Free lecture with Tim Robinson.
Thursday, October 29, 7:00 p.m.
Legion Wing, Veterans Memorial Hall.
1745 Mission Dr, Solvang, CA 93463.

A Mediterranean climate is characterized as having an extended dry season and a short wet season, a combination that is often is associated with a boom-bust river runoff regime. Santa Barbara County, specifically the Santa Ynez River, provides an excellent example of that drought-flood regime and the commonly observed inter- and intra-annual discharge variability of rivers in this type of climate. The Santa Ynez River is vital to sustaining life for terrestrial and aquatic wildlife species and to humans who rely on it for their water supply. In his lecture, Dr. Robinson will give an overview of watershed functionality and stream hydrology in context of historic trends, El Niño conditions and global warming.

Tim Robinson holds a Ph.D. from the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at UCSB as well as two master’s degrees in Geography—one from UCSB and a second from the University of Costa Rica. His specific expertise is in water quality, watershed analysis, fisheries biology, and Geographic Information Systems. He is the Senior Resources Scientist and Fisheries Division Manager for Cachuma Operation and Maintenance Board (COMB), where his focus has been on watershed and fisheries management specifically for the endangered southern steelhead within the Santa Ynez River watershed.

Santa Ynez River photo by John Evarts