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<br />PREFACE <br /> <br />Born of a desire to maintain sufficient low-cost hydro -electric power <br />and agricultural output in the State of California, this conference, the first <br />regionally-focused weather modification conference of the American Meteoro- <br />logical Society, has assembled the best available scientific, social and <br />economic knowledge on the feasibility of increasing the winter precipitation <br />in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Responsible for some 90 percent of California's <br />water and half of her electric power, winter snow and rainfall are considered <br />to be the forms of precipitation most amenable to increase by man's efforts. <br />The stakes are great: overcoming the loss to hydro -electric power between <br />a wet and a dry year in the Sierra Nevada's can require up to 30 million <br />barrels of imported oil, or approximately one barrel of oil for each acre- <br />foot of lost precipitation, to say nothing of the effect on California's agri- <br />cultural industry. By contrast to the price of oil, it has been estimated that <br />the cost of gathering additional watE!r through the seeding of orographic storms <br />is approximately $2 per acre-foot. Unlike additional power plants, orographic <br />seeding can be implemented at smaH capital investment. It may be less costly <br />to both environment and pocketbook than any other method of increasing power <br />and water supplies. <br /> <br />This conference. will provide a review of the development of winter oro- <br />graphic cloud seeding. Case studies will be reported which indicate the <br />expected effects of cloud seeding on the precipitation. Other reports include <br />the development of improved seedinf~ methods, of ecologically safe, biodegradable <br />organic seeding materials, of better undE!rstood social, economic, and political <br />impacts, and of the legal framework to accommodate the proper use of weather <br />modification. It is hoped that this conference will improve the scientific, <br />public and political understanding of wintler orographic cloud seeding as an <br />alternative for the production of power and water in California and other <br />western states. <br /> <br />Edwin X Berry <br />Program Chairman <br /> <br />1975 AMS Committee <br />on Weather Modification <br /> <br />Program Committee <br /> <br />H. Orville, Chairman <br />E. Berry <br />E. Bowen <br />C. Chappe 1 <br />L. Grant <br />T. Henderson <br />W. Howell <br />R. List <br />R. Sax <br /> <br />E. Berry, Chairman <br />R. Elliott <br />D. Finlayson <br />O. Foehner <br /> <br />i <br /> <br />.......... <br />~ <br />