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RESEARCH EDITORIAL Advancing Water Resource Management in Agricultural, Rural, and Urbanizing Watersheds

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RESEARCH EDITORIAL Advancing Water Resource Management in Agricultural, Rural, and Urbanizing Watersheds RESEARCH EDITORIAL ment of Engineering Professional Development doi:10.2489/jswc.68.4.337 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin; Carl Evensen is a specialist in the De- partment of Natural Resources and Environmental Management at the University of Hawaii, Hono- lulu, Hawaii; Kitt Farrell-Poe is a water quality Advancing water resource management extension specialist and professor in the Agricul- tural and Biosystems Engineering Department at in agricultural, rural, and urbanizing the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona; Cass Gardner is a professor at Florida A&M University, watersheds: Why land-grant Tallahassee, Florida; Wendy Graham is the Carl S. Swisher eminent scholar in Water Resources in the Department of Agricultural and Biological universities matter Engineering at the University of Florida and di- rector of the University of Florida Water Institute, A.J. Gold, D. Parker, R.M. Waskom, J. Dobrowolski, M. O’Neill, P.M. Groffman, K. Addy, M. Barber, Gainesville, Florida; Joe Harrison is an animal S. Batie, B. Benham, M. Bianchi, T. Blewett, C. Evensen, K. Farrell-Poe, C. Gardner, W. Graham, scientist and extension specialist at Washington J. Harrison, T. Harter, J. Kushner, R. Lowrance, J. Lund, R. Mahler, M. McClaran, M. McFarland, State University, Pullman, Washington; Thomas Copyright © 2013 Soil and Water Conservation Society. All rights reserved. D. Osmond, J. Pritchett, L. Prokopy, C. Rock, A. Shober, M. Silitonga, D. Swackhamer, J. Thurston, Harter is an extension groundwater hydrologist at Journal of Soil and Water Conservation D. Todey, R. Turco, G. Vellidis, and L. Wright Morton the University of California Davis, Davis, Califor- nia; Jennifer Kushner is an evaluation specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Federally funded university water pro- safety, agricultural water use, and groundwa- Wisconsin; Richard Lowrance is a research ecol- grams have had limited success in halting ter management. These four grand challenge ogist at the USDA Agricultural Research Service, the degradation of water resources in agri- areas were distilled from a listing of over 50 Tifton, Georgia; Jay Lund is a professor and di- rector of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the cultural, rural, and urbanizing watersheds important issues related to agricultural water University of California Davis, Davis, California; for the past five decades. USDA-funded resource management identified at a work- Bob Mahler is a professor in the Environmental university water programs have advanced shop of university and government water Science Program at the University of Idaho, Mos- our understanding of watershed processes scientists in November of 2011. Our over- cow, Idaho; Mitch McClaran is a professor in the and the development of best management School of Natural Resources and the Environment at the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona; practices (BMPs; e.g., conservation tillage, 68(4):337-348 Arthur J. Gold is a professor in the Department Mark McFarland is a professor and extension nutrient management, alternative and inno- of Natural Resources Science at the University specialist at Texas A&M University, College Sta- vative septic systems, and riparian buffers) to of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island. Doug tion, Texas; Deanna Osmond is a professor in mitigate environmental risks from anthropo- Parker is the director of the California Institute the Department of Soil Science at North Carolina genic activities, in particular from agriculture, for Water Resources at the University of Califor- State University, Raleigh, North Carolina; James to our water resources; yet water degradation nia, Oakland, California. Reagan M. Waskom Pritchett is an associate professor in the Depart- www.swcs.org persists and has worsened in many water- is the director of the Colorado Water Institute/ ment of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Water Center at Colorado State University, Fort Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado; sheds (Howarth et al. 2000; Mueller and Collins, Colorado. Jim Dobrowolski is a national Linda Prokopy is an associate professor in the Spahr 2006). The National Research Council program leader at USDA National Institute of Food Department of Forestry and Natural Resources (2012) stresses the need for sustainable agri- and Agriculture, Washington, DC. Mike O’Neill is at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana; cultural practices to reduce changes in flow an associate dean and associate director at the Channah Rock is a water quality specialist and regimes and water quality. University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension assistant professor at the University of Arizona, In this research editorial, we make four System, Storrs, Connecticut. Peter M. Groffman Maricopa, Arizona; Amy Shober is an assistant is a microbial ecologist a the Cary Institute of Eco- points relative to solving water resource professor and extension specialist in the Depart- system Studies, Millbrook, New York. Kelly Addy ment of Plant and Soil Sciences at the University issues: (1) they are complex problems and is a research associate in the College of Environ- of Delaware, Newark, Delaware; Maifan Silitonga difficult to solve; (2) some progress has been ment and Life Sciences at the University of Rhode is an associate professor at Kentucky State Uni- made on solving these issues; (3) exter- Island, Kingston, Rhode Island. Michael Barber versity, Frankfort, Kentucky; Deborah Swack- nal nonstationary drivers such as land use is a professor in the Department of Civil and En- hamer is a professor at the University of Minne- changes, climate change and variability, and vironmental Engineering, Washington State Uni- sota, St. Paul, Minnesota; Jeannette Thurston is shifts in markets, policies, and regulations versity, Pullman, Washington; Sandra Batie is a national program leader for the USDA National In- professor emeritus in the Department of Agricul- stitute of Food and Agriculture, Washington, DC; warrant constant vigilance to assure that tural, Food, and Resource Economics, Michigan Dennis Todey is an extension state climatolo- presumed improvements are being attained; State University, East Lansing, Michigan; Brian gist at South Dakota State University, Brook- and (4) we are poised to make substantial Benham is an associate professor and extension ings, South Dakota; Ron Turco is a professor of progress on these challenges over the next specialist in the Department of Biological Sys- agronomy at Purdue University, West Lafayette, 10 to 20 years if critical steps are taken. tems Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Indiana; George Vellidis is a professor in the Our discussion is framed by identifying Blacksburg, Virginia; Mary Bianchi is a horticul- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at Univer- tural farm advisor at the University of California sity of Georgia, Tifton, Georgia; and Lois Wright and describing four grand challenges that Cooperative Extension, San Luis Obispo, Califor- Morton is a professor in the Department of we face in agricultural, rural, and urbaniz- nia; Tom Blewett is a professor in the Depart- Sociology, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. ing watersheds: nutrient management, food JOURNAL OF SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION JULY/AUGUST 2013—VOL. 68, NO. 4 337 arching premise is that the combination of sustained declines in lung cancer deaths have tionary drivers that add complexity and risk capacity in university-led research, extension, occurred in some states. These declines are to traditional approaches of managing agri- and education has the potential to enhance attributed in part to investments and coopera- cultural, rural, and urbanizing watersheds conservation planning, technical assistance, tion between researchers, educators, voluntary (Kiang et al. 2011). World population is and research programs of the public and pri- organizations, and policy makers and include projected to grow from the current 7 billion vate sectors at the national, state, and local outreach that is culturally appropriate, engages to 9 to 10 billion by 2050 with demands for level and to galvanize significant progress on community organizations, and targets high- agricultural food production nearly doubling these challenges. The availability and focus of risk populations (Bonnie et al. 2007). Here, within this period. external funding will influence that progress we argue that the types of outreach and coop- Additional food, feed, fiber, and (bio) by directing university investment in aca- eration that contribute to smoking declines fuels will need to be produced and will demic programs, faculty, and outreach. are in hand for water resource issues and that thus necessarily lead to expansion and How critical are these water problems? we will see marked improvements in the sta- continued intensification of agriculture. James R. Clapper, director of National tus of water resources and societal benefits Simultaneously, metropolitan areas in the Intelligence, in his 2012 statement of world- if these tools can be integrated and applied United States have grown at unprecedented wide threat assessment noted, over large areas. These marked improvements rates, creating extensive urban, urbanizing, Depleted and degraded groundwater can require the focus and strengths of academia, and ex-urban landscapes from farmlands, Copyright © 2013 Soil and Water Conservation Society. All rights reserved. threaten food security and thereby risk government agencies, and the private sec- wetlands, forests, and deserts.
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