Dec. 27, 2009
It’s hard to think of a better way to cap 30 years of tracking water than a “snowflake award” and a song about, well, water, of course.
And that’s exactly how Steve Lafond, a hydrographic supervisor for the city of Bakersfield, went out at the most recent California Cooperative Snow Survey’s annual meeting in November. He retires this week.
What? You’ve never heard of the Cooperative Snow Survey!? Nor the prestigious snowflake award!?
Neither had I, but I got an earful when I met Lafond and he played me a few of his water songs written, produced and performed for the exclusive Cooperative Snow Survey audience over the past 19 years.
The Cooperative has been in existence since 1929. It’s a group of about 50 agencies that track snow data and river runoff all over the state. That information is then used to make forecasts on water availability.
The Sierra Nevada provides about 35 percent of California’s usable water so it’s important to know what’s going on up there.
Since Lafond has long been the chief keeper of records for the Kern River, his role at the annual conference was to give a verbal report on how the Kern did over the past year.
That was a bit, um, dry (hee hee) for his taste. So in 1990 instead of reciting his report about cubic feet per second and peak Isabella Lake levels, he sang a little song.
In Bakersfield, it only rains at night
Those cotton fields, without a weed, are quite a sight
You’ll hear stories of mountains all around
You might see them as you’re driving through town
Four years of drought, and we’ve found out, about desert skies
A fluffy cloud can bring tears to our eyes
“They went nuts,” Lafond said in his mellow sandpapery voice about the audience’s reaction.
He was lucky, he said. He had a job he loved and bosses who let him have a little fun. At first, he was just trying to keep eyes open during the conference.
But his quirky performances quickly became a hit and a highly anticipated tradition.
How could they not with such memorable lyrics as:
Put a snowball/In my pocket/For when a dry year/ Comes knockin’ (2007)
And...
Give me your sweet Kern River water/Or I’ll cut you in two/Just give me your sweet Kern River water/Your first born will do. (2003)
Through the years his songs touched on all the hot issues — endangered species, global warming, development, water banking, Isabella Dam integrity, keeping Kern River water in the county (Kern River/So clear and cold/Down from the mountain/Then you’re sold), and lots of songs about drought (Got an emblem/On my shirt/That says/“Drought don’t hurt”).
The music is all original, too, so don’t try humming these in your head to, say, the “Greenacres” theme song. It won’t work.
“I make a little fun from time to time,” Lafond told me of his satire. “It’s OK to make fun as long as you’re not mean.”
The South High graduate started in water in 1975 as a canal tender for Kern County Canal Company, which used to be part of Tenneco. Former City Water Resources Manager Gene Bogart brought him on at the city in the hydrograph section after the city bought the Kern River rights from Tenneco in 1977.
Lafond issued his first water master report in April that year and just finished his final one this November, making a total of 392 such reports, which is just the tip of the iceberg of his water record keeping tasks.
The 56-year-old Lafond is definitely a records guy. He remembers the names (correct spellings, too) of all his bosses over the years and the dates of special events, like the first time water went over the Isabella Dam spillway (1969), the best water year ever (1983), when computers were introduced to his department (November 1985) and on and on.
All these many years it’s been Lafond’s record keeping that’s determined outflows from Isabella Lake that feed farms in the valley.
His records keep the history of rights to nearly every drop of water flowing through the canyon, which are of keen interest right now as the city strives to convince the state that forfeited water rights by Kern Delta Water District mean there’s water available on the river.
The legal interest in his work has actually been a drain on Lafond.
“I’ve had a lawyer looking over my shoulder practically since I started,” he said.
He won’t miss the lawyers.
And now that he has his snowflake award (given to Cooperative Snow Survey members who’ve shown years of dedicated service), which he admits he coveted for many years, he’s satisfied it was a career well spent.
One thing’s for sure, Lafond will be a hard act to follow.
Opinions expressed in this column are those of Lois Henry, not The Bakersfield Californian. Her column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. Comment at people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/noholdsbarred, call her at 395-7373 or e-mail lhenry@bakersfield.com
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