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A history of the Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey; Volume VI, May 1, 1957 to June 30, 1966; the years of change

Hugh H. Hudson·Joseph S. Cragwell
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Abstract

Luna B. Leopold became chief of the Water Resources Division in May 1957 and stepped down in January 1966 to resume his research'in geomorphology. Ernest L. Hendricks succeeded'Leopold as chief of the Division in May 1966. The dates May 1, 1957, and June 30,1966, bracket a period of profound change in the organization and programs and in the philosophy of operations of the Water Resource Division and indeed in the entire field of investigational hydrology both within and outside the Geological Survey. Leopold brought into his new position a conviction that water on and beneath the Earth's surface and the quality of both were interdependent parts of one water-resources system and that the organization and operation of WRD must change to reflect that oneness. He was also convinced that the research program of the Division was inadequate in scope, staff, and funding to meet the operational needs of the Division and the needs of the community of water-resources planners, developers, and administrators in the near and distant future. Leopold's vision of a Water Resources Division properly staffed to meet current and future technical challenges included the imposition of rigorous selection standards on new professional recruits and the development of specialized training in-house and at university undergraduate and graduate levels. The period of Leopold's administrative and technical leadership of the WRD was indeed the "Years of Change."

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Hugh H. Hudson, Joseph S. Cragwell. 1996. A history of the Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey; Volume VI, May 1, 1957 to June 30, 1966; the years of change. https://doi.org/10.3133/7000084

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