From citrus groves to floodgates, Jake Severns' journey has come full circle. Raised on a citrus farm in California’s Central Valley, he learned the value of water early in life. Today, he helps manage that vital resource as the operations project manager for Pine Flat Dam with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District.
The Central Valley spans about 20,000 square miles and includes the Sacramento Valley, Delta and Eastside Streams, San Joaquin Basin, and Tulare Basin. For Jake and his family, one of more than 44,500 family farms in the state, according to the USDA’s 2022 Census of Agriculture, life on the farm taught resilience.
“We were downstream of Pine Flat Lake,” Jake shared. “Growing up, we worked on the farm every day, learning the value of hard work. If something broke, you fixed it. That’s just how it was.”
Those early experiences in problem-solving, hard work, and resourcefulness laid the foundation for his career.
“As a kid, you don’t think about where the water comes from,” he shared. “But in a place like the Central Valley, where it’s dry most of the year, you learn to appreciate it.” Pine Flat Reservoir provided irrigation water to his family’s farm and others like it, helping keep crops alive and communities thriving.
Jake describes the Central Valley as distinctly different from California’s big cities and beaches. “People here work hard, many on farms or ranches, and have strong ties to the land,” he said. “If you dropped someone in Firebaugh, they’d think they were in the Great Plains. It’s not what most people picture when they think of California.”
Beyond its importance to farming, Pine Flat Lake also offered Jake and his family a source of recreation and memories. “I caught my first fish at Pine Flat Lake,” Jake recalled. His grandfather built a homemade houseboat, a simple barge with pontoons, where the family spent hot summer days. “You worked hard, and then you went to the water to cool off.”
Today, Pine Flat Lake continues to draw hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. It was formed by the construction of Pine Flat Dam, a 429-foot-tall structure on the Kings River. The lake stretches 20 miles long, with 67 miles of shoreline, and at full capacity, it holds 1 million acre-feet of water.
Despite spending much of his childhood at Pine Flat Lake, Jake never thought about who managed it. That changed when a senior park ranger offered him a job as a student park ranger. Only then did he realize USACE was behind the very reservoir that had sustained his family’s farm.
“At the time, I didn’t know much about the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,” Jake admitted. But that opportunity led to a career with USACE Sacramento District, where he formed his career as a park ranger, maintenance worker/dam operator, maintenance supervisor at Lake Isabella, and maintenance management specialist for the Northern Operations Branch, before returning home as the operations project manager at Pine Flat Lake.
In his current role, Jake oversees the safe and efficient operation of the dam, work that became especially critical in 2023, when record snowmelt put the system to the test.
“We had to manage inflows that were triple the lake’s capacity,” he said. “It was a tough job, but it was all about protecting people downstream.”
For Jake, managing Pine Flat Dam is more than just a job, it’s a calling rooted in community and legacy.
“This isn’t just a career for me,” he said. “It’s a way to give back to the place that raised me.”
Every decision he makes, every challenge he faces, is driven by a deep connection to the land, the people, and the water that shaped his life. From the fields of his family farm to the control room of one of the region’s most critical water infrastructure sites, Jake’s story is a testament to what happens when homegrown commitment meets public service.