There is a saying that goes; “you can never go home again,” but Jeff Sutton is proving you can.
The phrase refers to our tendency to have unrealistic or only nostalgic memories of where we spent our formative years, but for Sutton, he is returning to the irrigation district his great-great-grandfather helped create and the place his family has called home for more than 150 years. What he plans to do next, is not relive the past, but help usher in a new era for the Sacramento Valley.
In the 19th-Century, the Suttons ventured west seeking new opportunities and a new way of life. They’d end up on a plot of land just north of what is now the town of Maxwell. Soon after planting their first crops, George Mock Sutton set forth a family tradition of servitude to the region.
George was appointed by Will S. Green, known as the father of the flood control system, to create a new irrigation district to serve the influx of new landowners in the western part of the Sacramento Valley. The Central Irrigation District, now known as the Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District, was born, and with it, new possibilities to grow a wide range of crops.
“I like to joke, that my great-great-grandfather worked on my future employment 150 years before I got the job,” says Jeff Sutton, General Manager of GCID. “But in truth, he really set the standard and expectation that we should get involved in the key issues and challenges facing our community.”
Following George, was Louis Sutton, Jeff’s great-grandfather, who became the second Sutton to be elected to the Colusa County Board of Supervisors. But Louis’ public service would not stop there, he wound up representing the valley for two decades in the state legislature, even serving as Chairmen of the Senate Water and Agriculture Committee.
“He not only was a successful attorney, but he expanded our family’s holdings and yearly crop output, working closely with Union Pacific Railroad to deliver wheat across the country.”
In 1956, Louis took the family’s first step into wildlife conservation as the Senator worked diligently to institute a ban on gill nets for salmon fishing, understanding the importance of keeping sustainable fish populations and reducing harm to the environment.
Jeff’s father, John, followed suit and spent 22 years on the GCID Board, helping lay the foundation for many multi-beneficial projects in the district.
“GCID and its board has always been at the forefront, and to see my father play such an important role had a profound impact on me, and still does to this day.”
Jeff’s first taste of conservation came in the late 1990s when he helped lobby for funding to build fish screens as a participant of the GCID Water Leaders Program. The screens are vital in preventing migratory fish from entering into irrigation canals during their journey up the Sacramento River.
It seemed Jeff was destined to follow his family into water management. After spending time as a water law attorney, Jeff landed at the Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority (TCCA). Having spent more than 15 years at TCCA, he was responsible for the management, operation and maintenance of the Sacramento Canals Unit and 150,000 acres of farmland located on the west side of the Sacramento Valley.
But Jeff says one of his biggest achievements while there was the competition of the Red Bluff Fish Passage. A $185-million project to replace the old Red Bluff Diversion Dam, with a new pumping plant and quarter-mile long fish screen.
“Creating opportunities and projects that maintain reliable water delivery while protecting wildlife is the way of the future. We can have economic responsibility and wildlife sustainability.”
Jeff will take this mantra to his new, yet old, home at the Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District in his role as the district’s newest general manager. GCID serves 1,200 water users across 140,000 acres of farmlands and 20,000 acres of federal wildlife refuges.
As head of the GCID, Jeff wants to ensure farmers can continue to grow crops that feed the world while also playing a larger role in supporting threatened species.
“Most farmers are wonderful stewards of the land and have been for hundreds of years, they are now taking that knowledge and providing habitat for native and migratory wildlife. Our role at GCID is to now use the water rights and infrastructure to protect farms and fish.”
Sutton, who sits on the Sites Reservoir board, just like his great-grandfather did in the 1950s, believes the extra water in below normal years will be a boon to people and wildlife in the valley.
“We have a lot of opportunities to ensure the entire valley ecosystem thrives, and there is no doubt we can accomplish our goals, we just need to continue to build coalitions and partnerships so that we can create an optimal solution for people, fish, birds and wildlife alike.”
Whether it be seeing the completion of Sites Reservoir, flooding fields for migratory birds or improving conditions for fish, the fifth-generation Sutton to live, work and serve in the district is ready to tackle new and old challenges that face the District. While Jeff knows coming home isn’t easy, he says this has been a century-and-a-half in the making, and there is no doubt he will give it all he can to help create a Sacramento Valley that is thriving both economically and environmentally for generations to come.
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