JRP was contracted by Kleinfelder, an architectural, engineering, and scientific firm based in San Diego, to collect historical engineering data concerning floods in California's Central Valley and levee design and performance from the mid-to-late 19th century through the 20th century. This work was in support of the State of California's Levee Evaluation / Levee Repair Program initiated in late 2006. From 2008 through 2013, JRP conducted extensive archival research principally at the National Archives in San Francisco for a myriad of levee improvement projects in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys - not only for Kleinfelder, but also for URS (an engineering, design, and construction firm headquartered in San Francisco that has since been acquired by AECOM), MBK Engineers, and the Sutter-Butte Flood Control Agency, among others. This archival research yielded important information about possible deficiencies and problem areas in the more than 1,500 miles of levee that protect Central Valley farmland and communities.