Progress 01/27/20 to 09/30/20
Outputs Target Audience:Results will improve understanding of the costs, benefits, and bio-economic challenges of using water transfers in this context. Target audience during this reporting period is consequently policymakers, agricultural water users, other water users, and other stakeholders. Note however that the process of developing a regional response to the anticipated supply-demand imbalance in the Colorado River Basin is inherently iterative; policymakers and stakeholders also drive market design and development. Changes/Problems:Objective 1. The two graduate students had planned oral, in-person presentations of their thesis results, which did not happen due to the global pandemic. These presentations could have been transitioned to virtual, but the challenges of the early months of the global pandemic limited time available for planning and implementing such things. Production of research and extension materials out of these thesis projects was also delayed by the pandemic. Objective 2. Engagement with water users and other stakeholders for the demand management feasibility study with the Wyoming State Engineer's Office was reduced in scope due to the pandemic. Planned community meetings were canceled, and focus groups were held via zoom rather than in-person. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Objective 1. Two graduate students completed their M.S. thesis research projects under this objective during the reporting period. One is now working at USDA-RMA in Kansas City and the other is at America Farmland Trust. Both benefitted from the research experience they received under my supervision. Objective 2. One of these two graduate students received additional training by assisting with the regional economic impact analysis associated with water transfers in the Wyoming portion of the Colorado River Basin. Objective 2. Although the regional economic impact analysis is not yet final, the vetting process that the study underwent in its final stages during the report period has informed many water users and stakeholders about the economic tradeoffs and institutional constraints inherent in the policy options under analysis. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Objective 1. Both student M.S. thesis presentations were broadcast over zoom. The ecological impacts thesis presentation was presented at a regional conference. Objective 2. Preliminary regional economic impact results have been presented to the water committee of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, a regional conference on Colorado River Basin issues, and at focus groups comprised of water users and other stakeholders. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Objective 1. Results on groundwater management over the Wyoming Ogallala and on ecological and economic imapacts of a water demand management program in the Wyoming Colorado River Basin will be disseminated through written materials. Objective 2. Results of the regional economic impact study and the demand management feasibility study will be disseminated through written materials as well as a webinar and a series of in-person presentations (covid permitting) throughout the Wyoming Colorado River Basin. Objective 2. Begin work to expand the regional economic impacts study to include other economy sectors (in addition to agriculture), reservoir storage, water supply under uncertainty, and a more realistic baseline.
Impacts What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1. Under the direction of Hansen, a graduate student completed analysis using annual and intra-seasonal farm-level dynamic optimization models to determine whether incorporating intra-seasonal decision-making makes the model more realistic in a meaningful way, and whether water-use efficiency technologies can be beneficial to producers if policies to encourage or mandate water use reductions were implemented (Ogallala Aquifer). Objective 1. Under the direction of Hansen, a graduate student completed an analysis of the ecological and economic trade-offs associated with programs encouraging voluntary water conservation practices on irrigated rangelands that could help Wyoming to meet its obligations to downstream states under the Colorado River Compact. Collaborators include Trout Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy, conservation districts and ranchers in the area. Objective 2. Hansen is assessing the regional economic impacts of water transfers in the Wyoming portion of the Colorado River Basin, to assist water rights holders and other stakeholders in evaluating a potential demand management program (water conservation) in the region. The study was close to final at the end of the reporting period and has already influenced the conversation in Wyoming about the costs and benefits of a potential demand management program and additional scientific data needs to help evaluate the program. Objective 2. With University of Wyoming Extension colleagues, Hansen is assisting the Wyoming State Engineer's Office to assess stakeholder interest in a water demand management program, which could help Wyoming and other Upper Colorado River Basin states meet their obligations under the Colorado River Compact. During the reporting period, Hansen and colleagues hosted focus group meetings with agricultural, municipal, and industrial water users and other stakeholders, to explain what a potential demand management program would look like and to receive feedback.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Yeatman, E., K. Hansen, G. Paige, A. MacKinnon, and J. Albers. Economic and Ecological Tradeoffs of Water Conservation in the Upper Green River Basin Selected presentation at the Western Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting, virtual (June 29-July 1, 2020). Presentation by Yeatman.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Hansen, K. R. Coupal, G. Paige, and A. MacKinnon. 2020. Wyoming Conservation Exchange: A Grassroots Conservation Program. Selected presentation at the Western Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting, virtual (June 29-July 1, 2020).
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Hansen, K., R. Coupal, E. Yeatman, and D. Bennett. Economic Assessment of a Potential Water Demand Management Program in the Wyoming Colorado River Basin Upper Colorado River Basin Water Forum, Grand Junction, CO (virtual conference, November 4-5, 2020).
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
MacKinnon, A., G. Paige, and K. Hansen. 2020. Wyoming Stakeholder Engagement.
Invited Presentation at the State Water Forum, hosted by Wyoming State Engineers Office. Cheyenne, WY. January 15, 2020.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Hansen, K. and R. Coupal. 2020. Economic Assessment of a Potential Demand Management Program in the Wyoming Portion of the Colorado River Basin. Invited Presentation at the State Water Forum, hosted by Wyoming State Engineers Office. Cheyenne, WY. January 15, 2020.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Hansen, K. 2020. Economic Impacts of a Demand Management Program in Wyomings Colorado River Basin. Invited presentations at the Wyoming Stock Growers Association Summer Meeting, Rock Springs, WY (August 25, 2020).
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Paige, G., A. MacKinnon, and K. Hansen. 2020. Wyoming State Engineers Office Water User Focus Groups on a Water Demand Management Program in Wyomings Colorado River Basin, virtual (eight sessions, September 2020).
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