The timing was no accident; heād delayed his departure from the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to see the project through after helping to launch it ten years earlier. But even from the very beginning of his career, McEwan had been committed to doing all he could for declining species in and around the Delta. That ācalling,ā as he put it, began with 25 years at the California Department of Fish and Game (now Fish and Wildlife) supporting Pacific salmon and steelhead troutāincluding protecting valuable freshwater habitat upstream of the Delta and helping to get the coho salmon listed under the California Endangered Species Act. In 2007, McEwan jumped to DWR and was soon leading an effort to restore 8,000 acres of tidal wetlands across 11 individual sitesāof which Flyway Farms was first to be completedādesigned to serve as mitigation for impacts to Delta smelt resulting from operation of the State Water Project. āI got into government service to try to do some good in the world,ā he says. āIād always been interested in biology and I knew [conservation] was the direction I wanted to go for my career.ā Yet he also found that habitat restoration is often hindered by permitting delays at government agencies. āIf you have a restoration project that needs to be permitted under the Endangered Species Act, it should go to the top of the pile.āo DWR and was soon leading an effort to restore 8,000 acres of tidal wetlands across 11 individual sitesāof which Flyway Farms was first to be completedādesigned to serve as mitigation for impacts to Delta smelt resulting from operation of the State Water Project. āI got into government service to try to do some good in the world,ā he says. āIād always been interested in biology and I knew [conservation] was the direction I wanted to go for my career.ā Yet he also found that habitat restoration is often hindered by permitting delays at government agencies. āIf you have a restoration project that needs to be permitted under the Endangered Species Act, it should go to the top of the pile.ā NS
The results are alarming for our stateās future: an estimated four to five feet of sea level rise and loss of one to two-thirds of Southern California beaches by 2100, a 50 percent increase in wildfires over 25,000 acres, stronger and longer heat waves, and infrastructure like airports, wastewater treatment plants, rail and roadways increasingly likely to suffer flooding.