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SECTION III. SIERRA COOPERATIVE PILOT PROJECT Project Summary Preliminary planning f r the SCPP began in 1972. At that time, project managers identified th ee major goals of the research project: (1) a refined technology of winter orographic cloud seeding for increased precipitation, (2) a better understan ing of the basic physical links in the precipitation process, and (3) an in rease in water supply for the American River Basin and the Tahoe-Truckee River Basin, if this water management alternative is adopted by the people f the region. SCPP scientists carefully consider knowledge needed at each level of the experiment before movi g ahead. This approach has mobilized the scientific expertise and develope and improved much of the technology needed for a winter cloud seeding e periment in the Sierra Nevada. Many of the important questions about meteor logical conditions in the SCPP study area have been addressed. Consultati n and coordination with a wide range of Federal, state, and local agencies, universities, and private sector organizations and individuals have contributed to environmental, social, and economic assess- ments of cloud seeding in the region. Two winters of design ata collection in 1976-77 and 1977-78 provided SCPP managers with a prelim"nary understanding of weather processes affecting the project area and a ref"nement of concepts and techniques addressed by consult- ants and Project Skywa er personnel during the planning phase. Calibration trial stud"es were initiated during the 1978-79 winter season (fiscal year 1979 acti lty) as a prolog to an exploratory experiment. Calibration seeding tr"als help scientists refine conceptual models and the project design, instal necessary instrumentation, develop operational procedures for seeding clouds, and gain practical hands-on experience in the field. Small-scale calibratio conducted in a region 80 between Truckee and the northern boundary American Weather Consu the area in their desi seeding experiments during the 1978-79 season were ying approximately 15 km to either side of Interstate Blue Canyon, California. This area is located along f the SCPP primary study area (see fig. 4). North tants, the SCPP design contractor, recommended n study. Long-term contracts aw rded just before and during the fiscal yea~ 1979 period brought much of the instrumentation and expertise necessary for the SCpp into place. Thes contracts are: . A 6-year contract with AI, Fresno, California, for the installation, operation, and main enance of ground-based data collection networks, including reduction and analysis of the information. . A 6-year contract with ETI, Fort Collins, Colorado, for cont nuous weather forecasting and radar and rawinsonde operation and ana ysis to support the SCPP. 25