Jamie Perdue McEvoy

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Scholarly Contributions

Chapters

• McEvoy, J. (2018). Water governance and desalination in Baja California Sur, Mexico. In Tapping the Oceans: Seawater Desalination and the Political Ecology of Water. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.
• Ela, W. P., & McEvoy, J. (2012). Desalination in Arizona: Challenges, applications and prospects. In Shared Borders, Shared Waters. CRC Press. doi:10.1201/b13076
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  Arizona is “doubly exposed” to the dual challenges of climate change and rapid growth (Wilder et al. 2010, Leichencko and O’Brien 2008, Ray et al. 2007; and Scott et al. and Garfin, this volume). These challenges will require new, adaptive strategies for managing water resources. Many water scarce regions, including Arizona, have access to substantial, minimally used water supplies, but the supplies are of such impaired quality that they were not historically considered for potable and agricultural purposes. This is obvious for coastal regions, where seawater is accessible, but it is also true for inland water scarce areas where brackish water (defined here as supplies with total dissolved solids between 1,000 and 15,000 mg/L) and/or wastewater are often available. In fact, the global volume of brackish and saline groundwater exceeds the summed volume of all non-frozen fresh water supplies (Shiklomanov, 1993). If one were to include brackish groundwater, along with the salinity impaired non-marine surface water resources and wastewater discharges, there would be sufficient water quantity (but not quality) to meet demand in many areas currently considered water scarce or limited. However, the economic and environmental cost of raising the water quality to the necessary use standards and disposing of the waste residuals are key limiting factors.

Journals/Publications

• Cravens, A. E., Goolsby, J. B., Jedd, T., Bathke, D. J., Crausbay, S., Cooper, A. E., Dunham, J., Haigh, T., Hall, K. R., Hayes, M. J., McEvoy, J., Nelson, R. L., Poděbradská, M., Ramirez, A., Wickham, E., & Zoanni, D. (2024). The patchwork governance of ecologically available water: A case study in the Upper Missouri Headwaters, Montana, United States. Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 60(Issue 2). doi:10.1111/1752-1688.13167
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  Institutional authority and responsibility for allocating water to ecosystems (“ecologically available water” [EAW]) is spread across local, state, and federal agencies, which operate under a range of statutes, mandates, and planning processes. We use a case study of the Upper Missouri Headwaters Basin in southwestern Montana, United States, to illustrate this fragmented institutional landscape. Our goals are to (a) describe the patchwork of agencies and institutional actors whose intersecting authorities and actions influence the EAW in the study basin; (b) describe the range of governance mechanisms these agencies use, including laws, policies, administrative programs, and planning processes; and (c) assess the extent to which the collective governance regime creates gaps in responsibility. We find the water governance regime includes a range of nested mechanisms that in various ways facilitate or hinder the governance of EAW. We conclude the current multilevel governance regime leaves certain aspects of EAW unaddressed and does not adequately account for the interconnections between water in different parts of the ecosystem, creating integrative gaps. We suggest that more intentional and robust coordination could provide a means to address these gaps.
• Reinhold, A. M., Raile, E. D., Izurieta, C., McEvoy, J., King, H. W., Poole, G. C., Ready, R. C., Bergmann, N. T., & Shanahan, E. A. (2023). Persuasion with Precision: Using Natural Language Processing to Improve Instrument Fidelity for Risk Communication Experimental Treatments. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 17(Issue 4). doi:10.1177/15586898221096934
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  Instrument fidelity in message testing research hinges upon how precisely messages operationalize treatment conditions. However, numerous message testing studies have unmitigated threats to validity and reliability because no established procedures exist to guide construction of message treatments. Their construction typically occurs in a black box, resulting in suspect inferential conclusions about treatment effects. Because a mixed methods approach is needed to enhance instrument fidelity in message testing research, this article contributes to the field of mixed methods research by presenting an integrated multistage procedure for constructing precise message treatments using an exploratory sequential mixed methods design. This work harnesses the power of integration through crossover analysis to improve instrument fidelity in message testing research through the use of natural language processing (NLP).
• Moore, M. A., & McEvoy, J. (2022). “In Montana, you're only a week away from a drought”: Ranchers’ perspectives on flood irrigation and beaver mimicry as drought mitigation strategies. Rangelands, 44(Issue 4). doi:10.1016/j.rala.2022.03.004
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  • The concept of natural water storage has gained traction as an alternative to traditional dams that can potentially mitigate the impacts of changing precipitation patterns by slowing runoff and increasing aquifer recharge. We investigated the barriers and opportunities for two natural water storage practices, flood irrigation and beaver mimicry. • We interviewed 8 amenity and 14 traditional ranchers in the Red Rock Watershed in southwest Montana. We found ranchers predominately rely on reactive, rather than proactive drought strategies. Most amenity ranchers had formal drought plans in place, but none of the traditional ranchers had formal drought plans. • Ranchers perceived the two natural water storage practices differently. While all agreed on the benefits of flood irrigation, they saw the barriers, such as labor issues and loss of efficiency to outweigh the benefits. Many ranchers were skeptical of the benefits beaver mimicry could provide and voiced concerns over the cost, permits, water rights, and operational impacts. • While there are barriers to both strategies, local agencies and actors can work to build trust and practice flexibility when working with ranchers. Ranchers mentioned potential incentives for implementing these strategies, which local agencies can use when working with them.
• Pfaeffle, T., Moore, M. A., Cravens, A. E., McEvoy, J., & Bamzai-Dodson, A. (2022). Murky waters: divergent ways scientists, practitioners, and landowners evaluate beaver mimicry. Ecology and Society, 27(Issue 1). doi:10.5751/es-13006-270141
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  Beaver mimicry is a fast-growing conservation technique to restore streams and manage water that is gaining popularity within the natural resource management community because of a wide variety of claimed socio-environmental benefits. Despite a growing number of projects, many questions and concerns about beaver mimicry remain. This study draws on qualitative data from 49 interviews with scientists, practitioners, and landowners, to explore the question of how beaver mimicry projects continue to be promoted and implemented, despite the lack of comprehensive scientific studies and unclear regulatory requirements. Specifically, we investigate how these three groups differentially assess the salience, credibility, and legitimacy of evidence for beaver mimicry and analyze how those assessments affect each group’s conclusions about the feasibility, desirability, and scalability of beaver mimicry. By highlighting the interaction between how someone assesses evidence and how they draw conclusions about an emerging natural resource management approach, we draw attention to the roles of experiential evidence and scientific data in debates over beaver mimicry. Our research emphasizes that understanding how different groups perceive salience, credibility, and legitimacy of scientific information is necessary for understanding how they make assessments about conservation and natural resource management strategies.
• Raile, E. D., Shanahan, E. A., Ready, R. C., McEvoy, J., Izurieta, C., Reinhold, A. M., Poole, G. C., Bergmann, N. T., & King, H. (2022). Narrative Risk Communication as a Lingua Franca for Environmental Hazard Preparation. Environmental Communication, 16(Issue 1). doi:10.1080/17524032.2021.1966818
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  Incorporating narrative elements into risk communication may encourage preparation for environmental hazards in ways that scientific language alone does not. We integrate narrative theory, narrative persuasion, and risk theories into a Narrative Risk Communication Framework and then assess the effectiveness of character selection as a narrative mechanism in scientific risk communication as compared to conventional science messaging alone. We utilize a survey experiment with residents along the flood-prone Yellowstone River in Montana and analyze the resulting data with a parallel and serial mediation statistical model. We find that positive affective response mediates the influence of narratives featuring hero character language. Positive affective response appears to overcome the risk perception paradox both by circumventing rational analysis of risk and by shaping risk perception. Overall, the results suggest that inspirational hero language is superior to language of fear or victimization in encouraging preparation–an important lesson for practitioners working to help citizens prepare for environmental disasters.
• Cravens, A. E., Henderson, J., Friedman, J., Burkardt, N., Cooper, A. E., Haigh, T., Hayes, M., McEvoy, J., Paladino, S., Wilke, A. K., & Wilmer, H. (2021). A typology of drought decision making: Synthesizing across cases to understand drought preparedness and response actions. Weather and Climate Extremes, 33(Issue). doi:10.1016/j.wace.2021.100362
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  Drought is an inescapable reality in many regions, including much of the western United States. With climate change, droughts are predicted to intensify and occur more frequently, making the imperative for drought management even greater. Many diverse actors – including private landowners, business owners, scientists, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and managers and policymakers within tribal, local, state, and federal government agencies – play multiple, often overlapping roles in preparing for and responding to drought. Managing water is, of course, one of the most important roles that humans play in both mitigating and responding to droughts; but, focusing only on “water managers” or “water management” fails to capture key elements related to the broader category of drought management. The respective roles played by those managing drought (as distinct from water managers), the interactions among them, and the consequences in particular contexts, are not well understood. Our team synthesized insights from 10 in-depth case studies to understand key facets of decision making about drought preparedness and response. We present a typology with four elements that collectively describe how decisions about drought preparedness and response are made (context and objective for a decision; actors responsible; choice being made or action taken; and how decisions interact with and influence other decisions). The typology provides a framework for system-level understanding of how and by whom complex decisions about drought management are made. Greater system-level understanding helps decision makers, program and research funders, and scientists to identify constraints to and opportunities for action, to learn from the past, and to integrate ecological impacts, thereby facilitating social learning among diverse participants in drought preparedness and response.
• Cravens, A. E., McEvoy, J., Zoanni, D., Crausbay, S., Ramirez, A., & Cooper, A. E. (2021). Integrating ecological impacts: Perspectives on drought in the upper missouri headwaters, Montana, United States. Weather, Climate, and Society, 13(Issue 2). doi:10.1175/wcas-d-19-0111.1
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  Drought is a complex challenge experienced in specific locations through diverse impacts, including ecological impacts. Different professionals involved in drought preparedness and response approach the problem from different points of view, which means they may or may not recognize ecological impacts. This study examines the extent to which interviewees perceive ecological drought in the Upper Missouri Headwaters basin in southwestern Montana. Through semistructured interviews, this research investigates individuals’ perceptions of drought by analyzing how they define drought, how they describe their roles related to drought, and the extent to which they emphasize ecological impacts of drought. Results suggest that while most interviewees have an integrated understanding of drought, they tend to emphasize either ecological or nonecological impacts of drought. This focus was termed their drought orientation. Next, the analysis considers how participants understand exposure to drought. Results indicate that participants view drought as a complex problem driven by both human and natural factors. Last, the paper explores understandings of the available solution space by examining interviewees’ views on adaptive capacity, particularly factors that facilitate or hinder the ability of the Upper Missouri Headwaters region to cope with drought. Participants emphasized that adaptive capacity is both helped and hindered by institutional, cultural, and economic factors, as well as by available information and past resource management practices. Understanding how interviewees perceive the challenges of drought can shape drought preparedness and response, allowing those designing programs to better align their efforts to the perceptions of their target audience.
• Bergmann, N. T., McEvoy, J., Shanahan, E. A., Raile, E. D., Reinhold, A. M., Poole, G. C., & Izurieta, C. (2020). Thinking Through Levees: How Political Agency Extends Beyond the Human Mind. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 110(Issue 3). doi:10.1080/24694452.2019.1655387
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  Emerging new materialism scholarship provides an exciting theoretical space not only for challenging traditional conceptions of human agency but also for rethinking the role of the material world in shaping political outcomes. Although a wildly diverse intellectual movement, this scholarship shares the common goal of widening traditional understandings of agency to include nonhuman objects. This article adopts insights from cognitive science to extend the concept of political agency beyond the confines of human intention. Instead of focusing on the constraining material characteristics of the nonhuman within a large-scale relational framework, we argue in support of a distributive understanding of agency based on the co-constitutional essence of the mind itself. Specifically, we integrate insights from embodied cognition grounded in dynamical systems theory into the established framework of the hydrosocial cycle to argue that residents’ experiences within an active material world help explain the existence of certain flood risk perceptions. In other words, human intention or agency—as it is commonly understood—comes into existence through a co-constitutional process involving brain, body, and aspects of a wider environment. Using qualitative interview data from two communities along the Yellowstone River in eastern Montana, we support our arguments through an investigation of three types of embodied experiences between residents and the levees that shape risk perception. Key Words: embodied cognition, hydrosocial cycle, new materialism, risk perception.
• Raheem, N., Cravens, A. E., Cross, M. S., Crausbay, S., Ramirez, A., McEvoy, J., Zoanni, D., Bathke, D. J., Hayes, M., Carter, S., Rubenstein, M., Schwend, A., Hall, K., & Suberu, P. (2019). Planning for ecological drought: Integrating ecosystem services and vulnerability assessment. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, 6(Issue 4). doi:10.1002/wat2.1352
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  As research recognizes the importance of ecological impacts of drought to natural and human communities, drought planning processes need to better incorporate ecological impacts. Drought planning currently recognizes the vulnerability of some ecological impacts from drought (e.g., loss of instream flow affecting fish populations). However, planning often does not identify all the ecological aspects in a landscape that stakeholders value, nor does it examine the extent to which those aspects are vulnerable to drought. One approach for identifying ecological aspects is ecosystem services (ES)—that is, the benefits humans receive from nature. To incorporate ecological impacts into drought planning in the Upper Missouri Headwaters (UMH) region (Montana, USA), we combined ES elicitation using the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services and a vulnerability assessment using semi-structured interviews. We juxtaposed results from the interviews and the ES elicitation to assess which ES might be vulnerable to drought and which impacts from interviews were associated with losses of ES. While both methods suggested common drought vulnerabilities, each method also suggested drought vulnerabilities not reported using the other method. The ES elicitation produced more detail about services present in the UMH ecosystem today while interviews resulted in more discussion about ecological transformation from future droughts. Results suggest that some combination of open-ended vulnerability assessment methods and ES elicitation using a structured framework can result in greater understanding of ecological drought vulnerability in a given region. This article is categorized under: Water and Life > Stresses and Pressures on Ecosystems Water and Life > Conservation, Management, and Awareness Water and Life > Methods Engineering Water > Planning Water.
• Shanahan, E. A., Reinhold, A. M., Raile, E. D., Poole, G. C., Ready, R. C., Izurieta, C., McEvoy, J., Bergmann, N. T., & King, H. (2019). Characters matter: How narratives shape affective responses to risk communication. PLoS ONE, 14(Issue 12). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0225968
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  Introduction Whereas scientists depend on the language of probability to relay information about hazards, risk communication may be more effective when embedding scientific information in narratives. The persuasive power of narratives is theorized to reside, in part, in narrative transportation. Purpose This study seeks to advance the science of stories in risk communication by measuring real-time affective responses as a proxy indicator for narrative transportation during science messages that present scientific information in the context of narrative. Methods This study employed a within-subjects design in which participants (n = 90) were exposed to eight science messages regarding flood risk. Conventional science messages using probability and certainty language represented two conditions. The remaining six conditions were narrative science messages that embedded the two conventional science messages within three story forms that manipulated the narrative mechanism of character selection. Informed by the Narrative Policy Framework, the characters portrayed in the narrative science messages were hero, victim, and victim-to-hero. Natural language processing techniques were applied to identify and rank hero and victim vocabularies from 45 resident interviews conducted in the study area; the resulting classified vocabulary was used to build each of the three story types. Affective response data were collected over 12 group sessions across three flood-prone communities in Montana. Dial response technology was used to capture continuous, second-by-second recording of participants’ affective responses while listening to each of the eight science messages. Message order was randomized across sessions. ANOVA and three linear mixed-effects models were estimated to test our predictions. Results First, both probabilistic and certainty science language evoked negative affective responses with no statistical differences between them. Second, narrative science messages were associated with greater variance in affective responses than conventional science messages. Third, when characters are in action, variation in the narrative mechanism of character selection leads to significantly different affective responses. Hero and victim-to-hero characters elicit positive affective responses, while victim characters produce a slightly negative response. Conclusions In risk communication, characters matter in audience experience of narrative transportation as measured by affective responses.
• Anderson, M. B., Ward, L. C., Gilbertz, S. J., McEvoy, J., & Hall, D. M. (2018). Prior appropriation and water planning reform in Montana’s Yellowstone River Basin: path dependency or boundary object?. Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, 20(Issue 2). doi:10.1080/1523908x.2017.1348286
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  This study deepens our understanding of the institutional limitations of participatory water planning. Based on an analysis of a participatory planning effort in Montana, U.S.A., we examine the ways in which prior appropriation (PA), an established legal doctrine based on privatized water rights, both constrains and enables the effective functioning of this mode of governance to enhance water conservation practices. In one situation, a state-led proposal to require water-use measuring was undermined by strong libertarian resistance to governmental regulation. As an expression of path dependency, PA redirected the deliberations back to the status-quo. Yet, in another state-led proposal, PA functioned as a boundary object that helped garner consensual support for what is effectively an alternative water sharing plan based on ‘shared sacrifice.’ In this second case, PA functioned as a pragmatic means to facilitate conservation practices to address future projections of growing water scarcity and drought. The study empirically examines the discursive framework of both policy recommendations and the mechanisms that led to their seemingly divergent receptions from planning participants. Evidence is drawn from a systematic content analysis of video recording transcriptions, ethnographic notes taken during meetings, and key interactions observed among planning participants and the research team.
• Dunham, J. B., Angermeier, P. L., Crausbay, S. D., Cravens, A. E., Gosnell, H., McEvoy, J., Moritz, M. A., Raheem, N., & Sanford, T. (2018). Rivers are social–ecological systems: Time to integrate human dimensions into riverscape ecology and management. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, 5(Issue 4). doi:10.1002/wat2.1291
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  Incorporation of concepts from landscape ecology into understanding and managing riverine ecosystems has become widely known as riverscape ecology. Riverscape ecology emphasizes interactions among processes at different scales and their consequences for valued ecosystem components, such as riverine fishes. Past studies have focused strongly on understanding the ecological processes in riverscapes and how human actions modify those processes. It is increasingly clear, however, that an understanding of the drivers behind actions that lead to human modification also merit consideration, especially regarding how those drivers influence management efficacy. These indirect drivers of riverscape outcomes can be understood in the context of a diverse array of social processes, which we collectively refer to as human dimensions. Like ecological phenomena, social processes also exhibit complex interactions across spatiotemporal scales. Greater emphasis on feedbacks between social and ecological processes will lead scientists and managers to more completely understand riverscapes as complex, dynamic, interacting social– ecological systems. Emerging applications in riverscapes, as well as studies of other ecosystems, provide examples that can lead to stronger integration of social and ecological science. We argue that conservation successes within riverscapes may not come from better ecological science, improved ecosystem service analyses, or even economic incentives if the fundamental drivers of human behaviors are not understood and addressed in conservation planning and implementation.
• McEvoy, J., Bathke, D. J., Burkardt, N., Cravens, A. E., Haigh, T., Hall, K. R., Hayes, M. J., Jedd, T., Poděbradská, M., & Wickham, E. (2018). Ecological drought: Accounting for the non-human impacts of water shortage in the upper Missouri Headwaters Basin, Montana, USA. Resources, 7(Issue 1). doi:10.3390/resources7010014
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  Water laws and drought plans are used to prioritize and allocate scarce water resources. Both have historically been human-centric, failing to account for non-human water needs. In this paper, we examine the development of instream flow legislation and the evolution of drought planning to highlight the growing concern for the non-human impacts of water scarcity. Utilizing a new framework for ecological drought, we analyzed five watershed-scale drought plans in southwestern Montana, USA to understand if, and how, the ecological impacts of drought are currently being assessed. We found that while these plans do account for some ecological impacts, it is primarily through the narrow lens of impacts to fish as measured by water temperature and streamflow. The latter is typically based on the same ecological principles used to determine instream flow requirements. We also found that other resource plans in the same watersheds (e.g., Watershed Restoration Plans, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Watershed Assessments or United States Forest Service (USFS) Forest Plans) identify a broader range of ecological drought risks. Given limited resources and the potential for mutual benefits and synergies, we suggest greater integration between various planning processes could result in a more holistic consideration of water needs and uses across the landscape.
• Crausbay, S. D., Ramirez, A. R., Carter, S. L., Cross, M. S., Hall, K. R., Bathke, D. J., Betancourt, J. L., Colt, S., Cravens, A. E., Dalton, M. S., Dunham, J. B., Hay, L. E., Hayes, M. J., McEvoy, J., McNutt, C. A., Moritz, M. A., Nislow, K. H., Raheem, N., & Sanford, T. (2017). Defining ecological drought for the twenty-first century. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 98(Issue 12). doi:10.1175/bams-d-16-0292.1
• Holmes, D., McEvoy, J., Dixon, J. L., & Payne, S. (2017). A geospatial approach for identifying and exploring potential naturalwater storage sites. Water (Switzerland), 9(Issue 8). doi:10.3390/w9080585
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  Across the globe, climate change is projected to affect the quantity, quality, and timing of freshwater availability. In western North America, there has been a shift toward earlier spring runoff and more winter precipitation as rain. This raises questions about the need for increased water storage to mitigate both floods and droughts. Some water managers have identified natural storage structures as valuable tools for increasing resiliency to these climate change impacts. However, identifying adequate sites and quantifying the storage potential of natural structures is a key challenge. This study addresses the need for a method for identifying and estimating floodplain water storage capacity in a manner that can be used by water planners through the development of a model that uses open-source geospatial data. This model was used to identify and estimate the storage capacity of a 0.33 km2 floodplain segment in eastern Montana, USA. The result is a range of storage capacities under eight natural water storage conditions, ranging from 900 m3 for small floods to 321,300 m3 for large floods. Incorporating additional hydraulic inputs, stakeholder needs, and stakeholder perceptions of natural storage into this process can help address more complex questions about using natural storage structures as ecosystem-based climate change adaptation strategies.
• McEvoy, J., Gilbertz, S. J., Anderson, M. B., Ormerod, K. J., & Bergmann, N. T. (2017). Cultural theory of risk as a heuristic for understanding perceptions of oil and gas development in Eastern Montana, USA. Extractive Industries and Society, 4(Issue 4). doi:10.1016/j.exis.2017.10.004
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  This paper applies Douglas’ cultural theory of risk to understand perceptions of risk associated with oil and gas development in eastern Montana. Based on the analysis of interviews with 36 rural residents, findings show the dominant perception of risk is most closely aligned with an Individualist worldview. Despite direct experience with oil or wastewater spills, most interviewees described spills as “no big deal”, viewed nature as resilient, and felt that the economic benefits outweigh negative impacts. Cultural theory was a useful heuristic for understanding this dominant worldview, as well as identifying points of deviation. For example, interviewees discussed the benefits of landowner associations – a more Egalitarian approach to dealing with oil companies. Some landowners relied on external authorities (e.g., sheriff) when dealing with oil companies, revealing a Hierarchical approach to issues they face. Interviewees expressed frustration with the lack of enforcement of existing regulations, which can be interpreted as either support for – or indictment of – Hierarchical solutions. While the Individualist worldview is dominant, our qualitative analysis reveals the complex tensions at work among rural residents. The results suggest areas where policymakers, advocacy groups, and residents may find common ground to address potential environmental and health risks.
• Mumme, S. P., McEvoy, J., Pineda, N., & Wilder, M. (2017). Shipping water across the US–Mexico border: international governance dimensions of desalination for export. Water International, 42(Issue 7). doi:10.1080/02508060.2017.1373320
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  New public–private desalination projects along the Mexico–United States boundary have the potential to strengthen water security in this arid region. International bulk water commerce in this region is unprecedented and constrained by existing international agreements and regulations. This problem is examined from a multilevel governance perspective, focusing on two desalination projects with near-term export potential in Rosarito, Baja California, and Puerto Peñasco, Sonora. These projects add to the array of agencies and procedures in binational water management but will not displace the International Boundary and Water Commission, which is sure to have a role in managing such projects.
• Ward, L., Anderson, M. B., Gilbertz, S. J., McEvoy, J., & Hall, D. M. (2017). Public stealth and boundary objects: Coping with integrated water resource management and the post-political condition in Montana's portion of the Yellowstone River watershed. Geoforum, 83(Issue). doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2017.04.017
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  This paper uses the case of recent efforts in the Yellowstone River watershed to illuminate how the implementation of Integrated Water Resources (IWRM)-styled activities by a Montana state agency is best understood as an exercise in practical expediency that indirectly, but consequentially, supports hegemonic neo-liberalism. We present an innovative use of Q method, focus groups, and participant observations, as means to examine how scale-based interventions by the state moved IWRM-style reforms forward. The activities under consideration allow us to advance an empirically-based critique of so-called integrated approaches to environmental reform with a specific focus on the rescaling process inherent to adoption of the IWRM model. We argue that efforts to transition to IWRM-style governance are likely to be accompanied by stealthy, scale-based interventions. We use the concepts of “standardized packages” and “boundary objects” to raise questions about the degree to which use of such tactics should be interpreted as evidence of a broader hegemonic project to further imbricate neoliberal governmentality, as the literature on post-politics would suggest, or whether eco-scaling and careful circumscription of participation are simply the most convenient strategies for those charged with difficult and complex tasks.
• Anderson, M. B., Hall, D. M., McEvoy, J., Gilbertz, S. J., Ward, L., & Rode, A. (2016). Defending dissensus: participatory governance and the politics of water measurement in Montana’s Yellowstone River Basin. Environmental Politics, 25(Issue 6). doi:10.1080/09644016.2016.1189237
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  The role of a particular aspect of collaboration, dissensus, in stimulating critical reconsideration of ‘prior appropriation’, a historically hegemonic condition related to water rights in the western United States, is examined via a collaborative planning effort in Montana. Consensual support for a water-use measuring proposal was undermined by strong libertarian resistance to governmental regulation, and an unwavering embrace of the status quo. However, based on insights from scholars engaged in the ‘post-political’ dimensions of contemporary forms of rule – dissensus – understood as the manifestation of consensus-forestalling disagreement articulated between oppositional voices – is revealed as a condition to be actively nurtured, rather than purged. This case reveals how dissensus can open discursive spaces for hegemony-disrupting modes of inquiry, alternative perspectives, and innovative possibilities, even among sanctioned participant voices operating within otherwise established, depoliticized governing arenas. The study thus deepens our understanding of the complex political dynamics of participatory water planning.
• Anderson, M. B., Ward, L., McEvoy, J., Gilbertz, S. J., & Hall, D. M. (2016). Developing the water commons? The (post)political condition and the politics of "shared giving" in Montana. Geoforum, 74(Issue). doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2016.06.002
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  This paper chronicles the rhetorical mechanisms that fostered a potentially radical re-thinking of water rights and property in a most unlikely place: the libertarian Western U.S., and mobilized by the least likely of actors: state officials. There is growing interest, in geography and beyond, in the question of what constitutes the "properly political" in contexts where dissent is actively forestalled by those with power. Much has been written about the "properly political" as the disruption of the established order by previously excluded actors. Comparatively less research, however, has focused on the "conditions of possibility" that might exist within ostensibly "post-political" governing arenas. This paper deepens our understanding of this by examining a participatory water planning group in Montana, which was convened by the state to develop recommendations for a new state water plan. The group was inspired by an alternative drought-management model called "shared giving." Imbued with principles of "collectivism" and "equality," the model was strategically (and necessarily) promoted through the discursive shell of the existing prior appropriation system. This was accomplished not by an oppositional force of marginalized actors, but state officials that are rarely, if ever, deemed "disruptive," and through tactics that are best characterized as post-political. We interpret this case as reflecting a hybrid governing assemblage that highlights both post-political closure and transformative possibilities simultaneously, and conclude by suggesting that the post-political concept, itself, risks foreclosing on conditions whereby fruitful outcomes might become possible from within established governing frameworks otherwise written-off as post-political.
• Fragkou, M. C., & McEvoy, J. (2016). Trust matters: Why augmenting water supplies via desalination may not overcome perceptual water scarcity. Desalination, 397(Issue). doi:10.1016/j.desal.2016.06.007
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  Historically, water scarcity has been understood to result from unfavorable climatological and hydrological factors. From this perspective, infrastructural solutions that augment water supplies, such as desalination, are seen as the way to overcome physical resource limits and resolve water scarcity. Drawing on theories of scarcity, risk perception, trust, and governance, we argue that past experiences with poor water quality and a long-standing mistrust of water providers create a particular mode of water scarcity: perceptual scarcity. This paper presents findings from household surveys conducted in two arid Latin American cities where large-scale desalination projects have been undertaken to provide potable water. While both projects use state-of-the-art desalination technology, our survey results indicate that the majority of respondents do not drink desalinated water from their taps and purchase bottled water instead. Our results show that, despite significant investments in infrastructure, respondents still lack an adequate supply of water that is perceived to be fit for human consumption. The two case studies provide empirical evidence that challenges the assumption that desalination technology will resolve water quality and water scarcity concerns. We conclude that institutional investments that promote a more reliable and trustworthy water governance system are as important as investments in physical infrastructure.
• Wilder, M. O., Aguilar-Barajas, I., Pineda-Pablos, N., Varady, R. G., Megdal, S. B., McEvoy, J., Merideth, R., Zúñiga-Terán, A. A., & Scott, C. A. (2016). Desalination and water security in the US–Mexico border region: assessing the social, environmental and political impacts. Water International, 41(Issue 5). doi:10.1080/02508060.2016.1166416
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  In the western US–Mexico border region, both countries’ authorities look to desalination as a means to meet increased demands for dwindling supplies. In addition to several existing or planned desalination plants, plans exist to develop projects along Mexico’s coasts to convert seawater into freshwater primarily for conveyance and consumption in the United States. Even though desalination systems have the potential to increase water supply in the region, there are associated consequences, costs and constraints. To understand the impacts of such binational desalination systems, this paper assesses, through a water-security framework, the case of a proposed desalination plant on the Upper Gulf of California. The analysis suggests that for binational desalination systems, there are several key areas of impact against which the benefits of increased water supply must be weighed.
• McEvoy, J. (2015). Can the adoption of desalination technology lead to aquifer preservation? A case study of a sociotechnical water system in Baja California Sur, Mexico. Water (Switzerland), 7(Issue 10). doi:10.3390/w7105224
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  There is growing concern about the sustainability of groundwater supplies worldwide. In many regions, desalination-the conversion of saline water to freshwater- is viewed as a way to increase water supplies and reduce pressure on overdrawn aquifers. Using data from reports, articles, interviews, a survey, and a focus group, this paper examines if, and how, the adoption of desalination technology can lead to aquifer preservation in Baja California Sur (BCS), Mexico. The paper outlines existing institutional arrangements (i.e., laws, rules, norms, or organizations) surrounding desalination in BCS and concludes that there are currently no effective mechanisms to ensure aquifer preservation. Four mechanisms that could be implemented to improve groundwater management are identified, including: 1) integrated water-and land-use planning; 2) creation of an institute responsible for coordinated and consistent planning; 3) improved groundwater monitoring; and 4) implementation of water conservation measures prior to the adoption of desalination technology. This paper concludes that viewing water technologies, including desalination, as sociotechnical systems-i.e., a set of technological components that are embedded in complex social, political, and economic contexts-has the potential to create a more sustainable human-environment-technology relationship. By assessing desalination technology as a sociotechnical system, this study highlights the need to focus on institutional development and capacity building, especially within local water utilities and urban planning agencies.
• McEvoy, J. (2014). Desalination and water security: The promise and perils of a technological fix to the water crisis in Baja California Sur, Mexico. Water Alternatives, 7(Issue 3).
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  Across the globe, desalination is increasingly being considered as a new water supply source. This article examines how the introduction of desalinated water into the municipal water supply portfolio has affected water security in the coastal tourist city of Cabo San Lucas in Baja California Sur (BCS), Mexico. It also analyses the competing discourses surrounding desalination in the region and discusses alternative water management options for achieving water security. This article challenges the notion that desalination is an appropriate and sufficient technological solution for arid regions. The findings provide evidence of increased yet delimited water security at a neighbourhood scale while identifying new vulnerabilities related to desalination, particularly in the context of the global South. This article concludes that implementing a technological fix on top of a water management system that is plagued with more systemic and structural problems does little to improve long-term water management and is likely to foreclose or forestall other water management options. This multi-scalar analysis contributes to the emerging literature on water security by considering both a narrow and broad framing of water security and identifying a range of factors that influence water security.
• McEvoy, J., & Wilder, M. (2012). Discourse and desalination: Potential impacts of proposed climate change adaptation interventions in the Arizona-Sonora border region. Global Environmental Change, 22(Issue 2). doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.11.001
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  The specter of climate change threatens fresh water resources along the U.S.-Mexico border. Water managers and planners on both sides of the border are promoting desalination-the conversion of seawater or brackish groundwater to fresh water-as an adaptation response that can help meet growing water demands and buffer against the negative impacts of climate change on regional water supplies. However, the uneven distribution of costs and benefits of this expensive, energy-intensive technology is likely to exacerbate existing social inequalities in the border zone. In this paper, we examine the discourses employed in the construction of the climate problem and proposed solutions. We focus our analysis on a proposed Arizona-Sonora binational desalination project and use insights from risk and hazards literature to analyze how, why, and to what effect desalination is emerging as a preferred climate change adaptation response. Our risk analysis shows that while desalination technology can reduce some vulnerabilities (e.g., future water supply), it can also introduce new vulnerabilities by compounding the water-energy nexus, increasing greenhouse gas emissions, inducing urban growth, producing brine discharge and chemical pollutants, shifting geopolitical relations of water security, and increasing water prices. Additionally, a high-tech and path-dependent response will likely result in increased reliance on technical expertise, less opportunity for participatory decision-making and reduced flexibility. The paper concludes by proposing alternative adaptation responses that can offer greater flexibility, are less path dependent, incorporate social learning, and target the poorest and most vulnerable members of the community. These alternatives can build greater adaptive capacity and ensure equity. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.
• McEvoy, J., Petrzelka, P., Radel, C., & Schmook, B. (2012). Gendered Mobility and Morality in a South-Eastern Mexican Community: Impacts of Male Labour Migration on the Women Left Behind. Mobilities, 7(Issue 3). doi:10.1080/17450101.2012.655977
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  Based on research conducted in a migrant-sending community in south-eastern Mexico, we find that male out-migration has forced women to take on labour tasks that are associated with new spatial and mobility patterns. While these patterns have potential for increased empowerment for women, they also call the women's morality into question, resulting in a policing of the women's behaviour, and a simultaneous restriction of their mobility, by themselves and others. Therefore, we find male labour out-migration has resulted in contradictory changes in women's mobility, with ambiguous results for women's gender empowerment. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.
• Radel, C., Schmook, B., McEvoy, J., Méndez, C., & Petrzelka, P. (2012). Labour migration and gendered agricultural relations: The feminization of agriculture in the Ejidal sector of Calakmul, Mexico. Journal of Agrarian Change, 12(Issue 1). doi:10.1111/j.1471-0366.2011.00336.x
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  We examine the nature of the 'feminization of agriculture' in the semi-subsistence, peasant production sector of southeastern Mexico, as associated with male labour out-migration. Presenting findings from empirical work with smallholder producers, we discuss the impact of men's migration to the United States on women's participation in agriculture and gendered relations of agricultural production. In 2007, we conducted a survey of 155 semi-subsistence, smallholder households in six ejidos. This survey was supplemented by ethnographic research in a single ejido. Our findings demonstrate the need to distinguish between farm labour and management in this sector, and the potentially significant (but focused) changes in the local relations of agricultural production wrought by gendered patterns of labour migration - specifically in tenure, land-use decision-making and the management of hired labour. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
• Garfin, G., Lee, N., Magaña, V., Stewart, R., Rolfe, J. T., & McEvoy, J. (2011). CHANGE: Climate and Hydrology Academic Network for Governance and the Environment. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 92(8), 1045-1048. doi:10.1175/2010bams2927.1
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  The international workshop for change: climate and hydrology academic network for governance and the environment, held on March 5-6, 2009, Mexico, was aimed to create robust, cooperative water management, policies, and governance. The workshop addresses climate variability and change to ensure secure water for continued economic development and environmental health in Mexico, the US, and Canada's border regions. Invited talks addressed in the workshop's included North American water availability, climate change, and implications of land use and population growth for drought vulnerability and bilateral treaties. Speakers highlighted the need for more frequent and meaningful communication between scientists and stakeholders, and the need to increase opportunities to exchange disciplinary insights and data. Workshop participants noted the critical need to support communication to improve relevance to policy and resource management decisions.
• Jackson-Smith, D. B., Hailing, M., De La Hoz, E., McEvoy, J. P., & Horsburgh, J. S. (2010). Measuring conservation program best management practice implementation and maintenance at the watershed scale. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 65(Issue 6). doi:10.2489/jswc.65.6.413
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  There is growing interest in evaluating the impacts at the watershed scale of agricultural best management practices (BMPs) designed to improve water quality. Many approaches to impact assessment require detailed information about actual BMP use by farmers and landowners in a watershed. This paper examines the strengths and weaknesses of using formal USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service records of conservation program participation as an indicator of spatial and temporal patterns of BMP implementation and maintenance. Field interviews with conservation program participants revealed potential limitations with official records regarding (1) documentation of the incidence of successful BMP implementation, (2) the nature of the BMPs that were implemented, (3) accurate measurement of the timing and location of BMP implementations, and (4) information about the long-term use and maintenance of implemented BMPs. The results suggest that official records should be field-verified before being used as indicators of BMP use.The findings also point to a larger need for development of more robust and accurate systems for tracking BMP implementation and maintenance over periods of time.
• Wilder, M., Scott, C. A., Pablos, N. P., Varady, R. G., Garfin, G. M., & McEvoy, J. (2010). Adapting across boundaries: Climate change, social learning, and resilience in the U.S.-Mexico border region. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 100(Issue 4). doi:10.1080/00045608.2010.500235
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  The spatial and human dimensions of climate change are brought into relief at international borderswhere climate change poses particular challenges. This article explores "double exposure" to climatic and globalization processes for the U.S.-Mexico border region, where rapid urbanization, industrialization, and agricultural intensification result in vulnerability to water scarcity as the primary climate change concern. For portions of the western border within the North American monsoon climate regime, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projects temperature increases of 2 to 4°C by midcentury and up to 3 to 5°C by 2100, with possible decreases of 5 to 8 percent in precipitation. Like the climate and water drivers themselves, proposed societal responses can also be regionalized across borders. Nevertheless, binational responses are confronted by a complex institutional landscape. The coproduction of science and policy must be situated in the context of competing institutional jurisdictions and legitimacy claims. Adaptation to climate change is conventionally understood as more difficult at international borders, yet regionalizing adaptive responses could also potentially increase resilience. We assess three cases of transboundary collaboration in the Arizona-Sonora region based on specific indicators that contribute importantly to building adaptive capacity. We conclude that three key factors can increase resilience over the long term: shared social learning, the formation of binational "communities of practice" among water managers or disaster-relief planners, and the coproduction of climate knowledge. © 2010 by Association of American Geographers Initial submission.

Proceedings Publications

• Shanahan, E. A., Raile, E. D., French, K. A., & McEvoy, J. (2018). Bounded Stories. In N/A, 46.
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  Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) and framing scholars share an interest in how the construction of policy arguments influences opinions and policy decisions. However, conceptual clarification is needed. This study advances the NPF by clarifying the meaning and function of frames and narrative, as well as their respective roles in creating policy realities. We explore sociological and psychological roots of framing scholarship and map these onto NPF's science of narratives philosophy, suggesting that narratives can reveal internally held cognitive schemas. We focus on issue categorization frames as boundaries for narrative construction. Within these bounds, narrative settings further focalize the audience by specifying where action toward a solution takes place. Based on 26 interviews with floodplain decision makers in Montana, we capture internally held cognitions through the assemblage of issue categorization frames and narrative elements. We find that settings can traverse issue categorization frames and policy solutions, with actions of characters that unfold within the setting being key. Similarly, we find that a single issue categorization frame can contain multiple different narratives and that individuals may simultaneously hold multiple different narratives internally. Overall, this study contributes to policy process research through establishment of connections among narratives, issue categorization frames, and cognitive schemas.

Others

• McEvoy, J. P. (2026, January).

  WRRC Now Accepting 104(b) Water Research Grant Proposals

  . Weekly Wave Newsletter.
• McEvoy, J. P. (2024, April). UArizona Cooperative Extension Celebrates Irrigation Efficiency Success. Weekly Wave Newsletter.
• McEvoy, J. P. (2024, Aug). Graduate Students, the WRRC Needs You!. Weekly Wave Newsletter.
• McEvoy, J. P. (2024, Aug). WRRC Presents at Santa Cruz County BOS Special Session. Weekly Wave Newsletter.
• McEvoy, J. P. (2024, Dec). WRRC Hiring Extension Associate to Lead Water RAPIDS Program. Weekly Wave Newsletter.
• McEvoy, J. P. (2024, July). WRRC Director Megdal Speaks at Arizona Farm Bureau Leadership Conference. Weekly Wave Newsletter.
• McEvoy, J. P. (2024, June). Breakfast with the Economists Offers Insights on Economy and Arizona’s Water Future. Weekly Wave Newsletter.
• McEvoy, J. P. (2024, June). WRRC Presents at Santa Cruz County BOS Special Session. Weekly Wave Newsletter.
• McEvoy, J. P. (2024, Nov). WRRC Kicks Off New Project in the Upper Verde River Watershed. Weekly Wave Newsletter.
• McEvoy, J. P. (2024, Nov). WRRC Organizes Curry Farms Visit. Weekly Wave Newsletter.
• McEvoy, J. P. (2024, Oct). Verde River Watershed Conference Highlights Partnerships. Weekly Wave Newsletter.
• McEvoy, J. P. (2024, Oct). WRRC Director Named AWRA Fellow. Weekly Wave Newsletter.
• McEvoy, J. P. (2024, Oct). WRRC Participates in Cobre Valley and BKW Farms Events. Weekly Wave Newsletter.
• McEvoy, J. P. (2024, Oct). WRRC Participates in Joint AWRA, UCOWR, NIWR Conference. Weekly Wave Newsletter.
• McEvoy, J. P. (2024, Sept). TAAP Workshop in Hermosillo: Participatory, Positive, and Productive. Weekly Wave Newsletter.
• McEvoy, J. P. (2025, March).

  WRRC Reports NIWR Meeting, Capitol Hill Visits to be Productive and Informative

  . Weekly Wave Newsletter.
• McEvoy, J. P. (2025, November).

  3^rd Annual Women and Water Convening Highlights Strengths, Resilience and Importance of Collaborations

  . Weekly Wave Newsletter.
• McEvoy, J. P. (2025, October).

  CRB Delegation Attends Workshop on Indigenous and Western Science

  . Weekly Wave Newsletter.
• McEvoy, J. P. (2025, September).

  Director Megdal Highlights Innovation for Arizona Water

  . Weekly Wave Newsletter.
• McEvoy, J. P. (2024, Dec). WRRC Director Presents at Water Think Town Hall. Weekly Wave Newsletter.