|
James F. Davis,
California State Geologist from
1978-2003
|
James F. Davis,
California State Geologist and Chief
of the Division of Mines and
Geology/California Geological Survey
retired on June 30, 2003. In the
quarter century as the State
Geologist providing stewardship over
the Department of Conservation,
California Geological Survey, “Jim”
Davis has built a legacy of
dedication, service, and integrity
that serves as a model for all those
interpreting the earth sciences for
the public benefit. Under his
leadership the California Division
of Mines and Geology has become the
dynamic and newly named [in 2002]
California Geological Survey (CGS)
whose stated mission of developing
and disseminating technical
information and advice on
California’s geology, geologic
hazards, and mineral resources is
accomplished in partnership with the
people of California. Jim Davis has
ensured that CGS is pursuing it’s
mission with a superior professional
staff whose creativity, innovation,
and cooperation provides the highest
quality technical expertise to the
public for the betterment of the
State’s economy, environment, and
above all it’s public safety.
Previous to
serving as the State Geologist for
California, Davis was the State
Geologist of New York 1968 to 1978,
where he: Developed seismic hazards
program; Evaluation of regional
seismic hazards for nuclear power
plant design; Advisor on nuclear
waste disposal site locations and
operation; Co-founder with Lamont
Doherty Geological Observatory (L.Sykes)
of the New York Seismic monitoring
network and the Northeastern U.S.
seismic monitoring network.
|
James
F. Davis, California State
Geologist, 2003 |
|
James
F.
Davis, circa 1977 |
Jim Davis began
serving California as State Geologist in
1978. He undertook the implementation of
the California’s new Surface Mining and
Reclamation Act (SMARA). With staff he
designed the means of classifying
mineral resources in areas of competing
land uses. SMARA requires local
governments to consider CGS
classification reports in their land-use
permitting decisions and incorporating
the information in their general plans.
Davis also oversaw the establishment of
mined-land reclamation standards and the
state review of individual reclamation
plans.
In his capacity as State Geologist,
Davis has overseen the seismic hazard
activities of the Division of Mines and
Geology (DMG), including the
Alquist-Priolo Fault Zone Act, the
Seismic Hazard Mapping Act, and the DMG
reviews of seismic design parameters for
public schools, hospitals and other
critical facilities. He serves on a
number of national science policy
committees and is author of and
co-author of numerous papers and
abstracts on seismic policy issues. As
such, he was the creator and designer of
earthquake scenario emergency planning
concept; principal author of two
deterministic earthquake planning
scenarios, co-author of two others.
Davis was also in charge of design and
oversight of DMG geologic mapping and
geohazards programs and was a
participant in a number of seismic
hazard evaluation studies.
|
|
Together with the California Earthquake
Prediction Evaluation Council (CEPEC),
Davis has recommended policies to the
Governor's Office of Emergency Services
(OES) relating to 30-year earthquake
probability estimates along the San
Andreas and other active faults,
approaches to dealing with damaging
earthquake probability estimates during
significant aftershock sequences, and
the prospects of volcanic eruption
associated with seismic activity and
crustal deformation in the Long Valley
Caldera. Davis and CEPEC participated
with USGS in the establishment of the
Parkfield earthquake prediction
experiment. As chair of the of the
Earthquake Hazards Committee of the
Governor's Task Force on Earthquake
Preparedness in the mid-1980s, Davis
introduced the concept of earthquake
scenarios portraying damage to lifelines
and critical facilities associated with
plausible future earthquakes in
California’s urban areas.
Asked about the highlights of his tenure
as State Geologist, Davis said, “I think
we have an excellent staff, dedicated
and capable of significant contributions
toward understanding the geology of the
state and using that understanding for
public benefit."
|
Embosser for the Seal of the
California State Geologist. |
Additionally, I feel that California
has been in the lead in many
important areas. The Alquist-Priolo
Active Earthquake Fault Program, the
Seismic Hazards Mapping Program and
the Strong Motion Instrumentation
Program are pioneer programs. The
latter two were established with
special funds, developed from
building permit fees, which was an
innovative idea.”
Davis believes the key to his
success has been an open-minded
approach to change and a willingness
to keep learning.
"Among the many things I’ve learned
over the course of my career," he
said, "is that it’s important to
have an ethical and intellectual
interest and compulsion to see that
science is wisely applied in public
policy."
Jim Davis 2003 |
|
Davis leaves behind an impressive
legacy of contributions to the field
of geology and even in retirement he
will stay involved in a number of
organizations, such as the American
Geophysical Union, the Geological
Society of America, the American
Geological Institute, and the
Consortium of Organizations for
Strong-Motion Observation Systems.
“I hope to remain professionally
active, serving on several
committees and perhaps do some
writing,” Davis said. “But we’ll
also travel to a number of different
places."
Davis and his wife Sally have been
remodeling their home and plan to
continue to reside in Sacramento.
Davis also will spend more time
with his two children and four
grandchildren. “My 10-year-old
grandson, Robert, is interested in
fossils, so we may have another
geologist on our hands,” he said.
Jim is
already in retirement mode. |
|
91st
Annual Meeting of the Association of
American State Geologists,
Fairbanks, Alaska, June 1999. |
Jim Davis is:
Member, National Earthquake Prediction
Evaluation Council (NEPEC); Chair,
California Earthquake Prediction
Evaluation Council (CEPEC); Member,
Seismic Safety Commission (SSC) Research
Committee; Chair, U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS) Working Group to evaluate the
Iben Browning New Madrid prediction
(December 2-6, 1990); Chair, 1993 to
present of the Geological Hazards Policy
Committee of the Association of American
State Geologists (AASG). |
|
Badge, California State Geologist |
Seal
of the California State Geologist.
|
Special
Edition Badge
California State Geologist
"Retired" |
Good Luck Jim and Sally. Have a Great
Retirement!
|