The Colorado River Basin Climate Technical Work Group was empanelled during the development of the Colorado River Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages and Coordinated Operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead Final Environmental Impact Statement to assess the state of knowledge regarding climate change in the Colorado River Basin and to prioritize future research and development needs.

The Bureau of Reclamation’s Lower Colorado Region convened a meeting of the Work Group on November 8, 2006. In addition to the outside expert invitees, a number of Reclamation staff and contractors also attended the meeting. The members of the Work Group and attendees at this meeting are listed below.

Following the meeting, a smaller group of Reclamation staff, contractors and outside experts were assembled to develop a draft version of what was to become the Climate Technical Work Group Final Report – Review of Science and Methods for Incorporating Climate Change Information into Reclamation’s Colorado River Basin Planning Studies. The members of this drafting group are starred (**) in the list below. The drafting group developed an initial outline, which was circulated to the entire Work Group in February 2007. Based on feedback on the outline, a draft report was developed and circulated to the Work Group for review in April 2007. Comments were received from the Work Group and other interested parties including climate scientists, water resource engineers and Reclamation staff. The Work Group revised the report and transmitted it to Reclamation in its final form in August 2007.

Climate Meeting Attendees

• Christina Alvord, Western Water Assessment (WWA)
• Joe Barsugli, WWA / Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES)
• Levi Brekke, Reclamation, Technical Service Center (TSC) **
• Amber Cunningham, Reclamation, Lower Colorado (LC) Region
• Chris Cutler, Reclamation, Upper Colorado (UC) Region
• Randall Dole, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
• Don Frevert, Reclamation, TSC
• Terry Fulp, Reclamation, LC Region
• Subhrendu Gangopadhay, AMEC Earth & Environmental
• Ben Harding, AMEC Earth & Environmental **
• Marty Hoerling, (NOAA)
• Doug Kenney, WWA / University of Colorado (CU) / Natural Resources Law Center
• Jeff Lukas, WWA / CU / Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research
• Paul Miller, Reclamation, LC Region
• Tom Piechota, University of Nevada, Las Vegas **
• Jim Prairie, Reclamation, UC Region
• Balaji Rajagopalan, CU / CIRES / WWA
• Andrea Ray, WWA / NOAA / Climate Diagnostics Center
• John Redlinger, Reclamation, LC Region
• Kelly Redmond, Desert Research Institute
• Alan Solbert, Jones & Stokes
• Brad Udall, WWA **
• Connie Woodhouse, University of Arizona **
• David Yates, National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) **
• Nan Yoder, Reclamation, LC Region
• Ruben Zubia, Brown and Caldwell

Additional information, questions, and/or comments on climate research in the Colorado River Basin may be directed to CRBclimateresearch@usbr.gov.