General Counsel

Michael B. Jackson

Michael Jackson is an environmental lawyer with a deep background in water equity, water quality and fisheries conservation. A native of Redding in Northern California, Michael took his JD from the University of California, Hastings College of Law. After working for private practices in Redding, he served as a Plumas County public defender. He established his own practice in environmental law and water rights in 1982 and was the water attorney for the Regional Council of Rural Counties, a coalition of 30 California counties that are low in population and rich in natural resources.

Michael has represented environmental groups and local agencies in numerous state and federal actions, including State Water Resources Control Board hearings on the Bay/Delta and many of California’s imperiled rivers – the San Joaquin River, the Feather River, the Yuba River, the Santa Ynez River and the Carmel River among them. He served as the Special Water Attorney for Plumas County in the seminal Monterey Agreement lawsuit, PCL vs DWR, and he was the Special Water Attorney for the Mohave Adjudication for the City of Adelanto.

Michael is a founding member and board member of the California Water Impact Network. He has been C-WIN’s general counsel since 2001, bringing his expertise to bear on the organization’s broad legal strategies and serving as its lead attorney in multiple legal actions. He has also worked with organizations allied with C-WIN and is the general counsel for and a board member of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance.

Michael has represented farming and environmental interests in Imperial and Sacramento Counties on the Colorado River Quantification Settlement Agreement, and he has represented C-WIN and other groups in hearings on Bay-Delta aquatic conditions, environmental reviews of the state’s Delta Plan, and the proposed point of diversion for the state’s now-abandoned Twin Tunnels project.

He currently counsels a coalition of environmental groups—including C-WIN, CSPA, and AquaAlliance—in opposing the Newson Administration’s Delta Tunnel scheme and is representing C-WIN and allied organizations in four groundwater cases in the Sacramento Valley.

Michael is married to Ruth Jackson, and is a long-time resident of Quincy, a small Sierra Nevada community in Plumas County. His interests include fishing and golf.