Contributors

Publisher
Chris Austin, otherwise known as Maven, has been publishing Maven's Notebook since 2013 and has been aggregating California water news since 2007.
Ag Alert is a publication of the California Farm Bureau Federation.
CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.
The Department of Water Resources is charged with managing the state's water resources. The Department operates the State Water Project, regulates dams, provides flood management and emergency operations, implements the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), and provides grants and technical assistance to local agencies.
The Estuary News Group provides articles written by professional, independent journalists, providing in-depth, silo-crossing coverage of the environment and restoration.
Janet L. Byron is an independent journalist, writer, and editor, who previously was managing editor of UC’s California Agriculture journal and a research communicator for Kaiser Permanente. She is the co-author, with Robert Johnson, of Berkeley Walks (Heyday Books, 3rd ed., 2023); immediate past president of Berkeley Path Wanderers Association; and co-founder of El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk & Roll, a bike and pedestrian safety advocacy group. Her recent writing clients include Bay Nature, Estuary News, KneeDeep Times, and Bay Area Monitor.
Justin Scott-Coe has over 20 years of experience in water resource and local government management. He is General Manager of Monte Vista Water District, located in southwestern San Bernardino County, where he also previously served as Assistant General Manager and Water Resources and Community Affairs Manager. Justin has a Ph.D. in English from Claremont Graduate University and is a Certified Special District Manager and a Grade 3 Water Use Efficiency Practitioner.
ProPublica is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force. We dig deep into important issues, shining a light on abuses of power and betrayals of public trust — and we stick with those issues as long as it takes to hold power to account.
Robert Shibatani is a physical hydrologist with over 35-years combined academic, consulting, and water advisory expertise. He serves as an international expert witness on reservoir-operations, climate change hydrology, commercial flood damage litigation, and water supply development. He is Managing Partner for The SHIBATANI GROUP International, a division of The SHIBATANI GROUP Inc. and resides between Sacramento, California and Toronto, Canada. Email: robert@theshibatanigroup.com
Robin Meadows is an independent science journalist who covers water, climate and environmental policy for Maven's Notebook. Her work has also appeared in the Bay Area Monitor, bioGraphic, High Country News, San Francisco Estuary magazine, Scientific American, and elsewhere. Robin lives in the San Francisco Bay Area near Suisun Marsh, the largest brackish wetland on the West Coast.
Stateline provides daily reporting and analysis on trends in state policy. Since its founding in 1998, Stateline has maintained a commitment to the highest standards of nonpartisanship, objectivity and integrity. Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit supported by grants and a coalition of donors and readers. Stateline retains editorial independence.
Stephen Baker is a California and Washington Registered Geologist and Certified Hydrogeologist with 42 years of experience in addressing pollution affecting real estate, private, neighbor and community private well management, groundwater expert for radio news broadcasts and problem-solving groundwater issues related to sustainable management and land development. He became the founding Advisory Board Member of the Cooperative Solution Program and Board of Director for the Institute of Environmental Solutions in California, participated as the environmental consultant in the first pilot project assigned by Governor Wilson’s office and was contributor to the development of the pollution liability environmental disclosure policy for the Federal Home Loan Bank Board. Produces Water is a Many Splendor'ed Thing, Senior Wisdom and Conversations podcasts for companies and general public.
The Conversation is a nonprofit, independent news organization dedicated to unlocking the knowledge of experts for the public good.
The Water Hub envisions a world where all people have equitable access to safe water and sanitation, as well as a voice in the management of this shared and sacred resource. The Water Hub works to make water communications more accessible, and activism more effective, so the people most impacted by water challenges have greater agency to determine the solutions.
UC Davis was founded in 1908 to serve the state of California. We do and we always will. And today, the seed that was planted those years ago has grown into one of the world’s top universities.