Matt Jenkins, Western Water

Matt is the writer for the Water Education Foundation’s Western Water online magazine and series of Layperson’s Guides, and assists with the daily Aquafornia news feed of top water news. He joined the Foundation in 2025 after nearly 25 years covering water issues in the West. A former staff editor for High Country News and Nature Conservancy magazines, Matt has also written for a variety of publications including The New York Times, Smithsonian magazine and Saveur. His work was recognized with the Knight-Risser Prize for Western Environmental Journalism, and he has received reporting fellowships from Stanford’s Bill Lane Center for the American West, the Fund for Investigative Journalism and the International Reporting Project.