Stock, Nickels promoted in California-Great Basin Region

The Bureau of Reclamation recently announced two new appointments to serve the California-Great Basin Region. Karl Stock has been named Regional Director and succeeds Ernest Conant, who was also promoted to Senior Advisor to the Deputy Commissioner for Operations.

Stock will lead the management, development and protection of water and related resources in the region, including one of the nation’s largest and most complex water projects, the Central Valley Project. He will also oversee Oregon’s Klamath Project; Nevada’s Truckee Storage projects; and California’s Orland, Solano, Cachuma and Ventura River projects.

Stock joined Reclamation in 2001 and has served in a variety of leadership positions, most recently as manager of the Reclamation Law Administration Division.  Stock has a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Brigham Young University and a Master of Science in Public Administration from the University of Colorado Denver.

The second recent move by the Bureau is the selection of Adam Nickels to assume the role of Principal Deputy Regional Director where he will serve as a Senior Advisor to the Regional Director and Deputy Regional Directors advising on water storage projects, resources issues, compliance, operations and maintenance on aging infrastructure, project management, and planning.

Nickels previously served as the Regional Resources and Planning Division Manager where he managed water rights, water-related contracts, lands resources, facility inspections, planning, water conservation, WaterSMART, Native American affairs, and water transfers.

Nickels began with Reclamation in 2003 as an Archaeologist at the Montana Area Office in Billings, Montana. Moving to California in 2006 to continue his career in cultural resources for the Region, he has also served as a project manager, and the Deputy Program Manager for Water Management in the San Joaquin River Restoration Program.

Nickels holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Anthropology and a Master of Science degree in Resources Management from Central Washington University.