We’re excited to announce the appointment of Karrigan Börk as the Director of the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences (CWS). Börk is a Professor of Law and Co-Director of the California Environmental Law and Policy Center, who has served as interim Director of the Center for Watershed Sciences since 2024.

Börk brings a wealth of knowledge on environmental law and policy to this role. Börk's publications run the gamut from the definitive text on the history and application of California minimum streamflow requirements to a hatchery and genetic management plan for the reintroduction of spring-run Chinook salmon in the San Joaquin River. He works on legal and ethical issues in ecological restoration, especially problems that involve both science and law. Much of his current research focuses on western water law.

Professor Börk graduated with Distinction and Pro Bono Distinction from Stanford Law School in 2009 and completed his PhD dissertation in Ecology at UC Davis in September 2011. He received the Shapiro Family Award in 2011 as the Outstanding PhD Graduate in Ecology at UC Davis. He clerked for Tenth Circuit Chief Judge Mary Beck Briscoe, U.S. District Court Judge Julie Robinson, and Judge Janice Karlin on the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Kansas. In 2022, he received the UC Davis Distinguished Teaching award.

Börk enjoys fishing, rafting, rock hounding, watching college basketball, and spending time with friends and family.

The Center for Watershed Sciences is dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of critical water challenges, particularly in California, focusing on environmentally and economically sustainable solutions for managing rivers, lakes and estuaries.