Evaluating Alternative Water Institution Performance in Snow-Dominated Basin: Are Food Productions Systems at Risk from Changing Snow Water Availability?

Task 6-a: Develop criteria for selecting basins and key representative stakeholders to participate in in-depth collaborative research framework. 6a-1. Develop a conceptual collaborative research framework during Year 1 of the project. Coordinate with interdisciplinary research team to co-identify criteria for selecting in-depth case study basins to facilitate comparison across: a) types of existing water allocation institutional arrangements; b) water supply sources (surface, ground, and combined surface/ground water source dependency), and; c) agricultural production activities dependencies on allocated fresh water withdrawals. 6a-2. Engage state/regional leaders and experts at the beginning and end of Year 1 to develop metrics to ensure usability of end products and ground-truth and validate the conceptual framework. At the end of Year 1, case study locations will be selected and relationships will be developed with relevant stakeholders at the regional, state, and local levels. 6a-3. Utilizing the interdisciplinary criteria and engagement results from tasks 6a-1 and 2, develop instrumentation and sampling strategy to collect primary data [stakeholder analysis] within 3-state region to: a) identify diverse stakeholders to participate in Technical Advisory Group and b) delineate boundaries for in-depth study of selected basins within region. 6a-4. Conduct fieldwork with experts and stakeholders within the case study sites. Inputs from the hydrologic and economic models including spatial representations, charts, and visualizations of model outputs will be used to prompt interviews regarding scenarios and thresholds that motivate civil discourse concerning the potential for systematic change. Interviews will be recorded and transcribed; content analysis of these data utilizing MaxQDA will focus on themes from the conceptual framework developed in year 1, as well as new themes that emerge through the iterative coding process. The team will meet in-person and virtually to develop the codebook and conduct inter-rater reliability tests. Select participants and establish Technical Advisory Group to work with project researchers to: - Identify basins for in-depth analysis; - Review and validate research findings; - Design and validate visualization strategies to reach decision-makers; - Co-disseminate research findings over the life of project for lay audience consumption; and - Evaluate the progress of project in accomplishing short, medium, and long-term outcomes and impacts.