[env-trinity] DWR/Red Bluff's history/role

Thu Apr 19 13:37:36 PDT 2012

Hi Bill,

No problem about the age thing, Ed would just laugh at the comment.

Here is a link to John's compilation of projects on the Trinity River and Tributaries as a PDF:

ftp://ftpdpla.water.ca.gov/pub/Eng/Trinity/Historical_Projects/

We did have all of this working in an ArcView GIS with spatial locations links at one point, but now it needs some significant work.

I was reviewing a Northern District history book that Linton Brown and others produced for our 25 year anniversary back in 1991.  When Northern District moved to Red Bluff on December 6, 1965 the main programs were:

"planning on the North Coast and in the Upper Sacramento Valley, with the Eel River project formulation being the centerpiece; operating maintaining the Sacramento flood control project and Davis-Grunsky loans and grants"

Yes there was quite a shift after the passage of the wild and scenic rivers act on the North Coast.  We had significant reductions in staff from 1970-1975 due to a reduction in funding from SWP.  Our office went from 113 people in 1966 down to 59 people in 1986.

This shift in focus allowed us to diversify our work, and led to Ed Barnes and others working on behalf of North State Fisheries.  We continue this diversity of work to this day by providing engineering services, flood and watershed work, stream gage information, watermaster service, reservoir investigations, environmental restoration and compliance, water quality assessment, groundwater measurements and management, and land & water use surveys.  (Notice the plug for the work we do)

DWR's Mission is:

To manage the water resources of California in cooperation with other agencies, to benefit the State's people, and to protect, restore, and enhance the natural and human environments.

http://www.water.ca.gov/about/mission.cfm

As you can see, NRO's work on the Trinity is consistent with DWR's Mission.

Our broader focus these days is to help promote and implement Integrated Regional Water Management in California.

To answer your last question specifically, DWR acts in different capacities for the TRRP:

*         On the TMC, the State of California representative is the Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency.  DWR and DFG are both under this agency, and Agency has delegated their TMC responsibility to DFG and DWR.  Currently DFG is the TMC representative in coordination with DWR (Teresa Connor).  When I was involved in the TMC I saw my charge as working with the TRRP staff, the TAMWG, and the public to implement the Record of Decision in an adaptive management environment, not to implement DWR or SWP policy.  I would however keep DWR and SWP managers aware of issues on the Trinity that could have a broader impacts such as flows and temperatures on the Sacramento River.  The only time (that I can remember) I really represented DWR's SWP interest specifically in regards to the Trinity was when I provided comments to the EIR/EIS for the ROD.  There may have been other times that we represented SWP interests, but hopefully we identified that we were doing so or abstained from voting.

*         When DWR is under contract to provide services for the TRRP (surveying, site design, environmental permitting, etc), we work solely for the TRRP.

The short answer to your question is yes, we give the best technical counsel we can for the TRRP.

Take Care,
Curtis

From: Kier Associates [mailto:kierassociates at suddenlink.net]
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2012 9:37 AM
To: Anderson, Curtis; 'Frank Emerson'; 'Gail Goodyear'; trinityjosh at gmail.com; env-trinity at mailman.dcn.org; 'bill weaver at pwa'; 'danny hagans at pac w'shed assoc'; 'whelan gilkerson at pwa'; amyg at trinityjournal.com; 'ryan sundberg at home'; ahostler.trt at gmail.com; 'Eli Asarian'; 'Jan Derksen'; 'mary claire at home'; 'pat higgins'; rschrock at usbr.gov
Subject: DWR/Red Bluff's history/role

All that DWR pride duly noted - and I wince that I so characterized Ed's situation. It's just that at my age I'm beginning to get too accustomed to old friends, er, having moved on. Please give Ed my best regards next time you see him, OK?

And I would so love to see Mr Elko's work product - is it available in electronic format? If so, plz shoot me a copy.

And, returning to history for just a moment, DWR was created (hmm, 1955 I believe) to develop the State Water Plan (1957) initially to define the State Water Project (water bond funded in 1960).

My pt about the original purpose of your office having 'gone south' with enactment of the CA W&S Rivers Act (1972) is that it was established to plan/supervise construction of the North Coast elements of the State Water Project.

Such work would, of course, be reimbursable by SWP contractors.

The relevance of DWR's Red Bluff office to DWR's central SWP mission could be best measured by the amt of SWP contractor-reimbursable budget that your office has on its books. I would daresay that nearly all DWR's Red Bluff office budget is General Fund- and State environmental bond-funded

When DWR sits at the TRRP table it's there to give its best technical counsel. It certainly isn't representing SWP interests - right ?

'Best,.

Bill Kier
From: Anderson, Curtis [mailto:curtisa at water.ca.gov]
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2012 8:53 AM
To: Kier Associates; 'Frank Emerson'; 'Gail Goodyear'; trinityjosh at gmail.com; env-trinity at mailman.dcn.org; bill weaver at pwa; danny hagans at pac w'shed assoc; whelan gilkerson at pwa; amyg at trinityjournal.com; ryan sundberg at home; ahostler.trt at gmail.com; Eli Asarian; Jan Derksen; mary claire at home; pat higgins; rschrock at usbr.gov
Subject: RE: [env-trinity] Trinity Journal- River dwellers share views at Lewiston meeting

Hi Bill,

This email exchange has been an interesting dialog from a historical perspective.  I think it illustrates one of the biggest challenges of the TRRP in that there is such a diversity of opinion of what the "limiting factor for fish production" is, what the Flow Study findings were, what the Record of Decision says, what adaptive management is, and how the ROD should be implemented by the Restoration Program.

It is easy to forget all the history that happens on large projects like this that span multiple decades.  One of the last tasks we had John Elko work on before he retired was to compile a historical chronology of all the restoration projects done by different agencies and entities on the Trinity River.  He documented about 207 individual projects just in the 1970-2000 time frame alone.  It is too bad that sometimes that we redo or undo something that had already been done or undone solely because people move on and history is forgotten.  It is too easy sometimes to move on to the next project or issue before lessons learned from past projects are properly documented.

All that aside, I just wanted to inform you that Ed Barnes is still alive and well.  In fact he would probably take exception to being called ancient.  =)  We get to see him at the Northern Region Office (used to be called Northern District) Christmas luncheons, and at the occasional retirement party.  It is nice to know that all of Ed's hard work on behalf of the Trinity River is still remembered.  DWR is proud of Ed's legacy of work on the Trinity, and we are proud to continue his work by participating in the TRRP and continuing to work toward improving the Trinity River fisheries.

Take Care,
Curtis Anderson

Northern Region Office
Department of Water Resources

From: env-trinity-bounces at velocipede.dcn.davis.ca.us<mailto:env-trinity-bounces at velocipede.dcn.davis.ca.us> [mailto:env-trinity-bounces at velocipede.dcn.davis.ca.us]<mailto:[mailto:env-trinity-bounces at velocipede.dcn.davis.ca.us]> On Behalf Of Kier Associates
Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2012 1:21 PM
To: 'Frank Emerson'; 'Gail Goodyear'; trinityjosh at gmail.com<mailto:trinityjosh at gmail.com>; env-trinity at mailman.dcn.org<mailto:env-trinity at mailman.dcn.org>; bill weaver at pwa; danny hagans at pac w'shed assoc; whelan gilkerson at pwa; amyg at trinityjournal.com<mailto:amyg at trinityjournal.com>; ryan sundberg at home; ahostler.trt at gmail.com<mailto:ahostler.trt at gmail.com>; Eli Asarian; Jan Derksen; mary claire at home; pat higgins; rschrock at usbr.gov<mailto:rschrock at usbr.gov>
Subject: Re: [env-trinity] Trinity Journal- River dwellers share views at Lewiston meeting

After that morning rumination about Trinity River gravel vs. DG, I got to wondering if Ed Barnes could possibly still be around (he'd be ancient) - and found this http://articles.latimes.com/1985-07-24/news/mn-4728_1_governor-feeds-salmon, a 1985 piece about Governor Deukmejian visiting the TRRP on a campaign swing  - and what Ed (who gets promoted here from civil engineer to 'state environmental scientist' - or would that be the other way around?) had to say about the program's success.

We so 'live in the moment' I thought you-all might enjoy a longer view of Trinity River matters.

Bill Kier
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