Scott VanderKooi is a Supervisory Biologist with over 30 years of experience as a scientist and science manager working on the rivers and dryland ecosystems of the western U.S. Much of my work has emphasized applied science and adaptive management in support of natural resource management.
Scott is the Director of the Southwest Biological Science Center. He began his career as a fish biologist conducting research on salmonids, catostomids and cyprinids in the northwest U.S. throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. Areas of research included stress physiology, disease, migratory behavior, predation, and early life-history studies. He shifted to managing science programs in the mid-2000s initially in the Klamath River basin, and then in the Colorado River basin as Chief of the USGS Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center and now as the Director of the Southwest Biological Science Center.
Science and Products
High-Flow Experiments on the Colorado River
Adaptive Management
Science and Products
- Publications
- Science
High-Flow Experiments on the Colorado River
Glen Canyon Dam has altered flow and fine sediment (sand, silt, and clay) dynamics of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon. Before the dam, the Colorado River experienced highly variable flows and carried a large amount of sediment through Grand Canyon, which maintained sandbars (highly valued camping areas in Grand Canyon) and provided sand that protected archeological and cultural sites from...Adaptive Management
In 1996, the Secretary of the Interior signed a formal decision altering the historical flows from Glen Canyon Dam and establishing the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program (GCDAMP). In the context of the management of Glen Canyon Dam, adaptive management was selected to create a process whereby “the effects of dam operations on downstream resources would be assessed and the results of...