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Bridging-the-Headgate in California
Reclamation in California
The State of California is served by seven Reclamation Area Offices. From north to south, offices located within the state include the Northern California Area Office in Willows, California; the Central California Area Office in Folsom, California; the South Central California Area Office in Fresno, California; and the Southern California Area Office in Temecula, California. In addition, portions of the very northern part of the state are covered by the Klamath Basin Area Office headquartered in Klamath, Oregon; small portions of eastern California are assisted by the Lahontan Basin Area Office in Carson City, Nevada; and the extreme southern part of the state is served by the Yuma Area Office located in Yuma, Arizona (see map, and table of contacts below). Reclamation's Mid-Pacific Regional Office is located in Sacramento, California.
Central California Area Office - Folsom, California
Reclamation's Central California Area Office has partnered with the El Dorado County and Georgetown Divide RCD's to promote two water conservation programs. The programs, called Xeriscape '98 and Landscape Irrigation Surveys, are aimed at improving water efficiency in irrigated landscaping. The Xeriscape program is designed to promote drought-tolerant landscaping through demonstration gardens. The Irrigation Survey program provides large landscape customers with the opportunity to receive free system audits, as well as financial assistance to implement efficiency improvements, such as the repair of leaking valves. The irrigation survey procedures are modeled after the pioneering efforts of the El Dorado Irrigation District.
South Central California Area Office - Fresno, California
Reclamation's South Central California Area Office and the Pond Shafter Wasco RCD have co-sponsored a mobile lab program in Bakersfield California over the last three years. This program provides farmers with irrigation system evaluations throughout the southern San Joaquin Valley. In addition to Reclamation, twenty-two other water agencies are supporting the operation of the mobile lab. The Water Conservation Field Services Program funding supports the performance of on-farm system evaluations within the federal project areas.
Southern California Area Office - Temecula, California
Reclamation's Southern California Area Office is working with the NRCS to support several mobile lab programs throughout the southern California area. Reclamation, NRCS, and the Antelope Valley Water District co-sponsor an educational mobile lab that promotes efficient water use to children of various ages. This mobile program, called "Commencement 2000," will be able to reach a wide audience because it can be moved among school districts throughout southern California.
Reclamation also sponsors two agricultural mobile labs through the Mission RCD and the San Jacinto Basin RCD. The agricultural mobile labs provide equipment and training to local growers for evaluating soil and water conservation strategies in the field.
The Southern California office has also partnered with the Riverside-Corona RCD for the purchase of a weather station to help local growers and urban landscapers develop efficient irrigation water scheduling practices.
Mid-Pacific Regional Office - Sacramento, California
Reclamation's Mid-Pacific Regional Office continues to cooperate with the Yolo County RCD, Reclamation District 108, and local farmers on a filter strip demonstration project in the Sacramento Valley. This project provides an opportunity to demonstrate that the establishment of native grasses, rushes, and sedges on drainage ditches, canal banks, and the backsides of levees is a viable alternative to spraying and disking to improve water quality, increase wildlife habitat, reduce soil erosion, and control weed management costs.
Total Resource Management
The Regional Office also continues to partner with the California Association of Resource Conservation Districts in implementing "total resource management" on model farms in four locations. This program is intended to integrate on-farm water management into overall resource management plans that address a variety of soil, pest, plant, wildlife and economic issues related to farming operations. This project has allowed farmers located in the four participating RCD's (Yolo County, Kings River, Cahuma, and Pond Shafter Wasco) to test innovative practices and comment on their effectiveness. The program supports the participation of RCD staff, as well as funding a team of specialists who analyze the innovations and reduce any risks to the growers' livelihood. It is envisioned that the Federal/State CALFED Bay Delta Program will incorporate portions of this program in its implementation phase.
CALFED
NRCS has been working with Reclamation primarily through the partnership at the state level with a large interagency effort (CALFED) looking at water quality and quantity related concerns in the Central Valley. NRCS is about to complete an interagency agreement where we are developing an on-farm component of the overall plan. In addition, one or two field offices works with Reclamation Area Offices on mobile lab and other activities.
