Barton "Buzz" Thompson

Faculty Director, Water in the West, Senior Fellow and Founding Perry L. McCarty Director, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment; Robert E. Paradise Professor in Natural Resources Law

Professor Barton "Buzz" Thompson's research focuses on the sustainable use of natural resources and the effective reform of regulatory institutions.  The author of several books on water, the environment, and property, Professor Thompson has published articles on such diverse topics as water markets, fisheries management, biodiversity protection, land conservation, the use of economics and market tools in environmental regulation, and cognitive barriers to resource management. 

Thompson is chairman of the board of the Resources Legacy Fund and the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, a California trustee for The Nature Conservancy, and a board member of both the American Farmland Trust and the Sonoran Institute. He previously served as a member of the Science Advisory Board for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In 2008, the Supreme Court appointed Thompson to serve as the special master in Montana v. Wyoming (137 Original).

Related Media Coverage

Stanford experts on the Colorado River Basin

May 22, 2023  | Various Outlets

Experts from Water in the West are quoted in the media on the Colorado River crisis

Managing Water Stored for the Environment During Drought

November 07, 2021  | California WaterBlog

This blog post examines 2021 water year actions by the federal Central Valley Project (CVP) and the State Water Project (SWP), which sought to maximize water deliveries while meeting environmental regulatory standards in a severe drought. Based on this experience, we offer recommendations to better protect the environment if California is faced with dry conditions in 2022 or beyond.

How ‘sustainable’ is California’s groundwater sustainability act?

May 10, 2021  | High Country News

Barton Thompson's study is highlighted which notes how fractured hard-rock and volcanic aquifers are ungoverned, but hold the majority of California's groundwater, which leaves 40% of its wells unregulated and vulnerable to over-pumping.

Texans’ Frozen Pipes Are Warnings of Yet Another Climate Threat

February 26, 2021  | Bloomberg Green

Faculty Director Buzz Thompson comments on the vulnerabilities of drinking water under increasing climate pressure, as Texas experienced in the most recent storm.

Connect

 
 

Water in the West is a program of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and the Bill Lane Center for the American West.