File:California fish and game (20520602031).jpg

Title: California fish and game
Identifier: californiafishgabien19541956cali (find matches)
Year: [1] (s)
Authors: California. Dept. of Fish and Game; California. Fish and Game Commission; California. Division of Fish and Game
Subjects: Fisheries -- California; Game and game-birds -- California; Fishes -- California; Animal Population Groups; Pêches; Gibier; Poissons
Publisher: (San Francisco, etc. ) State of California, Resources Agency, Dept. of Fish and Game
Contributing Library: California Department of Fish and Game
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR
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Log dam built in 1954 by the department on Little Bear Creek, San Bernardino County, to create a trout pool. (Fish and Game Photo by B. H. Unruh) How to maintain waters for fishing, hunting and other outdoor recreation in the face of accelerating development of water for other purposes is the most challenging problem ever to face Fish and Game peo- ple in California. This problem has been daily confronting the depart- ment during the last decade, and in the past two years has been highly intensified as a wide variety of water developments have taken shape on man\' of California's major streams. The Golden State is growing at such an accelerated rate that its effect has sometimes been termed "ex- plosive." On July 1, 1946, there were 9,559,000 resi- dents in California. Only 10 years later the figure had grown by 4,000,000-and of these, 1,000,000 arrived during the biennium just completed. Problem Highlighted In another two years there may be a population of 15,000,000. Most of this growth has been in water- short Southern California, a fact which dramatically highlights the problem facing state authorities: the north has the water and the south has the need. The solution is obvious; export excess water to the areas of need. Not so obvious to the general public are the problems which this solution has posed for matters of fish, game and recreation. Each new appeal to the State for water for highly important domestic, agricultural and industrial pur- poses called for immediate answers from the Depart- ment of Fish and Game as to how fish could be pro- tected. The growing demands for water and the department's legal responsibility to protect fish and game needs have taxed personnel to the utmost. Prep- arations for hearings, which have greatly increased during the period, and the necessity to appear person- ally fo testify for the department, began to usurp the full time of more and more department personnel who had to be relieved of other duties to concentrate their efforts on the preservation of inland waters for wildlife. The department, pursuant to the policy adopted by the Fish^and Game Commission, has continued to rec- ommend reserving water for fish, wildlife and recrea- tion, without success. Legislation is essential to pre- serve the contribution that fish and game make to the economy of California and to provide the other out- door recreational opportunities that will be required by the State's expanding population. CALIFORNIA WATER PLAN The new California Water Plan occupied a great amount of the department's attention during the bien- nium, and rightly so. For the plan not only projects (7)

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