Presented By:

Matthew Fienup, Executive Director, California Lutheran University
&
Sarah Heard, Project Director, The Nature Conservancy

 

 

 INTRODUCTION:

The Fox Canyon groundwater market is the result of a grower-led initiative authorized by the Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency, in Ventura County, California. In 2017 a centralized market for individual landowners to buy and sell groundwater was launched on the Oxnard Plain in Ventura County by the Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency (FCGMA). The U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded a $1.9 million grant to expand the pilot project. California Lutheran University faculty member Matthew Fienup, Executive Director of the university’s Center for Economic Research and Forecasting (CERF) spent more than a year guiding about 50 farmers, city representatives and environmental stewards in the development of recommendations for the market-based remedy for groundwater depletion.

The FCGMA board of directors approved the pilot involving water users on the prime agricultural land bordered by the cities of Camarillo, Oxnard and Ventura. CERF is managing all aspects of the exchange including enrolling participants, matching buyers with sellers, and executing and reporting groundwater transfers. The market allows farmers to transfer unused groundwater allocations to other farmers for financial compensation, enabling them to profit from conservation in their fields. An advanced, automated metering system is providing real-time, electronic monitoring of groundwater pumping among participants.

After the pilot’s first phase ended CERF staff collaborated with The Nature Conservancy to make recommendations for an agency wide, permanent water market. The pilot’s second phase, began on Oct. 1, 2017 and included municipal and environmental water users as well as additional farmers. CERF and The Nature Conservancy hope to use the Fox Canyon water market as a model for other groundwater basins throughout the state as various Groundwater Sustainability Agencies develop Groundwater Sustainability Plans in response to the requirements set forth in the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.

The Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency (FCGMA) manages and protects both confined and unconfined aquifers within several groundwater basins underlying the southern portion of Ventura County. The FCGMA is an independent special district, separate from the County of Ventura or any city government. It was created by the California Legislature in 1982 to oversee Ventura County's vital groundwater resources. The boundary covers 183 square miles, and all lands lying above the deep Fox Canyon aquifer account for more than half of the water needs for over 700,000 residents in the cities of Ventura, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Camarillo, and Moorpark, plus the unincorporated communities of Saticoy, El Rio, Somis, Moorpark Home Acres, Nyeland Acres, Point Mugu and Montalvo.

Two years of designing and testing the Fox Canyon groundwater market have yielded many lessons learned related to market design and implementation.

 

 

SPEAKER BIO:

Matthew Fienup is the Executive Director of the Center for Economic Research and Forecasting (CERF) at California Lutheran University. He teaches courses in Econometrics and Environmental Economics in the University’s Masters of Quantitative Economics program.

His specialties are applied econometric analysis, the economics of land use, and environmental markets. Matthew is the Chair of the Fox Canyon Water Market Group and was recently chosen by Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency to serve as exchange administrator for an innovative, first of its kind water market pilot program.

Matthew returned to school to pursue his PhD after running a small business in Ventura County for more than a decade. He completed his doctorate in environmental economics at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at UC Santa Barbara.

 

Sarah Heard leads market-based work for The Nature Conservancy’s California Chapter. She supports the development of strategies that conserve the biodiversity of our Lands, Waters and Oceans by incorporating economic and finance tools. Sarah currently leads a team that creates new markets, utilizes economic incentives and leverages private capital in support of triple bottom line outcomes for people and nature. She has over 15 years of experience in the fields of environmental economics, policy and strategy.

Before joining the Conservancy in 2015, Sarah was a consultant at Blu Skye, where she advised Fortune 500 clients on incorporating sustainability into their business, and at AECOM, where she helped launch their environmental economics practice. Prior to that, she staffed the Committee on Natural Resources and Agriculture in the Massachusetts legislature. Sarah has Masters degrees in Public Policy and Environmental Planning from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.A. in Political Science from Amherst College.

 

 

MODERATOR BIO:

Daniel Gamon is an experienced California Certified Hydrogeologist and Professional Geologist at the California Department of Water Resources. He has strong project management, grant management, budget management skills with 19 years of experience.

He has authored numerous environmental, hydrologic, and hydrogeologic reports relating to regulatory requirements, scientific investigations, and technical studies. He is experienced in water resource management and has authored urban water management plans, water supply assessments, and groundwater basin water budgets.  Mr. Gamon’s technical expertise includes performing groundwater basin studies, water well design and construction techniques, design and analysis of aquifer and pumping tests, conceptual and numerical modeling techniques and water supply investigations.

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Date and Time

Wed, March 20, 2019

noon - 1 p.m.
(GMT-0700) US/Pacific

Location



This GRACast will use a conference call for audio and WebEx to display the presentation slides. Each registration is allowed access via one phone line and one log in to the WebEx module. More than one person may participate per registration by using a shared computer screen and speaker phone. …

This GRACast will use a conference call for audio and WebEx to display the presentation slides. Each registration is allowed access via one phone line and one log in to the WebEx module. More than one person may participate per registration by using a shared computer screen and speaker phone. GRA reserves the right to invoice those individuals and/or organizations that are logged in or connected from telephone numbers that don't correspond to a paid registration.

Full Description

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Group(s): GRA