201cThere\u2019s just a lot of ways that modeling could be moved forward, and I hope that in the next two years, we can actually come back to you and say that some of our modeling efforts have shown greater fruition as time goes on.\u00a0 We were talking about the idea of potentially a modeling center or a co-laboratory to get modelers together.\u201d\u00a0 Those would be the two years after which we will have new water quality standards, new biological opinions, and new tunnel-boring machines in the Delta, as well as several newly extinct native fish species.\u00a0 They would also be the two years after 20 years of effort starting with the CalFed Bay-Delta Program.<\/p>\n

A Great Question<\/h1>\n

U.C. Davis fisheries biologist Peter Moyle then addressed the question:\u00a0 \u201cHow has your research program and the data it has produced over the last 35 years been used to develop solutions for conserving aquatic resources in Delta?\u201d \u00a0He quoted the 1998 Strategic Plan:<\/p>\n

This strategic plan, if followed, should lead to an orderly and successful program of adaptive ecosystem restoration\u2026.\u00a0 The Strategic Plan Core Team has high expectations for the Ecosystem Restoration Program.\u00a0 There is\u00a0no turning back and the team anticipates that in 20-30 years many habitats will be restored, endangered species will become abundant enough to be delisted, and conflicts will be lessened , even in the face of population growth and increasing demands on resources.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In addressing the posed question, he then remarked:<\/p>\n

In retrospect, now that almost 20 years has past since that was written, the statement almost seems tongue in cheek because clearly that has not happened.\u00a0 I continue to help write reports that recommend how to improve the Delta ecosystem and frankly I don\u2019t see much progress being made, as the delta smelt trends so eloquently attests\u2026\u00a0 the reality is that the Delta has continued to deteriorate as a habitat for native fishes, despite my research and despite many proposals for solutions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

His experience, like that of so many other long-time Delta scientists, is that few if any of the specific recommendations in the Strategic Plan have been implemented or completed.\u00a0 Science has done its job, and scientists have long awaited action.\u00a0 Policy makers and managers have failed us, not the science.<\/p>\n

The use of science in complex public policy decision making<\/h1>\n

Chair of the State Water Board Felicia Marcus spoke on the use of science in decision making.\u00a0 She suggested to scientists:\u00a0 \u201cDare to recommend, but don\u2019t decree …\u00a0 Retain your scientific integrity but dare to make recommendations.\u00a0 At the same time, own your power and be responsible with it and have empathy for the decision makers who have to balance, even as you would have them respect you.\u201d\u00a0 This is a very tough sell for scientists who have not been listened to for decades.\u00a0 What will she and her Board do with two more rounds of recommendations on the Delta tunnels and the Bay-Delta Plan?\u00a0 Will her Board be as transparent and methodical in their balancing as the scientists are in making their recommendations?<\/p>\n

Chair Marcus further stated:<\/p>\n

We\u2019re entering the era of adaptive management<\/a> that requires all of the above as well as integrating social sciences into our work …\u00a0To make adaptive management<\/a> work, we all have to learn how to be better \u2018egosystem\u2019 managers in order to be better ecosystem managers in the real world over time, versus lurching from sound bite to sound bite or wringing our hands that other players just don\u2019t get it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sorry, but that\u2019s not the problem.\u00a0 It gives the policy makers and the managers too much credit and scientists too little.\u00a0 Very few scientists think that managerial ignorance or lack of cognition is the biggest problem.\u00a0 Rather, it\u2019s that scientists have endured decades of adaptive management in which their lessons and caveats have on the whole been subsumed to the social sciences of politics and economics.\u00a0 There are plenty of scientists throughout the resource agencies and non-profit groups who are extremely articulate and who have great senses of humor and social skills. \u00a0\u00a0That hasn\u2019t changed the outcomes: fish and other parts of the Bay-Delta aquatic ecosystem are in crisis, and the agricultural economy and other values against which the ecosystem is \u201cbalanced\u201d are thriving..\u00a0 And that balance sheet is really nothing to smile about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have written often on Delta science and what has been or could be learned from science to support water management.\u00a0 Yet another biennial Delta science conference, the 9th, was held this past November.\u00a0 This year\u2019s conference theme was: \u201cScience … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bay-delta","category-water-quality"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1479"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1487,"href":"https:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479\/revisions\/1487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calsport.org\/fisheriesblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}