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CORVALLIS - This Wednesday (May 15) at Oregon State University, a sociologist, a natural scientist, an Extension Service educator and a reporter for Oregon's largest newspaper will explore the challenges they've faced recently trying to communicate scientific data about a highly controversial topic to the media, the general public and policy makers.

The session, "Communicating Science: Lessons From the Klamath Basin," which runs from 10:15 a.m. to noon, is part of a May 13-15 regional meeting of the Geological Society of America in OSU's LaSells Stewart Center.

Each panelist will give a short presentation, then all four will examine their experiences in the Klamath Basin, where last year the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation cut off irrigation water to farms in an effort to protect fish listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The panelists and their topics:

• Douglas Markle, OSU Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, "Communicating Science With Incomplete Knowledge of a Complex System."

   

• Michael Milstein, the Oregonian, "Memoirs of a Water War Correspondent."

   

• Denise Lach, OSU Center for Water and Environmental Sustainability, "Public Perceptions of Science-based Policy Decisions in the Klamath Basin."

   

• William Braunworth, OSU Extension educator and agricultural administrator, "What Does an Engaged University Look Like in the Klamath Basin?"