Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District (GCID) named Jeff Sutton as its new General Manager, effective May 1. Sutton, an attorney, brings over 25 years of experience in California water to the job. He offers a local perspective as a fifth-generation Colusa County native raised on a family farm established in 1870.
Sutton will take over management of the largest agricultural irrigation district in the Sacramento Valley, overseeing the operations and maintenance of a water conveyance system that serves 140,000 acres of irrigated farmland and over 20,000 acres of federal wildlife refuge lands. GCID’s network also utilizes more than 2,000 miles of canals, laterals and drains. He will direct the District in its mission to deliver a reliable, affordable supply of irrigation water to more than 1,200 water users.
“The GCID Board welcomes Jeff Sutton as its new General Manager. I have known and worked with Jeff in various capacities over the past two decades and can personally attest to his passion and commitment to the protection of North State water rights and the preservation of agriculture,” said John Amaro, GCID Board President. “I look forward to Jeff leading GCID in its efforts to manage, maintain and modernize the District to reliably, effectively and affordably serve its landowners, now and into the future.”
Sutton comes to GCID from the Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority (TCCA) where he served as General Manager for over 17 years. At TCCA, Sutton was responsible for the management, operation and maintenance of the Sacramento Canals Unit of the Central Valley Project (CVP), a 130-mile-long dual canal water irrigation system spanning four counties, serving 17 CVP water districts and 150,000 acres of farmland located on the west side of the Sacramento Valley.
During his tenure, Sutton was instrumental in leading the effort to permit, design, and construct the Red Bluff Fish Passage Improvement Project. This $185 million project resulted in the construction of a new pumping plant and a quarter-mile-long fish screen that retired the operation of the Red Bluff Diversion Dam, providing reliable water diversions to the TCCA service area while simultaneously removing a significant fish passage impediment that greatly benefitted several threatened and endangered fish species in the Upper Sacramento River. Sutton has also been intimately involved in the development of the Sites Reservoir Project, serving as a Director on the Sites Reservoir JPA Board for the last decade, and as Vice-Chairman for the past five years.
Prior to TCCA, Sutton worked to protect water and property rights as the Executive Director of the Family Water Alliance; he also worked as an attorney in private practice with a focus on water law and business and real estate litigation. Sutton has a Juris Doctorate from the University of San Diego School of Law and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley.
Sutton grew up on the family ranch in Maxwell, California. His family history is deeply intertwined with the District. In 1887, his great-great-grandfather, George Mock Sutton, was instrumental in establishing the organization (the Central Irrigation District) that became GCID. Senator Louis G. Sutton, his great-grandfather, was elected to represent the region in the state legislature for over two decades, including serving as Chairman of the Senate Water and Agriculture Committee. His father, John Sutton, served on the GCID Board of Directors for 22 years. Sutton’s interest in California water was initiated with his participation in the first class of the GCID Water Leadership Group in 1995.
“I am excited to join the GCID team and greatly look forward to working with its talented and committed staff and Directors. The District has played an important role in my family history, and I am honored to have the opportunity to contribute to its future as a regional leader in water resource stewardship and natural resource sustainability,” said Sutton. “The water delivered to our farms and ranches is the economic foundation of this region. I am personally invested in our local community and am committed to seeing it prosper and flourish. I was born here, grew up here, and this is my home. I share a similar history, background, perspective and values as the landowners served by the District. My focus and efforts will be dedicated to the protection and preservation of the District legacy, its senior water rights, and the establishment of a more stable and certain regulatory environment, for the benefit of the growers today and future generations to come.”
To learn more about GCID, visit www.gcid.net.
