Sierra Nevada Alliance invites you to join us for our May monthly webinar: What’s new with water in the Sierra?

Andy Sawyer, Assistant Chief Council with the California State Water Board will share recent developments in California water rights management, drought response with a focus on in-stream flow protection, and water quality certification for hydroelectric projects. He’ll also chat about Delta water quality planning and how it will affect rim dams and areas upstream.

Alex Leumer, Environmental Attorney and Policy Consultant for California’s Power in Nature 30×30 initiative, and Sam Davidson, Senior Policy Analyst with Trout Unlimited will review the role of freshwater in achieving the state’s 30×30 conservation goals, and will discuss the relationship between land and water protection. They will provide an update on water issues in the California legislature this session, including modernizing water rights, and increasing fines and enforcement of illegal water diversion. 

About the speakers: 

Andy Sawyer: Andy Sawyer is an Assistant Chief Counsel at the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) in Sacramento, California, where his responsibilities include managing the activities of the Office of Chief Counsel involving the State Water Board’s water right and drinking water programs. Sawyer has been Assistant Chief Council since 1988, and has worked for the State Water Board since 1977.  Before coming to the State Water Board, he had a clerkship with Justice Samuel J. Roberts of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. 

Sawyer is a former chair of the Environmental Law Section of Sacramento County Bar Association and a former chair of the Environmental Law Section of the State Bar of California (now the Environmental Law Section of the California Lawyers Association). 

Sawyer received his J.D. in 1976 from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law and his A.B in 1973 from Harvard.

Alexandra Leumer: Alexandra Leumer is an environmental attorney specializing in climate and conservation policy. As a consultant, she has worked on legislation and budget efforts related to transportation electrification, cannabis and environmental protection, the state’s various efforts to elevate natural climate solutions in its plans and policies, and Prop. 64 reform. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Environmental Law Foundation since 2011 and was recently appointed Board Chair and President.

Prior to consulting, Ms. Leumer was the Director of Public Policy for the Western States at ChargePoint, where she led engagement on state, local, and federal policies to accelerate transportation electrification and increase access to EV charging. Ms. Leumer spent eight years as a climate policy analyst at The Nature Conservancy where she helped develop policy and projects focused on nature-based adaptation to climate change, with her main focus on the intersection of climate change and ecosystem conservation. Ms. Leumer holds a J.D. from Golden Gate University and a B.A. in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara. 

Sam Davidson: Sam Davidson has worked for Trout Unlimited (TU) since 2003 and is Senior Policy Analyst for TU’s California Program, working primarily to conserve aquatic and terrestrial habitat on public lands. Previously Sam was TU’s Communications Director in California and Oregon, and was the first communications director for TU’s Western Water Project. A California native, Sam came back to the Golden State in 2006 as TU’s California Field Director. Before working for TU, Sam was a policy and communications consultant, and executive director and senior policy analyst for The Access Fund, a climbers’ advocacy group.