by Jacoba Charles
leaders from DWR. Photo: Florence Low, DWR]
In a time when both science and women’s rights are being actively challenged, the Sierra Nevada Phillips award shines a light on accomplished women in water resource sciences. Launched with a ceremony last March—Women’s History Month—the new award, is named for a historic female entrepreneur from the early 1900s, who spent her life living in the mountain range she was named for, and which plays such a vital role in shaping California’s water supply.
“We are growing a tradition here at the Department of Water Resources for an award that’s devoted to science leadership that has been provided by women specifically,” the agency’s lead scientist Louise Conrad said at the second annual presentation of the award.
While the science, of course, is essential, the award is also meant to honor the recipients’ roles as mentors for the next generation of scientists, added Cindy Messer, DWR Deputy Director. “We recognize the collaboration and community engagement [efforts] that catalyze advancements in water resource management for our state. There are so many women to recognize in these areas, and this award is a chance to hold them up as leaders for navigating our water future.”
While women make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce, they are still only 27% of STEM workers, according to the most recent census data. Women composed 8% of the field’s workforce in 1970—the same time period when the first two recipients of the Sierra Nevada Phillips award, Dale Hoffman-Floerke and Jan Thompson, began their careers.
Dale Hoffman-Floerke retired from the position of Chief Deputy Director after a 36-year career in the Department of Water Resources. She started with the agency as an environmental scientist in the 1970s, after graduating from Humboldt University with a degree in fisheries science. As a child—and even as a college student—she did not have any female role models in the sciences. Her interest in biology, and in the outdoors in general, helped her persevere and forge her own path.
“Thankfully, things have changed but we can still do better,” Hoffman-Floerke said while accepting her award. “It is so important to expose, nurture, and support young girls in the amazing world of science at a young age,” she said, adding that throughout her career she was fortunate to have been able to hire—and mentor—female scientists, including ones who went on to be in leadership positions today.
A few highlights of Hoffman-Floerke’s career include heading up the DWR’s Colorado and Salton Sea office; helping in the creation of the FloodSAFE Environmental Stewardship and Statewide Resources Office; serving as Deputy Director for Integrated Water Management; and overseeing the development of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan. [Chris – not sure if you want to hyperlink any of this old stuff?]
Hoffman-Floerke stressed that throughout her career, one of her main priorities was communication.
“Relying solely on good science is not enough,” she said. “Key to being successful is how we communicate the good science…throughout all project phases and [that] includes working with planners, managers, executives, attorneys, and those in the field—the ones that implement projects for us whether it was for planning, maintenance, operations or new construction.”
Jan Thompson, the 2024 recipient of the award, is a retired aquatic ecologist who spent her 40-year career with the U.S. Geologic Survey. Her work focused on the study of food webs, largely in the San Francisco Estuary, where one of her many contributions included identifying the impact of invasive clams on the ecosystem.
When USGS first hired Thompson, who retired in October 2019, most women in the Menlo Park office were secretaries. During her career, according to a profile in Estuary News, Thompson trained dozens of female and minority scientists, and also received the Survey’s first ever diversity award.
“I learned a lot from hiring a bunch of kids who weren’t like me,” said Thompson, who describes herself as “middleclass white bread.” As a toddler growing up in Oregon, Thompson couldn’t stay away from a small pond in her backyard. “I liked the fish eggs more than the fish, because I could grab hold of them,” she recalled. “Water is the best place in the world,” she added.
During the award ceremony, Jan was honored for both her scientific contributions and the impact of her leadership, mentorship, and friendship on generations of scientists.
“Since I met Jan 25 years ago, I have watched her help female scientists adapt, thrive, survive the gauntlet that is water research science,” said USGS Research Scientist Robin Stewart. “Besides being an exceptionally bright and intelligent scientist, Jan was there for women on the very practical side of research, the human side. This side is messy and difficult and often disproportionately affects women, such as how to support an aging, dying parent and then recover from their loss while maintaining a field research program, or making the decision to have a child that you know would disrupt your career.”
Sierra Nevada Phillips
The namesake of the new DWR award was, fittingly, an exceptional woman herself. Born in her the mountains she was named for in 1854, Sierra Nevada Phillips was the child of 38-year-old Mehitable Ball and 27-year-old Joseph Phillips. She grew up 6,800 feet above sea level at Phillips Station, which in the 1800s was a busy hotel and stagecoach stop offering food and lodging to travelers heading to and from Lake Tahoe across Johnson pass. Today, that property is still in her family, which has been allowing the DWR to collect annual snow survey data there since 1941.
As an adult, Sierra Nevada Phillips ran a post office at Phillips Station, and also a second resort called Rubicon Springs. After selling the second resort in 1895—for $3,800 in gold coins, according to a history of the springs—she went on to manage the Tahoe Inn on Lake Tahoe.
Phillips married twice and had two daughters, Mehitable and Alice, 20 years apart. When she passed away, she left Phillips Station to them, and the property has been passed down matrilineally ever since. Her great great granddaughter, Abbey Pearson-Phillips, spoke at the 2023 awards ceremony, describing Sierra Nevada’s grit and grace.
“She had gumption even as a child. She was a woman beyond her time—a true student of life. [She was a] mother, daughter, wife, creator, leader, visionary, excellent cook, hostess of the Sierras, entrepreneur, businesswoman, pioneer, and postmistress,” Pearson-Phillips said, adding that the creation of an award in her ancestor’s name was emotional.
“A name is not only a word to recognize somebody by, but also holds a spirit of its own,” Phillips-Pearson said. “Today her name has risen to another level. The recipient and future recipients [are given] the responsibility to not only continue their own work of excellence but to do so with the same pioneering spirit of my great great grandmother.”
