CK Blueshift, LLC is a consulting group working at the intersection of water and climate. Our interdisciplinary team works to provide cutting edge strategies and thought partnership for your most difficult problems.
Blueshift works to build innovative solutions for water management and infrastructure, watershed restoration, and climate change adaptation, all in support of our vision for vital and resilient working landscapes, communities, and ecosystems.
Blueshift and its parent company, Culp & Kelly, LLP, operate as a joint enterprise that offers clients a unique integration of legal, policy, and technical solutions in connection with water, environmental, and natural resource management.
Blueshift supports clients in identifying new approaches and taking them from concept to solutions on the ground. We focus on developing opportunities and enterprises that increase philanthropic, public, and private investment in solutions to growing climate and water risks. We cultivate like-minded partnerships among private and public partners and funders to implement ambitious and cutting-edge projects. Blueshift provides concept generation, scientific and strategic support, facilitation, coalition management, and project management.
Our work has included: developing a Drought Resilience Program in the Colorado River Basin for a new foundation; advising private investors on climate change-related due diligence for water supply and agricultural investments; advising clients on water management strategies, conservation finance, blended finance, impact investing, and ESG factors; and advising non-profit organizations on the advancement of environmental justice issues.
Improving the quality and accessibility of information and the deployment of new decision making and communication tools is crucial to informing policy and decisions in an increasingly uncertain, complex environment. Blueshift leverages our knowledge in hydrology, geomorphology, climate change modeling, geospatial analysis, and data science to help clients understand what data are available, what those data mean, and how the information can be interpreted and applied. We then develop customized tools in ArcGIS, Matlab and R to prepare decision-ready assessments tailored to the specific need and audience. We collaborate with universities on federally-sponsored grants, and present at professional meetings and publish our results to ensure that we keep abreast of the latest science and disseminate our work broadly.
Our work has included: supporting national nonprofit conservation organizations with an evaluation of water, carbon and ecosystem benefits from targeted resilience strategies in the Colorado River Basin; conducting an analysis of agricultural water use in New Mexico to support a philanthropic foundation’s climate resilience initiatives; supporting NASA Applied Hydrology research in snow and water supply forecasting; evaluating water rights implications of restoration activities for the Western States Water Council; and developing monitoring and evaluation protocols and best practices for process-based restoration.
Managing rivers and watersheds in shared landscapes requires balancing conservation and production, and the multitude of stakeholders with diverse, often competing interests and mandates. Blueshift works closely with communities throughout the Western U.S. to integrate existing scientific and local knowledge into shared objectives that support near-term implementation and consensus building as well as long-term planning and strategy. We provide technical capacity support to local managers, from initial concept development through funding, design, permitting, construction and monitoring.
Our work has included: supporting management agencies and nonprofit organizations with restoration planning, prioritization, scoping and grant preparation; facilitating collaborative stakeholder processes to identify common goals and objectives; preparing valley-floor restoration design and layout for private and public clients; preparing typicals and as-builts for permit application and reporting; conducting geomorphic surveys and assessment; and developing and implementing monitoring and evaluation plans.
Governments, investors, and industries are increasingly recognizing the risks from a rapidly changing climate. Farmers and their investors need to evaluate the viability of rain-fed and irrigated agriculture in the coming decades. Local and state governments need to understand risks to their infrastructure from flood, drought and wildfire. And the financial sector needs to quantify risks to their portfolios from natural hazards. Blueshift principals have been quantifying and evaluating climate change risks for more than 15 years, developing tailored solutions that leverage climate model outputs with a deep and pragmatic understanding of how those models can (and cannot!) be applied.
Our work has included: serving as modeling lead for the U.S. EPA’s Climate Impacts and Risk Analysis (CIRA) project; evaluating future water availability for investments in rain-fed agricultural properties; and modeling climate change impacts on future streamflow and hydropower.
Organizations are only as effective as their teams, people, and partners. Blueshift principals partner with nonprofits and companies to design, build, and facilitate teams and coalitions to help organizations achieve their potential. Blueshift can help with the formation and launch of nonprofits, the development of staffing plans and strategic organizational design, board management from recruiting to reporting, and one-on-one coaching informed by the landscape of water and climate policy.
Our work has included: Board design and recruitment for new nonprofits; facilitation of a cross-agency review and approval of funding plan directed at drought resilience in the Colorado River Basin; facilitation of the OpenET collaborative led by NASA, the Desert Research Institute, and Environmental Defense Fund, working with leading scientists to develop an online platform for mapping evapotranspiration in the West; and executive coaching to executive directors of nonprofit organizations.
Blueshift is working at the cutting edge of conservation finance to develop and deploy innovative financing strategies for water and natural resource management challenges and other approaches to promote investment in sustainable natural resource management. Our work has included the genesis, design, and deployment of new investment models and developing and supporting diligence efforts for a range of water and natural resource-based investments. We are participating in the ongoing development of environmental services markets, and identifying opportunities to link corporate sustainability initiatives with on-the-ground projects that generate real-world outcomes.
Our work has included: start-up, and development of an innovative finance organization; advising on the development of revolving funds targeting unique water scarcity/water management problems; providing deal diligence and structuring support for both for-profit investors and foundations; creating new investment models at the intersection of water and climate change; and supporting the assessment and quantification of risks and emerging water- and climate-related issues in investment, supply chain, and water resource management contexts.
Margot is a strategist, facilitator and executive coach with over a decade of experience working with Fortune 500 companies, non-profits, public agencies, and foundations. Her areas of expertise include incubating, implementing and managing complex new initiatives, supporting leadership in transition, and facilitating the development of strategic plans among diverse stakeholders. Margot also has extensive experience analyzing natural resources regulations and climate policy.
Representative Experience
Caroline is a hydrologist and geomorphologist with extensive experience implementing and evaluating process-based watershed restoration throughout the American West. She combines a robust technical and scientific knowledge base with community-engaged practices to develop projects and evaluation frameworks uniquely tailored to local conditions and objectives. Caroline's work includes translating lessons learned from these place-based efforts to provide guidance to foundations and government entities on policy and funding.
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Elijah is a water resources expert whose work focuses on developing and implementing innovative water conservation programs. His work at CK Blueshift centers on creating partner relationships and strategies for BlueCommons, a first of its kind ‘Blue Bank’ focused on financing a new generation of water efficiency projects. He has worked with municipalities, non-profits and businesses to rapidly create water-saving projects tailored to their goals and operations. He also has experience analyzing the efficacy of water markets and groundwater management organizations in the American West.
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Cam is a broadly trained earth scientist with expertise in hydrology, geomorphology, climate change, and economics. For over a decade, he has supported state and federal agencies, water utilities, and investors with the quantification and monetization of climate change impacts on flood risk, water availability, and ecosystem health. He has also supported state governments, tribes, and NGOs on multiple natural resource damage assessments and environmental impact assessments related to oil spills, industrial activities, and mining. He maintains a research affiliation at the University of Colorado, where he continues grant-funded research on behalf of NSF, NASA, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Prior to joining CK Blueshift, Cam held positions as a Senior Scientist at Lynker Technologies and as a Principal at Abt Associates (formerly Stratus Consulting).
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Joan is an environmental and natural resources attorney with more than 25 years of combined private sector, federal, state, local, and non-profit experience. Joan has held several senior executive positions in government agencies and is a solutions-oriented legal counselor and strategic advisor. Joan serves clients primarily in environmental and water quality regulatory matters and in innovative and resilient urban water management and natural infrastructure solutions. Joan is a Fellow in the American College of Environmental Lawyers.
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Peter is a nationally-recognized Western water law and water policy attorney, and has more than 20 years of experience working on a broad range of water law and policy, natural resources law and policy, U.S. environmental law, and federal Indian law matters. He represents a variety of municipalities, water agencies, industrial and energy companies, developers, investment firms, and nonprofit organizations and foundations, and is a respected strategic advisor to clients facing the challenges of water and natural resource scarcity in the West.
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Peter is a Fellow in the American College of Environmental Lawyers, and has served on a number of public and non-profit boards and commissions; this includes current service as a member of the board of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and the Board of Visitors for the University of Arizona College of Law. In connection with his extensive public policy work, Peter has been twice awarded the Partners in Conservation Award from the office of the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, the Nature Conservancy of Arizona’s Outstanding Conservation Achievement Award, and the Arizona Capitol Times Leader of the Year Award in Public Policy. He received the Michael J. Brophy Distinguished Service Award from the State Bar of Arizona in 2022.
Jennifer supports various public, private and nonprofit clients on natural resources management and water law and policy. Her work focuses on water scarcity issues in the Western United States, sustainable groundwater management, conservation program strategy and finance, and collaborative planning and advocacy around natural resources and water policy. She also has experience in utilities, government, and administrative law, and in social science, environmental science, and environmental education.
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With more than three decades of environmental law, policy, and advocacy experience, Mary is a nationally respected environmental lawyer and nonprofit program manager. She provides environmental analysis and advocacy services to non-profits, philanthropic foundations, and other organizations. Mary’s areas of expertise include water law and policy, ecosystem restoration law and policy, U.S./Mexico border environmental issues, strategy development, grant writing, strategic fundraising and non-profit management.
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Kelly practices in water, environmental, and natural resources law, helping clients understand and navigate complex challenges surrounding water scarcity, climate change, and sustainable development. She works with a wide range of clients, including municipalities, corporations, investment groups, policy institutes, and non-profit organizations. Her work focuses on water law and policy and its nexus with aridification management and climate change mitigation and adaptation.
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Laura is a nationally recognized expert in Western water law and policy, with experience as an environmental lawyer spanning more than three decades. Her areas of expertise beyond water law include administrative law and permitting, NEPA compliance and review, NGO program development, tribal reserved water rights, and a broad range of public and private land management and restoration experience. Laura’s work includes building and executing strategic campaigns to drive change across legislative, regulatory, and administrative arenas, including work in sustainable groundwater management, recognition and protection of instream water use, water rights transactions, and new funding and authorities for watershed restoration.
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