Drought in Nevada Workshop Series: Review of 2015 Drought Forum Recommendations

Nevada’s variable climate makes drought preparedness not only important but challenging. To effectively address some of the challenges faced in the drought planning process, the Nevada Division of Water Resources is collaborating with the Desert Research Institute (DRI), the Nevada State Climate Office, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) through the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) program to facilitate three virtual workshops aimed at improving drought planning, mitigation, and communication in Nevada. The workshops will encourage collaboration between stakeholder agencies at the federal, state, and community level to leverage resources and improve planning, mitigation, and outreach. Strengthening interagency collaboration will improve coordination of actions as well as minimize duplicate efforts, ultimately enhancing efficiencies and resources that benefit a diversity of water users across the state. By identifying needs for drought preparedness, stakeholder agencies can work together in determining the next steps needed to continue moving Nevada towards drought resiliency.  

The three virtual workshops are: 

• January 26, 2022: Review of 2015 Drought Forum Recommendations
• February 9, 2022: Drought Outreach and Communication Strategies
• February 16, 2022: Drought Resources, Funding, and Projects

This first workshop in the series will review the recommendations from the 2015 Nevada Drought Forum and share progress made over the past six years. Discussions will aim to identify recommendations stakeholders can work toward and collaborate on to address drought in Nevada.

This webinar series is open to state, local, tribal, and federal stakeholders involved in drought planning, mitigation, and communication.

For additional information, please contact Nicole Goehring, Nevada Division of Water Resources at ngoehring@water.nv.gov.

Meeting Agenda

• 8:45 a.m.: Login
• 9:00 a.m.: Opening Remarks/Introductions of Speakers
  • Bunny Bishop, Water Planning and Drought Resiliency Section Chief, Nevada Division of Water Resources (NDWR)
  • Adam Sullivan, State Engineer, NDWR
• 9:10 a.m.: Overview of 2015 Nevada Drought Forum: Recommendations Report
  • Bunny Bishop, NDWR
  • Steph McAfee, Nevada State Climatologist, University of Nevada, Reno
• 9:40 a.m.: Breakout Groups
• 10:10 a.m.: Break
• 10:25 a.m.: Regroup for Breakout Summary Report Out
• 10:40 a.m.: Final Questions/Open Discussion
• 10:55 a.m.: Closing Remarks