By Vesta Copestakes
The Sonoma County Water Agency has been mandated by the federal government to study how to save the dwindling populations of endangered fish in the Russian River. That sounds good. Four years ago they hired an environmental consulting firm to study how best to accomplish this. Over the four-year period of time, Entrix billed the water agency 4 million dollars. For that amount of money and time, you’d expect a very thorough report covering all bases and considering all options.
In our personal lives, we mostly assume that our expectations will not be met, but we hold them up as goals anyway. In business, we try to keep our expectations realistic so we can make rational decisions based on real facts. With environmental issues, our expectations have to be realistic because our very survival depends upon it.
So we give Entrex $4 million and four years and we expect them to give us a solution that works for the fish, our environment, our river and us. We are part of the equation after all. The whole Big Picture concept.
But they come back with what they consider a solution based on incomplete data, projections based on other river eco-systems and a total lack of consideration for the human factor.
They tell us all we need to do is go back to how the river flowed 100 years ago and the fish will once more be swimming in the river by the thousands just like they were in the late eighteen hundreds. Hmmm, that was before logging, before river gravel mining, before agriculture, before massive quantities of people, before dams. So do we turn on our magic time machine and grow back the trees, put the gravel back in the river, remove the farms and tell all the people to burn down their houses and move somewhere else, and oh yes, remove the dams?
No – just reduce the flow of the river in the summer months just like it naturally reduced without rainfall back then and all will return to normal. The water coming out of our tributaries will flow cold and clean, the river will have deep pools of cold water for salmanids to grow up safe and strong and the mouth of the river where it dumps into the ocean will close up so the salt water can’t flush in and other nasty fish can’t swim in along with it to eat our baby fish. Sweet.
BUT – what about the fact that the tributaries don’t flow cold and clean because agriculture is pumping massive quantities of groundwater out of the system and therefore draining the very water system that feeds the tributaries.
AND agriculture and residential development has cut down the trees covering the edges of the river that create the shade that keep the water and deep pools cool?
AND that water coming off the Laguna, and flowing into the river through septic systems along its banks, carry pollutants that would build up without a good flushing of water flow during the summer months?
AND that our former deep pools are no longer so deep because of silt build-up from logging watershed areas and from river gravel mining that has removed much of the natural filtering system that keeps silt trapped among the pebbles where they used to provide tidy little nurseries for baby fish.
AND – let’s not forget the people here – without a summer river, the entire economy of the Russian River communities suffers for lack of summer tourists who no longer have a reason to come here. AND that not only impacts the river communities, it impacts all of Sonoma County because the Russian River is a tourist draw from all over the planet.
SO even if the Entrix solution really helped the fish, it would kill the economy! But that wasn’t even part of their study. OK, to be fair, they talked to a few canoe businesses and determined that 18 people would lose their jobs. Is that thorough or what?!
AND are we outraged that these people – the Sonoma County Water Agency and Entrix are playing so fast and lose with our lives and the lives of our fish! Yes!!!!
AND do we wonder why they are doing this? Yes! They say it’s all about the fish, but we wonder how much it’s about the water and how valuable $$$ water is these days.
But let’s not get carried away with our outrage. Let’s get grounded and realistic. If the feds want to save the fish – let’s help them. It’s to everyone’s benefit.
Let’s fight science with science. If you’ve gone to public hearings where people get up and bluster their hotheaded opinions at the panel of decision makers, you’ve seen them shake their heads and close their minds in reaction. SO instead of getting all emotional, how about we bring in real facts and real solutions that save the fish AND our river.
Last month the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors approved the funding of a private study to gather these facts. It’s FAR less than $4 million and has far less time than 4 years to complete the study. But it helps. Don McEnhill, our Riverkeeper of Friends of the Russian River proposed research that Liza Prunuske of Prunuske/Chatham in Occidental will implement. It's being funded by the Russian River (Redevelopment) Oversight Committee.
The final decision to drastically cut the flow of the Russian River in the summer months won’t come for several years yet, but that doesn’t mean we have plenty of time. Both our fish and our survival is at stake. We need to work with all our local environmental organizations to help gather information and support the cause.
These are ways in which you can get involved and contribute, both money and time, to support our fish. It’s your active involvement that will make a difference in the survival of our fish, our environment and our community. Write letters to our supervisors – all five of them and show up at hearings where the Powers That Be are seeking public input.
Here is a list of local organizations that are working to maintain the health of our river and our communities:
Don McEnhill
Russian Riverkeeper
Advocate for the River, On the River
PO Box 1335
Healdsburg, CA 95448
PH: 707-433-1958 FAX: 707-433-1989
Cell: 707-217-4762
www.russianriverkeeper.org
A project of Friends of the Russian River
Linda Curry , Coordinator
Russian River Watershed Council
http://www.rrwc.net
707-526-7865.
Zeno Swijtink
Atascadero Creek and Green Valley Creek Watershed Council
640 Wagnon
Sebastopol, CA 95472
823-1726
swijtink@sonoma.edu
Steve Fogle
Executive Director
Russian River
Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Centers
16209 First Street
P.O. Box 331
Guerneville, CA 95446
EM: steve@russianriver.com
(707) 869-4097
Russian River No Low Flow Committee
PO Box 331
Guerneville, CA 95446
PH: (707) 869-9000
FAX: (707) 869-9009
EM: admin@nolowflow.org.
www.nolowflow.org
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