32 FISH AND GAME COJMMISSION 



organization was set up called the California Trout Investigations. 

 Two experienced fisheries biologists \\ere assigned hy the federal 

 bureau for work in California and two trained men were supplied by 

 the Division. Much effective work has been accomplished by this group 

 that will be of both immediate and future value to the Division. How- 

 ever, with the extension of various federal activities in California 

 such as the Central Valleys project, the proposed debris dams on the 

 Yuba and American rivers and the growing interest of the U. S. 

 Forest Service in fish and game, increasing demands were made upon 

 the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries for technical assistance and advice. It 

 was, tlierefore, mutually decided by them and the Division that it 

 would be best if the cooperative work could be carried on under a 

 less formal arrangement. 



There was an additional belief on the part of the Division that 

 this type of work in the Bureau of Fish Conservation justified its being 

 more firmly established through the employment of permanent per- 

 sonnel who would give increasingly^ valuable service through the 

 accumulation of experience and work under the direct supervision of 

 the Division. 



Early in 1938, therefore, two senior fisheries biologists and one 

 junior biologist were employed by the Bureau. These trained men, 

 together with two others formerly employed in other work and one 

 who had been assigned to the trout investigations, were assigned to 

 carry on the survey and biological work. 



As a basis for organizing their work the State was divided into 

 seven districts. Biologists were then detailed for work in five of 

 these in which the need for this type of work seemed most pressing. 

 District 1, comprising the Central Valleys area below an elevation of 

 2500 feet, was placed in charge of Merrill Brown, who also has charge 

 of the small mouth bass hatchery and fish rescue work, with head- 

 quarters at the new Central Valleys Hatchery. District 2, including 

 the drainages of the upper Sacramento, the McCloud, Pit and Feather 

 rivers, was assigned to J. li. Wales, with headquarters at the Mt. 

 Shasta Hatchery. District 3, in turn, included the Yuba, American, 

 Stanislaus, Tuolumne, Merced and Truckee drainages, in charge of 

 Brian Curtis, with headquarters in Sacramento. District 4 includes 

 all streams from the San Joaquin to the Kern, inclusive, and is to be 

 covered by William Dill with headquarters in Fresno. In Sacramento 

 we have been very fortunate in that the Sacramento Junior College has 

 kindly consented to supply laboratory quarters and in Fresno arrange- 

 ments have been made for similar facilities through the cordial coopera- 

 tion of the Fresno State College. District 5 includes all of the coastal 

 Steelhead and salmon streams and has been placed in charge of Leo 

 Shapovalov, with headquarters at Stanford Universitj'. The univer- 

 sity has cooperated to the fullest extent through furnishing labora- 

 tory quarters both for the Cooperative Trout Investigations and to 

 other fisheries biologists in the employ of the Division. 



It will be the first duty of these biologists to assemble and bring 

 up to date the planting and stream survey records for their districts. 

 In addition, they will immediately start work on a detailed study of 

 certain problem waters in each area. During the present year, 1938, 

 a thorough study is being made of the Eel, MeCloud and Kern rivers 

 and of the lakes in the Desolation Vallev region. Since one of the 



