… As an environmental sociologist, I study the interplay among human interests, institutions, cultural meanings, and society’s relationship with nonhuman nature. I have been studying various aspects of the Delta Smelt case for years, drawing on a wide array of evidence, from archival documents to expert interviews to field observations. My research on the controversy focuses on the species’ portrayal in the media, its political mobilization, and public interest in the topic. In a peer-reviewed article recently published in the American Journal of Cultural Sociology, I show that the dynamics and character of the Delta Smelt controversy are better explained by national partisan divisions than as a regional struggle for access to water.