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Jim Bryant ends 36-year career
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| Jim Bryant, recently retired from his job as chief of land and water operations at the Klamath Reclamation Project, has plans to spend much more time with his grandchildren. |
published August 4, 2003
By DYLAN DARLING
H&N Staff Writer
Jim Bryant had a tough time turning in his keys and identification card.
Smiling back at him on the well-weathered card was his mug shot from more than 35 years ago.
"It was kind of a tear-jerker," Bryant said. "It's kind of tough to turn in your tools of the trade. It is like a leap off a cliff, a final separation."
Bryant's more than three decades of work for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Klamath Project have ended.
Though Bryant, 60, the former chief of the water and land division for the project, had to give up, his keys, ID card, Palm Pilot and other equipment after he finished work on July 25, he took the most valuable tool home with him - his brain.
Saturated with information about the project, his cranium is a biological database of almost every detail of the complex project, which started at the beginning of the 20th century. He knows how many people are served by each canal, how much water each dam can hold back and how to keep Upper Klamath Lake as full as possible without overtoppings its miles of dikes.
His knowledge was invaluable to the many area managers he served under during his time with the Bureau, said Kirk Rodgers, director of the Bureau's Mid-Pacific Region.
"Jim Bryant had more understanding of the Klamath Project than anyone I've ever known," said Rodgers, who was area manager in the early 1990s. "And he was always willing to stop doing something to help someone understand how it worked."
Bryant also knew how much things had changed in the time that he had been here.
In 1967, Bryant, who grew up in Riverside, Calif., and got an associates' degree in pre-engineering from the College of the Siskiyous, came to the Klamath Basin to work on a two-year pressure system project for the lease lands on Lower Klamath Lake National Wildlife Refuge. His first paycheck was $125 for a week's worth of work. The pressure project never materialized, but Bryant stayed on.
"I wound up working in about every aspect of the project that there is," he said.
He worked in engineering and design, right of way and water rights negotiation, office administration and many other parts of the project.
Karl Wirkus, now a regional resources manager for the Bureau in Boise, was area manager from 1996 to 2001. He said Bryant is one of those guys who seemed to have been "born in the basement" and knew almost every little bit about the project.
He is also a character who is often the token male in aerobics classes at the YMCA, and willing to crack jokes even in the most serious meetings. But he still demanded respect.
"People understood that behind the goofball was an extremely in-depth, knowledgeable guy," Wirkus said.
In the early days, the Bureau's office was small, with 14 employees. Now it has a staff of 35.
Back when Bryant started, the Bureau operated by a different philosophy.
"Manifest destiny was the key word - develop the West," Bryant said.
Now it seems people are more interested in conservation than development.
"Growth for growth's sake isn't what people want anymore," Bryant said.
For the first 25 years of his career, few people even knew what the Bureau of Reclamation was or that there even was an office in Klamath Falls. Any mention of the "Bureau" made people think of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
From 1967 to 1992 the Klamath project was a "mellow place to work," he said.
During that time, if someone threatened the Bureau with a lawsuit it would cause turmoil in the office. Now the Bureau is used to the legal volleys from all sides.
"You get numb after a while - you really get numb," he said.
In his last 10 years, Bryant said he spent a third of his time at work dealing with attorneys. The project used to be about farms and ranches, now it is about discovery briefs and subpoenas.
"It was just one lawsuit after another," he said.
With the lawsuits, many stemming from the curtailment of irrigation water deliveries in 2001, Klamath water has become a nationwide topic.
Interior Secretary Gale Norton recently unveiled a government plan aimed at avoided another "Klamath," now a noun meaning water conflict.
"We went from a sleepy little village to a front page news story," Bryant said.
For decades, the Bureau was rarely in the newspaper. Now, the Bureau is under the watchful eyes of environmental groups, water users, coastal fishermen and downstream and upstream tribes - all of which are represented by gaggles of attorneys.
Bryant said Klamath 2001 was the largest single media event to rock the Bureau in its century of business.
Early in his career, Bryant said someone asked him if water supply would ever be a problem in the Basin. He said no.
"We had the mistaken belief that there was enough water to go around," he said.
When Bryant started, his major concern was flooding, and he had to work to balance dams and dikes around the Basin to keep fields from becoming lakes. In the 1970s, Bryant worked on a study or "reclaiming," or making islands out of parts of Upper Klamath Lake to try to improve water quality. People weren't interested in the idea.
"We found out that people really appreciate their green lake," he said.
Bryant's knowledge of the project and his grace with people helped the Bureau recover from 2001.
Though his official retirement started Jan. 1, the Bureau kept Bryant on contract to help train his replacement, Cecil Lesley. The two shared an office for five months.
Bryant said he had his share of accomplishments, including getting a new dam put in at Clear Lake last year. He also had some failures, the greatest being summer 2001.
He said he tried his best to find a way to meet the needs of agricultural and environmental use of the water in Upper Klamath Lake.
"If we could have found a way to share the water, we would have been far better off," he said.
But the lines were drawn, and the Endangered Species Act had to followed completely.
Bryant said it has been hard to leave because he has been so involved with the Bureau and the Basin water issue. But he won't be gone completely.
"I'm not disappearing," he said.
Bryant will still be a player in the ongoing adjudication of Basin water. The process, which will determine who gets how much water, has been going on for 25 years. And Bryant, with his knowledge of the project, is a valuable asset for all those involved in the process.
There is one bit of knowledge that he wishes he had.
"I wish I had God-given insight into what suckers need," he said. "What is it that make them tick? If I could find that out, I could find a solution."
He and his wife, Linda, who just retired from Klamath Medical Clinic two months ago, plan on staying in Klamath Falls, aside from taking trips to see his three kids and many grandchildren. His two daughters, Cassandra and Shani, both live in Hawaii, and his son, Jamie, lives in Albany.
A number of groups involved with the Klamath water issue have already asked Bryant if he would be a consultant for them, but he wants to take some time off.
"The tough times are not over, and I will miss not being part of whatever solution is finally arrived at in the Basin," he said.
Reporter Dylan Darling covers natural resources. He can be reached at 885-4471, (800) 275-0982, or by e-mail at ddarling@heraldandnews.com.
By DYLAN DARLING
H&N Staff Writer
Jim Bryant had a tough time turning in his keys and identification card.
Smiling back at him on the well-weathered card was his mug shot from more than 35 years ago.
"It was kind of a tear-jerker," Bryant said. "It's kind of tough to turn in your tools of the trade. It is like a leap off a cliff, a final separation."
Bryant's more than three decades of work for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Klamath Project have ended.
Though Bryant, 60, the former chief of the water and land division for the project, had to give up, his keys, ID card, Palm Pilot and other equipment after he finished work on July 25, he took the most valuable tool home with him - his brain.
Saturated with information about the project, his cranium is a biological database of almost every detail of the complex project, which started at the beginning of the 20th century. He knows how many people are served by each canal, how much water each dam can hold back and how to keep Upper Klamath Lake as full as possible without overtoppings its miles of dikes.
His knowledge was invaluable to the many area managers he served under during his time with the Bureau, said Kirk Rodgers, director of the Bureau's Mid-Pacific Region.
"Jim Bryant had more understanding of the Klamath Project than anyone I've ever known," said Rodgers, who was area manager in the early 1990s. "And he was always willing to stop doing something to help someone understand how it worked."
Bryant also knew how much things had changed in the time that he had been here.
In 1967, Bryant, who grew up in Riverside, Calif., and got an associates' degree in pre-engineering from the College of the Siskiyous, came to the Klamath Basin to work on a two-year pressure system project for the lease lands on Lower Klamath Lake National Wildlife Refuge. His first paycheck was $125 for a week's worth of work. The pressure project never materialized, but Bryant stayed on.
"I wound up working in about every aspect of the project that there is," he said.
He worked in engineering and design, right of way and water rights negotiation, office administration and many other parts of the project.
Karl Wirkus, now a regional resources manager for the Bureau in Boise, was area manager from 1996 to 2001. He said Bryant is one of those guys who seemed to have been "born in the basement" and knew almost every little bit about the project.
He is also a character who is often the token male in aerobics classes at the YMCA, and willing to crack jokes even in the most serious meetings. But he still demanded respect.
"People understood that behind the goofball was an extremely in-depth, knowledgeable guy," Wirkus said.
In the early days, the Bureau's office was small, with 14 employees. Now it has a staff of 35.
Back when Bryant started, the Bureau operated by a different philosophy.
"Manifest destiny was the key word - develop the West," Bryant said.
Now it seems people are more interested in conservation than development.
"Growth for growth's sake isn't what people want anymore," Bryant said.
For the first 25 years of his career, few people even knew what the Bureau of Reclamation was or that there even was an office in Klamath Falls. Any mention of the "Bureau" made people think of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
From 1967 to 1992 the Klamath project was a "mellow place to work," he said.
During that time, if someone threatened the Bureau with a lawsuit it would cause turmoil in the office. Now the Bureau is used to the legal volleys from all sides.
"You get numb after a while - you really get numb," he said.
In his last 10 years, Bryant said he spent a third of his time at work dealing with attorneys. The project used to be about farms and ranches, now it is about discovery briefs and subpoenas.
"It was just one lawsuit after another," he said.
With the lawsuits, many stemming from the curtailment of irrigation water deliveries in 2001, Klamath water has become a nationwide topic.
Interior Secretary Gale Norton recently unveiled a government plan aimed at avoided another "Klamath," now a noun meaning water conflict.
"We went from a sleepy little village to a front page news story," Bryant said.
For decades, the Bureau was rarely in the newspaper. Now, the Bureau is under the watchful eyes of environmental groups, water users, coastal fishermen and downstream and upstream tribes - all of which are represented by gaggles of attorneys.
Bryant said Klamath 2001 was the largest single media event to rock the Bureau in its century of business.
Early in his career, Bryant said someone asked him if water supply would ever be a problem in the Basin. He said no.
"We had the mistaken belief that there was enough water to go around," he said.
When Bryant started, his major concern was flooding, and he had to work to balance dams and dikes around the Basin to keep fields from becoming lakes. In the 1970s, Bryant worked on a study or "reclaiming," or making islands out of parts of Upper Klamath Lake to try to improve water quality. People weren't interested in the idea.
"We found out that people really appreciate their green lake," he said.
Bryant's knowledge of the project and his grace with people helped the Bureau recover from 2001.
Though his official retirement started Jan. 1, the Bureau kept Bryant on contract to help train his replacement, Cecil Lesley. The two shared an office for five months.
Bryant said he had his share of accomplishments, including getting a new dam put in at Clear Lake last year. He also had some failures, the greatest being summer 2001.
He said he tried his best to find a way to meet the needs of agricultural and environmental use of the water in Upper Klamath Lake.
"If we could have found a way to share the water, we would have been far better off," he said.
But the lines were drawn, and the Endangered Species Act had to followed completely.
Bryant said it has been hard to leave because he has been so involved with the Bureau and the Basin water issue. But he won't be gone completely.
"I'm not disappearing," he said.
Bryant will still be a player in the ongoing adjudication of Basin water. The process, which will determine who gets how much water, has been going on for 25 years. And Bryant, with his knowledge of the project, is a valuable asset for all those involved in the process.
There is one bit of knowledge that he wishes he had.
"I wish I had God-given insight into what suckers need," he said. "What is it that make them tick? If I could find that out, I could find a solution."
He and his wife, Linda, who just retired from Klamath Medical Clinic two months ago, plan on staying in Klamath Falls, aside from taking trips to see his three kids and many grandchildren. His two daughters, Cassandra and Shani, both live in Hawaii, and his son, Jamie, lives in Albany.
A number of groups involved with the Klamath water issue have already asked Bryant if he would be a consultant for them, but he wants to take some time off.
"The tough times are not over, and I will miss not being part of whatever solution is finally arrived at in the Basin," he said.
Reporter Dylan Darling covers natural resources. He can be reached at 885-4471, (800) 275-0982, or by e-mail at ddarling@heraldandnews.com.
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