Team Member Candid Photo

For more than 20 years, Dr. Zan Rubin has designed and implemented investigations of complex hydrogeologic, geomorphic, bed-sedimentation, water-quality, and sediment-quality questions in streams, lakes, and wetlands in the working landscapes of the California and throughout the world. He has led many of the firm’s restoration projects, bringing extensive research and applied experience in developing defensible conceptual models of hydrologic, geomorphic, and ecological dynamics at a site, and developing programs to evaluate changes in watershed conditions. On the lower Colorado River, Zan investigated restoration potential in areas of limited water quality, habitat quality, and riparian areas with elevated soil salinity. Internationally, Zan has been part of a team supporting the national governments of Cambodia and Laos to model sediment trapping from future hydropower development, to identify projects with the greatest impacts, and to propose dams with alternative sites, designs, and management strategies to minimize sediment trapping, barriers to fish migration, and flood risk. He regularly teaches a course on River Restoration at UC Berkeley, and continues to publish on topics related to restoration and the impacts of dams.

  • PhD., Environmental Planning, University of California, Berkeley, 2015
  • M.S. Geosciences, Colorado State University, 2010
  • B.A. Geology/Religious Studies, Bowdoin College, 2002

Bank Erosion, Bed-Conditions, Climate Change, Fish Habitat and Passage, GIS Analysis, Geomorphic Assessment, Geomorphology, Grant Strategies and Management, Groundwater, Habitat Hydrology, Habitat Planning and Analysis, Hydrologic Monitoring, Hydrology, Hydromodification, Illustration, Monitoring, Outreach, Pond Hydrology, Restoration Design, Riverine-Lagoon Dynamics, Sediment Transport, Sierra Meadows, Stream Restoration, Water Budget, Water Policy, Water Quality, Watershed Assessments, Watershed Dynamics, Watershed Studies, Wetland Restoration, Wetlands

Key Projects

  • 216158 Joseph D Grant Frog Ponds, Santa Clara County Parks, CA
  • 215203/215223, EOA, Water Quality Assessments, Santa Clara/ San Mateo Counties, CA
  • 217035 UTC Swale Design, EnSafe, Santa Clara County, CA

  • Kondolf, G.M., Schmitt, R.J.P., Carling, P.A., Goichot, M., Keskinen, M., Arias, M.E., Bizzi, S., Castelletti, A., Cochrane, T.A., Darby, S.E., Kummu, M., Minderhoud, P.S.J., Nguyen, H.T., Nguyen, N.T., Oeurng, C., Opperman, J., Rubin, Z., San, D.C., Schmeier, S., and Wild, T., 2022. Save the Mekong Delta from drowning. Science, 376(6593), pp.583-585.
  • Rubin, Z., Rios‐Touma, B., Kondolf, G. M., Power, M. E., Saffarinia, P. and Natali, J. (2019), Using prey availability to evaluate Lower Colorado River riparian restoration. Restoration Ecology, 27: 46-53.
  • Kondolf, G. M., Schmitt, R., Darby, S., Carling, P., Arias, M., Bizzi, S., Castelletti, A., Cochrane, T.A., Gibson, S., Kummu, M., Oeurng, C., Rubin, Z., and T. Wild (2018) Changing sediment budget of the Mekong: Cumulative threats and management strategies for a large river basin. Science of the Total Environment 625:114-134.
  • Schmitt, R.J.P., Rubin, Z.K., and G.M. Kondolf (2017) Losing ground - scenarios of land loss as consequence of shifting sediment budgets in the Mekong Delta. Geomorphology 294:58-69.
  • Rubin, Z.K, Kondolf, G.M and B. Rios-Touma (2017) Evaluating stream restoration projects: what do we learn from monitoring? Water, 9.3:174.
  • Zhao, G., Kondolf, G. M., Mu, X., Han, M., He, Z., Rubin, Z., and W. Sun (2017). Sediment yield reduction associated with land use changes and check dams in a catchment of the Loess Plateau, China. Catena, 148:126-137.
  • Kondolf, G.M., Annandale, G., and Z. Rubin, (2015). Sediment starvation from dams in the lower Mekong River basin: magnitude of the effect and potential mitigation opportunities. Proceedings of the 36th IAHR World Congress, June 28-July 3, 2015, The Hague, Netherland.
  • Rubin, Z.K., Kondolf, G.M., and P. Carling (2014). Anticipated geomorphic impacts from Mekong basin dam construction. International Journal of River Basin Management. DOI:10.1080/15715124.2014.981193
  • Kondolf, G. M., Rubin, Z.K., and J. T. Minear (2014), Dams on the Mekong: Cumulative sediment starvation, Water Resources Research, 50(6): 5158-5169.
  • Golet, G.H., Brown, D.L., Carlson, M., Gardali, T., Henderson, A., Holl, K.D., Howell, C.A., Holyoak, M., Kondolf, G.M., Larsen, E.W., Luster, R.A., McClain, C., Nelson, C., Nelson, C., Paine, S., Rainey, W., Rubin, Z.K., Shilling, F., Silveira, J.G., Swagerty, H., Williams, N.M and D.M. Wood (2013). Successes, failures and suggested future directions for ecosystem restoration of the Middle Sacramento River. San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science.
  • Kondolf, G.M., Rubin, Z.K., Alford, C., and J.T. Minear (2013). Cumulative sediment reduction to the Lower Mekong River from planned dams. In S. Fukuoka, H. Nakagawa, T. Sumi, and H. Zhang (Eds), Advances in River Sediment Research. London, UK. Taylor and Francis.
  • Rubin, Z.K, Rathburn, S.L., Wohl, E.E., and D.L. Harry (2012). Historic range of variability in geomorphic processes as a context for restoration: Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 37(2): 209-222.
  • Rathburn, S.L., Rubin, Z.K. and E.E. Wohl, (2012), Evaluating channel response to an extreme sedimentation event in the context of historical range of variability: Upper Colorado River, USA. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. 38(4): 391-406.
  • Stein, E.D., Federico, F., Booth, D.B., Bledsoe, B.P., Bowles, C., Rubin, Z.K., Kondolf, G.M., and A. Sengupta, 2012, Hydromodification Assessment and Management in California. Rep., 151 pp, Southern California Coastal Water Research Project.
  • Golet, G.H., Brown, D.L., Carlson, M., Gardali, T., Henderson, A., Holl, K,D., Howell, C.A., Holyoak, M., Kondolf, G.M., Larsen, E.W., McClain, C., Minear, T., Nelson, C., Paine, S., Rainey, W., Rubin, Z.K., Schott, H., Shilling, F., Silveira, J.G., Swagerty, H., and Wood, D.M. 2011. Using Ecological Indicators to Evaluate Ecosystem Integrity and Assess Restoration Success on the Middle Sacramento River. Final Report to California State University Chico, and the California Bay-Delta Program’s Ecosystem Restoration Program.

Working together with a team of smart and curious people to answer questions and find solutions to complex questions in river management.

In the coastal ranges of California. I love the surprises when working in a landscape with such extreme variability in space- microclimates, lithology, vegetation, and variability in time- 2106-2017 has been remarkable, going from record drought to record rain.

I love the Colorado River. I’ve had the opportunity to do months of fieldwork in the headwaters, the Grand Canyon, and down to the Mexican border. It’s a fascinating river and a profound symbol of water in the western US.

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