Anyone who doesn't think life is in fact like a box of chocolates and that you never know what you're going to get is probably suffering from an irony deficiency. Musing on life twists of fate relieves that condition.

Here's a item that is that irony fortified. Robert Ewing longtime chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's(CDF's)Strategic Planning Program (SPP, formerly FRRAP) now heads an international strategic planning unit for Weyerhaeuser. Tongue-in-cheek, Bob said upon leaving for his new post, "Well if the conservatives are going to takeover government, the liberals are going to have to takeover private industry." Dr. Bob left Sacramento, California for Tacoma, Washington in January 1995, but returned briefly May 16th to receive the Lew Moran Award for outstanding service to CDF. Bob is very pleased with his new job and is very impressed with the progressive thinking and working environment at Weyerhaeuser.

WMC's hardworking treasurer pulled out a great chocolate-covered reward recently. Barbara Machado transferred from the Fremont National Forest in Lakeview, Oregon to the Salmon National Forest in headquartered in Salmon, Idaho. After several years, Barbara and her husband now have jobs in the same locale, a wonderful and well-earned twist of fate. Change is good, and Barbara says she's really enjoying this change.

Pulling out a sugar plum, Rob Griffith, formerly District Resource Officer on the Groveland District of the Stanislaus National Forest has taken the prestigious position of USDA Forest Service Regional Soil Scientist for the California Region (R-5), replacing Chuck Goudey who retired last year. Ironically, the water that flows through the drinking fountains and coffee makers at the Region 5 headquarters in downtown San Francisco originates near Groveland, more than 100 miles away. Assistant Regional hydrologist Polly Hays memorializes Rob's arrival with this original limerick:

"The dirt that most others rejected Rob Griffith called soil and protected Down with gullies and rills Keep that stuff on those hills Was his counsel most highly respected."

About as far as you can get from San Francisco without leaving northern California, Sue Becker has taken the forest hydrologist job the Modoc National Forest, that bastion of Great Basin beauty, headquartered in Alturas, California. Sue's career has lead her on a grand tour. Sue got her degree in Soil and Water Science from UC Davis. In June 1990, she joined the USDA Forest Service as hydrologic technician on the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. She then served as a district hydrologist on the Klamath National Forest, followed by a one-year-plus stint with the Pacific Southwest Experiment Station at the Central Sierra Snow Lab in Norden, California. Mostly recently, she served two-years with the Soil Conservation Service's (now the Natural Resources Conservation Service's) snow survey program in Idaho. Sue likes snow. (Who'd have thunk it?) Originally form the SF Bay Area, Sue says she is happy to be back in northern California. Superior California is how that Sacramento Bee refers to regions of the state that far north. I'm not sure if superior refers to an attitude or place. However, Sue strikes me as the egalitarian sort.

By the way, anyone looking for additional watershed talent from the University of California at Davis should contact Marge Lee at (916) 752-2671 or via e-mail at molee@ucdavis.edu. Marge will be happy spread the word of your internships or entry level professional positions to some great prospective candidates. There are pleasant surprises in store for those who do.

Cheryl Mulder is enjoying life's little surprises. Most recently Cheryl was with the USDA Forest Service's Savannah River Forest Station in South Carolina, where she plan planned, coordinated and implemented watershed improvements. Her new job as hydrologist on the Eldorado National Forest, headquartered in Placerville, California, will encompass everything from NEPA planning to water rights administration. This is a return to the Sierra Nevada for Cheryl. Prior to South Carolina, she managed a water quality program on the Plumas National Forest. Cheryl also enjoys environmental education and has volunteered a great deal of time to environmental ed activities.

If life is like a box chocolates, groundwater hydrology has sometimes been compared to a layered cake. Gilbert Garcia the new hydrologist on the San Bernardino National Forest brings with him a great deal of expertise in this field (groundwater that is). Gil's a geology graduate of the University of Colorado. He comes to southern California by way of the Fishlake National Forest in southern Utah. There, where water is scarce and precious, he helped developed a new procedure for quantifying water rights by sub-basin. Prior to this Gil gained experience working for the USDI Bureau of Reclamation as both hydrologist and geologist. Among other things, he evaluated the groundwater dewatering systems at a damsite, developed the tunnel rating system for the outlet tunnel and supports, and determined the availability and dependability of playa lake water to supplement the ever-depleting Ogalla Aquifer. Prior to Reclamation, Gil appraised oil and gas resource quantities for the USDI Geologic Survey. Gil's got over 20-years federal experience, which means among other things he earns 5-weeks vacation a year. (As an former federal employee, who never quite achieved that honor, I'm jealous, Gil.) How sweet it is.

Washing the sweets down with a tall glass of Adam's Ale, toast a watery kudos to Peter Warshall, longtime watershed editor for the Whole Earth Review. Peter had a magic hand in the recent issue of Whole Earth Review: "Water Talks." This is a beautiful pub, holding some absolute gems of wisdom about the role of water in our lives.

Here's a sweet surprise: watershed project home pages on the Internet. Have you browsed the World Wide Web yet? You need a network connection to do it, but once you have one, it's way cool. Lots of water-related goodies there already. One of the best so far is part of the CERES project. The California Biodiversity Council is supporting an effort to catalogue all bioregional, landscape and watershed-level groups and projects in the state of California. The intent is to improve communication and information exchange between local groups and with the Council. The California Watershed Projects Inventory and a Watershed Group Directory are available over the World Wide Web via CERES at: http://resources.agency.ca.gov

Assistance is available for those groups which would like to develop their own home pages. Interested groups should first register themselves (use the handy on-line registration form within the Group Directory!), then contact Beth Merritt at (916) 227 -2665, or beth@oak.cdf.ca.gov If you do not have a network connection, contact Beth directly to obtain a hard copy of this form. Beth works for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's Strategic Planning Program in Sacramento.

You'll find a lising of lots of Web locations that have water and watershed-related info in the next newsletter.

And, get this, coming soon will be our very own Watershed Management Council WWW Server and Home Page, operated in conjunction with the Department of Geology at Humboldt State University.

More cybersweets: WMC e-nerd Mike Furniss has reserved the Internet "domain name" of "watershed.org" for the Council. This resides on a northcoast computer for now, but is portable and belongs to the Council for as long as we exist.

And remember, if you've reached a watershed in your career or have an interesting tidbit of watershed news, let your colleagues know about it. Drop a line to Name Stream & Tributaries, c/o Clay Brandow, 1528 Brown Drive, Davis, CA 95616, or call me at (916) 227-2663. D.G. address is C.Brandow:R05K. Internet mail finds me at: clay_brandow@fire.ca.gov