FORTY-SECOND BIENNIAL REPORT 11 



in conferences with Secretary of the Interior Chapman in March, 1952; 

 the North American Wildlife Conference in Miami, Florida, March, 1952 ; 

 and the Western Association of State Game and Fish Commissioners, at 

 Glacier Park, Montana, June, 1952. 



hi the belief that battles are won only with trained soldiers, regional 

 employee in-service training conferences were inaugurated by Executive 

 Officer E. L. Macaulay early in 1951. This step toward unifying the out- 

 look and experience of our own personnel, and presenting the opportunity 

 for better service to the public, is being continued on an annual basis. 



DEPARIMENTAL REORGANIZATION PROGRESS 



The departmental reorganization program, pursuant to the Charles 

 Brown Fish and Game Reorganization Act of 1951, was initiated on Sep- 

 tember 22, 1951. On that date the status of the former Division of Fish 

 and Game, a branch of the Department of Natural Resources since 1927, 

 was changed to a Department of Fish and Game, with a director, ap- 

 pointed by the Governor, in full charge of all administrative operations 

 and personnel. 



The new law clearly stipulates that the Fish and Game Commission 

 shall continue to exercise all of its highly important policy making and 

 regulatory functions, and that the director shall administer the depart- 

 ment in conformance therewith. 



Although in effect for only the last nine months of the biennium, many 

 major provisions of the act had been carried out. Seth Gordon, for three 

 years consultant to the California Wildlife Conservation Board, was 

 drafted by Governor Earl Warren, effective September 22, 1951, to serve 

 as the new agency 's first director. 



Pursuant to the mandate of the Legislature (Chapter 195, Statutes of 

 1951, Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 84), the director immediately 

 upon assuming office solicited the aid of the Department of Finance, the 

 State Personnel Board, and the Legislative Auditor in the development 

 of reorganization plans designed to decentralize operations, to more 

 clearly define responsibility for results, and especially to assure better 

 coordination on the field operating level. 



The administrative analysts of the Department of Finance, who were 

 in charge of the study, worked in close cooperation with representatives of 

 the other agencies named and the Department of Fish and Game over 

 a period of many weeks. On March 3, 1952, Honorable James S. Dean, 

 Director of the Department of Finance, submitted his department's find- 

 ings and recommendations. They were immediately transmitted to both 

 houses of the Legislature, and the new plan of operation was pushed to 

 the limit in order to expedite the transition. (See Reorganization Plan in 

 the Appendix)* 



In the meantime, the director had appointed two of the top aides in the 

 new department. Walter Shannon, veteran employee in the old Division 

 of Fish and Game, was named deputy director, an exempt post. 



* In the biennial report for the period ending June 30, 1950, it will be found that the 

 Fish and Game Commission had agreed to regionalize operations. It contemplated 

 five districts, but through an error, an alternate plan for 11 districts was published 

 in the report. 



