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class=headline1>Reclamation chief leaving</SPAN> </FONT></FONT></DIV>
<P><SPAN class=subhead>Bureau's north state boss returns to Montana to lead
nine-state division</SPAN>
<P><SPAN class=smalltext><B>By Alex Breitler, Record
Searchlight</B></SPAN><BR><SPAN class=smalltext><B>June 8, 2005</B></SPAN>
<P><SPAN class=bodytext>SHASTA DAM -- The top Bureau of Reclamation official in
the north state is returning to his rural roots after nearly a decade managing
water in the north state.
<P>Mike Ryan, an engineer by training, will return to his home state of Montana
by month's end to oversee the bureau's Great Plains office.
<P>
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<TD><IMG height=10
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border=0></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>From his office in Billings, Ryan will head
bureau operations in nine states from the Canadian border to the southern tip of
Texas, including 80 dams and reservoirs, 21 power plants and more than 1,000
water service contracts.
<P>It's not easy to leave Shasta County, Ryan said Tuesday.
<P>"I've seen a lot of places, and this community is one that fit my family
almost perfectly, except for one thing: It's not Montana," he quipped.
<P>His years here weren't without controversy. Proposals to raise Shasta Dam are
being protested by American Indians who say their cherished cultural landmarks
will be flooded. And environmentalists have decried a series of long-term water
contract renewals for irrigation districts.
<P>Ryan presided over many contract meetings with districts as far south as
Sacramento and said the negotiations were challenging, indeed.
<P>"But everybody stayed at the table and continued to be optimistic," he said.
<P>Ryan said he was also pleased with efforts to modernize the bureau’s power
facilities. In California he managed nine dams and six power plants, producing
about 4 million kilowatt hours of electricity every year, bureau officials said.
<P>Ryan also chaired the Trinity Management Council, and said restoration of the
Trinity River must remain a key goal for the next manager, who has yet to be
named.
<P>"We cannot lose hope about the ability to restore that river system," he
said.
<P>Before coming to Shasta County in 1996, Ryan managed the bureau’s Klamath
Basin office. He and his wife, Shelly, have three children: John, 22; Anne, 17;
and Kate, 13.
<P>Reporter Alex Breitler can be reached at 225-8344 or at <A
href="mailto:abreitler@redding.com">abreitler@redding.com</A>.</SPAN></P></FONT>
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