Author: James Kraft, Executive Director
The Lorri Bodi Water Leadership Program is off to an inspiring start! Our first participants from the University of Washington have enjoyed experiences and produced research that will help our team advance much-needed water solutions.
Sofia Berkowitz explored potential issues with the Streamflow Restoration Act (SRA) in their internship capstone project, A Drop in the Bucket? Implementation and Outcomes Under Washington’s Streamflow Restoration Act.
Sofia Berkowitz presents their Lorri Bodi program capstone project at a UW symposium.
“I really enjoyed working with this subject and the complexities of water law and management,” said Sofia. UW intern Minda Chen is joining WWT this summer to build on Sofia’s SRA evaluation.
WWT also hosted Aliyah Hammond, Chris Frey, and Isabella Castro from the UW Evans School Student Consulting Lab. They investigated modernizing our water laws to better protect streamflows.
“I loved deep diving into general Washington water law and policy,” shared Aliyah. “I found it interesting not only because we could see how thoughts and culture around water conservation has changed throughout history through the lens of law and policy, but also how these laws exist on paper vs in practice.”
UW Evan’s School graduate student Aliyah Hammond enjoys a moment by the Yakima River.
Chris found the complexity of local water law engaging. “Between navigating century-old ‘first in time, first in right’ doctrines, deciphering complex basin-specific instream flow rules, and factoring in overlapping tribal and federal obligations, the legal framework functions like a tangled web. It was incredibly difficult to fully wrap my head around it, but also incredibly rewarding.”
The group’s project, Protecting Instream Flows: Modernizing Washington’s Water Law Framework, won the Evans School’s Environmental Policy Capstone Award. It will help WWT provide recommendations to Governor Ferguson and the WA State Dept. of Ecology as part of the Washington’s Water Future initiative.
A composite image of the UW Evans School students from left: Chris Frey, Aliyah Hammond, and Isabella Castro. Their award-winning capstone will inform WWT water restoration projects.
Reflecting on the capstone, Isabella stated, “The experience fundamentally shifted the way I think about water: where it comes from, how much we actually use, and how climate change is quietly reshaping its availability over time. It sparked a genuine interest in water law as a potential career path.”
We are excited to see these students’ careers grow and their impacts on conservation. Thank you to the students and our partners and supporters for making the Lorri Bodi Water Leadership Program possible! WWT looks forward to supporting many more students as they contribute to river restoration in honor of Lorri.
