REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR 



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 



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