WOODROW WILSON ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE INSTITUTE RUTGERS 1998

Historical Perspective:

• Native Americans, minimal impact on river system.

Indigenous Nations of canada and U.S., Yokut
• Between 1786-1808, Lt. Gabriel Moraga from coastal Spanish mission's garrison made over forty explorations into the great valley. Lt. Moraga named the valley and it's major tributary "San Joaquin" after Saint Joachim, the father of the Virgin Mary. These early explorers made little impact.

Missions of Spanish Era had Wide Influence
Gabriel Antonio Moraga & San Joaquin
• 1820's. Early trappers altered the river ecosystem by over trapping the beaver population.

Early Trappers and Mountain Men
• 1830's. Mexican land grants used the river for grazing cattle.

California History Outline
• 1848 on Gold miners and early loggers silted and fouled the river.

California Gold Rush
Gold Mining and Hydraulic use, Native and Immigrants
History of Logging in California
• Farmers first used dry land methods but later turned to irrigation. It was recognized early on that whoever controlled the water made the money.
• 1861 to 1869 series of "floods" and "droughts" (read that CLIMATE) brought requests for assistance from settlers, farmers, and operators of river based commerce and transportation. Major issues: flood protection, irrigation, and navigation on the river.
• 1870's additional silt added to the San Joaquin from hydraulic mining.
• The San Joaquin Valley began to acquire a reputation for its agricultural produce.
• 1919. Col. Robert Marshall proposed a chain of storage reservoirs joined by canals. The network was to store excess water and release it in times of need. Not built.

California Water Supply
• 1933. Central Valley Project (CVP) was signed into existence establishing an "authority" to move water from the relatively water rich northern parts of the valley to the water poor southern part of the valley. The water and hydroelectric project was, according to Governor Rudolf, to "...place the surplus winter water on the lands instead of permitting it to flow to the sea."

Central Valley Project, photographic

(NOTES: At this time few questioned the issues of water rights when water was moved from one watershed into another. On the whole, the death of the river, its fisheries and wildlife were ignored.)

• 1938. Hydroelectric part of the CVP of 1933 is deleted. Around 200 river property owners protest "the closing of the San Joaquin River." The hydroelectric part of the CVP would have allowed for sufficient flow in the river.

Water Power
Hydroelectric Power in California
• 1944. First diversion of San Joaquin water at Friant dam into Madera canal.
• 1947. Friant Dam completed storing 520,000 acre feet of water. The dam caused vegetation intrusion into the old channel and between that and silting the channel can no longer accommodate flows in the 7,000 cubic feet/second range. (A point proven later by floods when water had to be released from Friant Dam to accommodate up-river runoff. Since then the channel has been maintained.)

Structure of Friant Dam
• 1950. Friant-Kern canal diverts water 152 miles to Kern County

Friant Dam and Snowmelt Release
• 1977. San Francisco Examiner investigation of the reclamation project states that not since the giveaway of the 1920's, "have public resources been exploited so flagrantly - with the aid of government officials - for private gain."
• 1989. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Felix Smith reported, "in essence the bureau had stolen the entire flow and many beneficial uses of the waters of the San Joaquin River for sale for essentially private uses, profit and benefit." Smith believes the exchange surrounding the water issues of the San Joaquin are those of, "prejudice, legal abuse, tampering with quasi judicial proceedings and outright fraud."
• 1990. Fresno conservationist Martin Winton stated: "Obviously there was a need for flood protection. Certainly there was a need for more water and for better use of that water. But what the Bureau of Reclamation did is a disaster that threatens the future of the entire San Joaquin Valley. The original state plan said they were to divert only the surplus or flood waters. Instead the bureau took all the water from the county of origin and diverted the San Joaquin River waters to lands that never had water. In the process they killed the river. As it is, there are no flushing flows; the channel and the adjacent lands can no longer sustain itself. The water coming through the Delta-Mendota Canal is of such poor quality that it is poisoning the land. If they don't put some water back in the river, we will lose the whole thing."

Troubled River
Friends of the San Joaquin River
• 1990-97. "Climatic" low rainfall years.
• 1997-98.  Flood years with channel clearing flows. Loss of property due to "excessive" water flow.

Central Valley Project Improvement Act, Nov. 20 1997

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