Ernest Conant

Ernest A. Conant is director of the Bureau of Reclamation’s California-Great Basin Region, a federal agency under Department of the Interior that delivers water and power to California, Nevada, and the Klamath Basin. Conant was appointed regional director in January 2019. As regional director, he manages one of the nation’s largest and most complex water projects, the Central Valley Project, as well as Oregon’s Klamath Projects; Nevada’s Newlands, Humboldt, Washoe, and Truckee projects; and California’s Cachuma, Orland, Santa Maria, Solano, and Ventura River projects. Conant has nearly 40 years of water law experience. He previously served as senior partner of Young Wooldrige, LLP leading the water/special districts/environmental law practice group, where he negotiated major water agreements and conducted water banking and storage initiatives. Conant, who comes from a six-generation farming family in Northern California, earned his bachelor of science degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Juris Doctor degree from Pepperdine University.