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Papers of John W. Shields

 Collection
Identifier: WJWS

Scope and Contents

The Papers of John W. Shields consists of documents dated from 1983 to 2012. Materials exclusively pertain to Shields' involvement with the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program. Materials include meeting minutes, correspondence, reports, data, annual reports, and legislation. They document collaborations at the federal, state, and local levels, including with Department of Interior officials, congressional representatives, senators, governors, and various state agencies in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. A few documents also concern the related San Juan River Basin Recovery Program.

Dates

  • Creation: 1983-2012

Creator

Restrictions on Access

There are no access restrictions on this collection. However, it is stored off-site, so advance notice is required.

Restrictions on Use

Not all of the material in the collection is in the public domain. Researchers are responsible for addressing copyright issues.

Biography

John W. Shields (b. 1958) worked as an interstate streams engineer for the State of Wyoming for thirty years. For most of that time, he also served as chairman for the Management Committee of the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program.

Shields earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees in agricultural engineering at the University of Wyoming. In January 1984, he began work as an interstate streams engineer in the Wyoming State Engineer's Office. During this time, he specialized in resolving interstate water issues, including those arising from differing state water rights laws or from federal legislation.

Shields became involved with the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program from its establishment in 1988. As chairman of the Management Committee, he helped local, state, and federal agencies, along with non-governmental organizations, work in a collaborative partnership to implement recovery actions for four species of endangered Colorado River fish: bonytail, Colorado pikeminnow (formerly called Colorado squawfish), humpback chub, and razorback sucker. Careful coordination of all parties helped achieve the recovery of the endangered fish while still meeting human needs. Shields received the Secretary of Interior's Cooperative Conservation Award in 2008 for this work. He remained involved until his retirement in March 2014.

Following retirement, Shields went to work for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation at the Boulder Canyon Operations Office. Shields has also been involved with the Upper Colorado River Commission, the Colorado River Water Users Association, and the Glen Canyon Adaptive Management Work Group. He maintains a personal interest in Wyoming water history, in particular Elwood Mead, the state's first state engineer.

Extent

30 linear feet (20 record cartons)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

John W. Shields (b. 1958), an interstate streams engineer for the State of Wyoming, served as the chairman for the Management Committee of the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program. The program, established in 1988, involved multiple entities working to implement recovery actions for four species of endangered Colorado River fish: bonytail, Colorado pikeminnow, humpback chub, and razorback sucker. Materials include meeting minutes, correspondence, reports, data, annual reports, and legislation.

Arrangement

The collection largely retains Shields' arrangement, which was very orderly in chronological binders. Committee binders were rearranged to be in alphabetical order by committee name and chronologically therein.

The collection consists of 2 series in 20 boxes:

Series 1: Management Committee records, 1983-2012

Series 2: Other committee records, 1984-2012

Custodial History

At the time of his retirement, John Shields gave the collection to the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program in Lakewood, Colorado. Staff there agreed with Shields about donating the collection to the Water Resources Archive.

Acquisition

The Papers of John W. Shields was donated by John Shields to the Water Resources Archive in January 2015.

Related Collections

The Papers of Tom Pitts is also related to the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program.

Processing

Processing was completed in April 2017. All materials were rehoused in acid-free boxes. Binders that showed damage or weakness were rehoused in acid-free folders. Confidential materials relating to the search for a program director were removed. The two floppy disks were backed up on the Libraries' server.

Inventory Note

Note: Title information supplied by the archivist is bracketed. Estimated paginationis preceded by an "e."

Title
Guide to the Papers of John W. Shields
Status
Edited Full Draft
Author
Prepared by Steven Emmen and Patricia J. Rettig
Date
Copyright 2017
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the CSU Libraries Archives & Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Fort Collins Colorado 80523-1019 USA
970-491-1844