Tuesday 7 October 2025

Sound science is essential to good policy but is not enough to guarantee it. Sound science and scientists play a crucial but underappreciated role in the policy arena. While underappreciation of the value of the science can stem from political judgments or a lack of caring, it more frequently can stem from a failure to communicate. Scientists and policymakers frequently talk about or at each other. To integrate good science more successfully into policy requires that they communicate with each other. Based upon a multi-decadal career in and out of government policymaking positions, advocacy, and non-profit institutions, Felicia will talk about what it takes to make the difference in the policy/political world and how important the work of the watershed science community is in making that difference. She will discuss the importance of this moment in history--where threats to river protection seem heightened with many rivers on the knife’s edge in polarized times, but where there are also rays of hope for a long overdue paradigm shift. As she's learned, it takes more than technical skill to have an impact in an inherently political world.