climate change & Hydro in the Northwest: Examples of Resiliency and adaptation

hydro operators in the northwest are responding to the realities of climate change. In this session, we will discuss how climate change is impacting hydro operations and provide real-world examples of how operators are adapting to these impacts in flood risk management, downstream aquatic resources and power generation.
 
Who Should Attend: Everyone who is involved in the Hydro Industry in the Northwest.
 
Why You Should Attend:  learn about how your organization can respond to the realities of climate change.  
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Leah Marquez-Glynn, moderator
Resource operations, power scheduling and settlements manager, city of tacoma
About Leah: Leah Marquez-Glynn is the Resource Operations, Power Scheduling and Settlements Manager at Tacoma Power. She and her team manage Tacoma’s all-hydro resource portfolio including three seasonal storage reservoirs and the Slice contract purchase from Bonneville Power. She has a Masters in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Southern California and an MBA from UW-Tacoma. She started work at Tacoma Power in 2008 as a Resource Ops Analyst and became the Resource Ops Lead in 2015.

speakers
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Aaron Jacobs
Senior Service Hydrologist/Meteorologist, National Weather Service (NOAA), Juneau, AK
About Aaron: I have been living and working in Juneau, Alaska, for the National Weather Service (NWS) since the spring of 2002. I grew up outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and attended Penn State for Meteorology and Hydrology. I was an operational forecaster for 15 years before my current role as the Senior Service Hydrologist for the NWS Weather Forecast Office in Juneau. In this role, I am responsible for the NWS Hydrology Program from the north Gulf of Alaska coast through the Panhandle to Dixon Entrance. Two priorities of managing the local NWS Hydrology Program is to improve flood forecasting by acquiring increased precipitation information across Southeast Alaska and provide hydrologic/water supply information to the public of Southeast Alaska. I specialize in hydrometeorology, remote sensing, debris flow, drought, and atmospheric rivers.

John James
Director of resource planning, Yuba County water agency
About John: As Yuba Water Agency’s director of resource planning, John James oversees the resource planning division’s programs, projects and institutional partnerships related to licensing, environmental and watershed enhancement, and reservoir flood and water operations. His work also supports the agency’s power systems operations. Prior to joining Yuba Water Agency in 2019, James spent 14 years at Pacific Gas & Electric, where he focused on switching center dispatch, water management and hydroelectric energy optimization. Earlier in his career, James also worked as an operational meteorologist providing global weather forecasting and routing for commercial cargo ships. He holds a bachelor’s degree in atmospheric sciences from the University of California, Davis.

Ronda Strauch
Climate Adaption Advisor, Seattle City Light
About Ronda: Dr. Ronda Strauch is the Climate Change Research and Adaptation Advisor for Seattle City Light, where she helps the utility increase climate resilience. Prior to this position, she was a postdoctoral fellow with the Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center hosted by University of Washington (UW) Climate Impacts Group. Her Ph.D. research with UW Civil and Environmental Engineering focused on landslide modeling in the Skagit River watershed and the vulnerability of transportation to climate change on federal lands in the North Cascades. Ronda has worked as a supervising engineer at King County Department of Transportation and as an ecologist for consulting firms and federal agencies in the Pacific Northwest, specializing in environmental and biological assessments. She has an MS from UW College of Forest Resources, where she studied the effects of climate and other factors on high elevation tree establishment following fire.

Northwest Hydroelectric Association
providing a regional forum for the hydropower industry

P.O. Box 441 Lake Oswego, OR 97034
Phone: 503-502-7262    Fax: 503-253-9172  Email: info@nwhydro.org