News Release Archive

Reclamation's Mid-Pacific Regional Director, Kirk Rodgers, to Retire August 3, 2007

Media Contact: Jeffrey McCracken, 916-978-5100, 08/01/2007 17:56

For Release: August 01, 2007

The Bureau of Reclamation announces that Mr. Kirk C. Rodgers will retire on Friday, August 3, 2007, after 35 years of Federal service.  Rodgers has served as the Mid-Pacific Region's Regional Director since February 2002.  He joined Reclamation's Pacific Northwest Region in July 1973 and came to the Mid-Pacific Region in 1981.  Rodgers was selected as Deputy Regional Director in 1996.  He also served as the Acting Regional Director from February-October 1999 and from March 2001-February 2002.

Although Rodgers will step down as Regional Director, he will continue working for the Region, focusing on several highly critical Regional issues to include drainage in the San Joaquin Valley, restoration of the San Joaquin River, and many complex issues in the Sacramento/San Francisco Bay-Delta.  Rodgers' continued involvement in these challenging areas will help ensure a smooth transition for the new Regional Director.

"Words cannot properly express the satisfaction I have felt in serving as Regional Director for these past few years, and as Deputy Regional Director for a few years prior to that," Rodgers stated. "Dealing with water and power issues in Oregon, Nevada and, particularly, California have stretched and challenged me beyond anything I could have imagined, and I have met and worked with some of the most talented and dedicated people in the water business."

"Reclamation has been good to me," Rodgers continued.  "I'm very loyal to the mission and purpose.  It is for these and other important reasons that I look forward to a continued relationship in the water and power community for some years to come."

Reclamation Commissioner Robert W. Johnson has asked Mr. John Davis, the Mid-Pacific Region's Deputy Regional Director, to serve as the Acting Regional Director for the next 3 months. 

The Mid-Pacific Region's Regional Director oversees Reclamation water projects in an area encompassing the northern two-thirds of California, most of northern Nevada, and a portion of southern Oregon.  The Regional Director is also responsible for one of Reclamation's best-known projects, California's Central Valley Project (CVP), the largest irrigation project in the Nation.  The CVP provides urban water for more than 3 million people, irrigation water to more than 3 million acres, industrial water for key economic areas of California such as the Silicon Valley, and environmental water for wildlife needs and fishery restoration.  The CVP also generates some 5.6 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually.

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