This is where Patrick McElhiney did a lot of his Earth Team volunteer work with his father, Michael A. McElhiney, who was the District Conservationist for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Patrick's dad won a lot of praise from politicians and career employees for his work to preserve these lands and flood plains, that have probably saved billions of dollars of money in flood damages that would have occurred in California's Central Valley without it.