Sarah Fesenmyer, a member of the NW CASC Advisory Committee, is a Fish & Wildlife Supervisor at the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Columbia-Pacific Northwest regional office in Boise, Idaho. Prior to this position, Sarah worked for the National Marine Fisheries Service for 15 years on salmon recovery in the Columbia River Basin. She received a Master of Environmental Management degree from Duke University, prior to which, she was a copyeditor at a book publishing house in New York City.
What led you to work in the field of climate adaptation?
Water is a key resource for the West – for people and for ecosystems. Climate change is bringing increased hydrologic variability to the Northwest, and this complicates our ability to manage water resources for multiple purposes such as agriculture, hydropower and resilient aquatic ecosystems. Working for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in the Environmental Services Office has given me a great opportunity to contribute to teams addressing these challenges.
What does your day-to-day work look like?
Well, I participate in a lot of video meetings! One thing I do is coordinate Endangered Species Act policy for Reclamation in the Columbia River and the Pacific Northwest. This means ensuring that Reclamation is protecting threatened aquatic species (e.g., salmon, steelhead, bull trout) while delivering water to our water users and generating hydropower.
How does your organization/work support climate resilience in the Northwest?
Reclamation supports climate resilience in the Northwest in several ways, including through our WaterSMART grant program and our Basin Studies. Our WaterSMART grant program provides financial assistance to states, Tribes and local entities for projects that seek to conserve and use water more efficiently. Our Basin Studies are collaborative studies with non-Federal partners to evaluate water supply and demand in a local watershed and identify strategies to address imbalances in water supply and demand.
What is your favorite thing about your work?
The people! I am honored to work with many dedicated problem solvers who are committed to economically and environmentally sound water management in a changing climate.