Jason Hubbart is a professor of physical hydrology and water quality in the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design (DCANRD). He serves as the director of the West Virginia University (WVU) Institute of Water Security and Science (IWSS) and also directs the WVU DCANRD Interdisciplinary Hydrology Laboratory (IHL). He serves as the assistant director of the West Virginia Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station and is the West Virginia gubernatorial appointee to the Science and Technical Advisory Committee of the Chesapeake Bay Program (STAC). He advises post-docs, graduate students, conducts research, and has published over 115 peer reviewed articles in the field.
Advancements in contemporary watershed management are both a major challenge, and urgent need of this century. The experimental watershed study (EWS) approach was originally applied in forested wildland watersheds over a century ago to quantitatively characterize basic landscape alterations (e.g., forest harvest, road building) on water quality and various ecosystem responses. These long-term EWS monitoring programs created a model system to show stakeholders how investing in science-based monitoring initiatives improves decision-making and reduces long-term costs, thereby improving management decisions, increasing management efficiencies, and sustaining natural resources through more focused investments. Applications of classic wildland EWS’s to contemporary EWS designs in multiple-land-use watersheds will be presented while illustrating how such an approach can encourage innovation, cooperation, and trust among diverse watershed stakeholders working towards a common goal of improving and sustaining hydrologic regimes and water quality.
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