With more than 15 years of water and environmental resource management experience, Jessica Law is passionate about building long-term solutions to California’s complex natural resource challenges. She has worked with experts in water management, fisheries biology, ecosystem restoration, engineering, environmental law and economics to guide decisions on complex projects and programs throughout the state.
Jessica became Water Forum Executive Director in January 2021. In this role, she serves as the organization’s voice and leader, working closely with water, environmental, public and business interests to coalesce around the coequal objectives of providing reliable water supplies for the Sacramento region and preserving the environment of the lower American River.
Jessica is leading the Water Forum’s collaboration with state and federal agencies, and technical experts to provide information that supports decision-making to monitor about reservoir storage levels, river flows, and temperature management. She is focused on demonstrating that through local action, the region can make a positive impact and find balance between water supplies for people and fish despite the historic challenges facing the state’s water supply system this year.
At the same time, Jessica is leading efforts to re-negotiate the historic Water Forum Agreement to guide members over the coming decades as they address the projected impacts of climate change on the region’s water supplies and environment, and how to incorporate the concepts of equity into the Water Forum’s coequal objectives.
Prior to the Water Forum, she held the role of Chief Deputy Executive Officer of the Delta Stewardship Council, established by the California legislature in 2009 to advance the state’s coequal goals of water supply reliability and ecosystem health in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. In that role, she led critical conversations and strategic planning to strengthen the Council’s partnerships with state and federal agencies on science governance and funding, and ecosystem restoration.
Jessica holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Connecticut College, and a master’s of regional planning from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is on the board of directors for the San Francisco Estuary Institute/Aquatic Science Center as well as the external advisory board for the UC Davis Program in Environmental Policy and Management.