Luna B. Leopold became chief of the Water
Resources Division in May 1957 and stepped down in
January 1966 to resume his research'in geomorphology.
Ernest L. Hendricks succeeded'Leopold as chief
of the Division in May 1966. The dates May 1, 1957,
and June 30,1966, bracket a period of profound change
in the organization and programs and in the philosophy
of operations of the Water Resource Division and
indeed in the entire field of investigational hydrology
both within and outside the Geological Survey.
Leopold brought into his new position a conviction
that water on and beneath the Earth's surface and
the quality of both were interdependent parts of one
water-resources system and that the organization and
operation of WRD must change to reflect that oneness.
He was also convinced that the research program of the
Division was inadequate in scope, staff, and funding to
meet the operational needs of the Division and the
needs of the community of water-resources planners,
developers, and administrators in the near and distant
future. Leopold's vision of a Water Resources Division
properly staffed to meet current and future technical
challenges included the imposition of rigorous selection
standards on new professional recruits and the
development of specialized training in-house and at
university undergraduate and graduate levels. The
period of Leopold's administrative and technical leadership
of the WRD was indeed the "Years of Change."
