Robert & Patricia Switzer Foundation

Fellowship Year: 1990

Academic Background: UC Berkeley - M.A. - (Geography and Environmental Planning)

Current Position: Hydrogeographer , The Bay Institute

Currently Working On: San Joaquin River restoration; Bay-Delta water policy reform

With 35 years of experience in the water world, Peter has played a key role in the landmark environmental water conflicts in the Eastern Sierra and the San Francisco Bay-Delta watershed with a current emphasis on the restoration of the aquatic ecosystems in those regions. Since 1996 Peter Vorster has been a hydrologist and hydrogeographer for The Bay Institute (TBI), a public interest research and advocacy group working to protect and restore the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary. He is also a consulting hydrologist for the Mono Lake Committee and other groups in the Eastern Sierra including the Owens Valley Committee and California Trout. At TBI, Mr. Vorster leads the San Joaquin River restoration program for TBI and is one of the principals for the Ecological Scorecard project, which develops suites of indicators for the San Francisco Bay-Delta system and local watersheds. He also works with the Oakland Museum on their urban creek and watershed map series for the Bay Area. Peter's work on California water issues began in 1977 with his tenure as a principal researcher on the California Water Atlas. In 1979 Mr. Vorster became the primary technical consultant to the Mono Lake Committee and their successful effort to restore flows to Mono Basin streams and to raise the level of Mono Lake. Prior to joining TBI in 1996, Peter was also a lecturer in the Dept of Geography and Environmental Studies at California State University of the East Bay. As a hydrogeographer, Peter strives to know how much water Cailfornia receives, determine who controls it, improve the management of it for human and ecosystem uses, and restore as much as possible to its natural place. He also believes that information about water and the environment should be communicated to the public in an engaging and creative manner and has worked on museum exhibits and looks forward to expanding the exhibits at the Aquarium of the Bay, which was recently acquired by TBI. Peter was a Switzer Fellow in 1990-91 and received a Switzer Environmental Leadership Grant in 1995, 1996, 1998. He holds an A.B. in Geography and Geology from UC Berkeley, an M.A. in Geography from California State University of the East Bay, and completed Ph.D. coursework in environmental planning at the University of California, Berkeley. His master's thesis is entitled, "A Water Balance Forecast Model for Mono Lake, California".

Expertise: Water Resources, Environmental Education, Conservation Science & Biology