TABLE OF CONTENTS
Stopping Global Warming
and Saving the Eel River
Letter from SCWA to Santa Rosa
Welcome to John Griffith
Introducing FOER’s new board member -- John Griffith
In his words: When Nadanda first asked me to apply to the board of The Friends of The Eel River, my internal response varied from, “It’s a dream come true!” to “I’m way too young; maybe the board should find someone older and wiser.” Then I remembered the first time I fell in love with the Eel River. It wasn’t love at first sight. I grew up traveling through, recreating or working in the Eel River Watershed. Yet, the day I really began a relationship with the river, well, that’s something I will never forget.
It was sixteen years ago, when I was nineteen. I was employed with the California Conservation Corps (CCC) in Ukiah as a corpsmember. My crew had been doing trail work in the Mendocino National Forest near the mainstem. But on July 4th of 1990, I wanted to do some solo exploration wearing something other than my uniform. I threw on my moccasins, cut-off shorts and a poncho, walked from the CCC campus in Talmage to the northbound on-ramp of Highway 101 and stuck out my thumb. I was ready for an adventure.
Three guys around my age picked me up. They told me they were headed for the Willits’ Frontiers Days Rodeo and Parade and asked me if that’s where I wanted to go. “Um… yeah, sure,” I replied, while climbing into a car that looked like it may need to be pushed up the Willits Grade. An event called Frontier Days sounded like a good place to start an adventure. I’d already been standing on the onramp for over an hour breathing car exhaust and enduring unobstructed sunrays. So I thought, Frontier Days here I come.
After watching smiling cowboys and women wearing settler-era dresses parade down the main thoroughfare, we decided it was Miller time. They told me about a gathering on the Eel River and suggested I come with them. “It will be a hella cool party with a bunch of hippy and rancher types,” they claimed. “They’re older ones mostly, you know, like the back-to-the-landers. You look like you’d be into that.” Maybe it was what I was wearing that gave them a clue. Miller time sounded good to me anyway. Actually, I preferred Red Tail Ale. But you get the point – I went to the party.
On the way to a place I had never heard about -- Hearst -- I was told the landowner wasn’t keen on a bunch of teenagers drinking on his property. So on the drive there, we shotgunned enough beers to keep a recycling center in business. We arrived at Windswept Ranch and to the most beautiful swimming hole I’d ever seen. Chuck Ream, the property owner, gave me a history lesson on the river and the oak and foothill pine-covered point bar that made up much of his ranch. He explained that the river that surrounded us on three sides was indeed the Eel River, California’s third largest. He told me that people such as those in the Huchnom and Yuki tribes had lived along it for thousands of years. He claimed the Eel was once teeming with salmon, but sadly, those glory days were long passed. It all sounded intriguing to me. I can’t exactly remember what my response was. I probably nodded at the gray-haired rancher and said something profound like, “Cool.” I do recall spending the rest of the day swimming after turtles, jumping off rocks and sobering up. I’ve been in love with the Eel River ever since.
I moved out of Mendocino County a year later. But I often made pilgrimages back to Hearst to swim in the Eel and discuss my life lessons with Chuck, who had become a mentor to me.
It wasn’t until 2001 that I returned to work and live in the Eel River Watershed. I came back to do salmon habitat restoration for the California Conservation Corps in Fortuna, this time as a supervisor. During the eleven years I was not living in the watershed, I was striving to be adventurous like my grandfather, Edward Seymour, a World War 2 and Korean War veteran. He served his country not only as a sergeant in the Army but as a wilderness survival instructor for the Air Force and Navy as well. He had gathered the experiences of two people in one lifetime.
I’ve tried to follow his example as a person of action. I worked seasonally for the Forest Service as a fisheries biological technician and firefighter in the Klamath National Forest, a restoration intern with The Nature Conservancy at the Stony Creek Preserve, a watershed restoration/trail worker for State Parks at Prairie Creek, a commercial fisher off the coast of Alaska, a bird surveyor for the Wildlife Conservation Society in the Ishi Wilderness, an agricultural field supervisor (seed production) in the Salinas and Central Valleys, and an intern at the Northcoast Environmental Center in Arcata. I also created my own B.S. at Chico State -- a combination of Agriculture and Latin American Studies. I spent an additional year at Humboldt State studying Natural Resource Interpretation and California History.
Presently, I am a crew supervisor for the CCC in Mendocino County. I take groups of young people to build trails through places with incredible views -- like the Yolly Bolly Wilderness. I’ve recently completed a novel for middle and upper-grade readers. It’s about a twelve-year-old tomboy from Willits named Simona Ryan. She’s the only one that can save the Eel River Watershed’s other-dimensional counterpart -- The Shalamoo Watershed -- from evil medicine men who wield magic called Blood Medicine. Fortunately, she has the guidance from her Native American Grandmother, Granny Annie. She also makes some mythical allies in a world that resembles California during the last Ice Age. These beings help her survive some of the life-threatening challenges she faces. The book is titled, Simona and the Power Seed, and is not yet published. Thanks to my editor, Jay Gordon, and my agent, Nancy Ellis, it is currently making its debut to publishers in New York. I am so fortunate to have these two incredible people enhancing and representing my work.
I have been accepted as a board member of FOER and I recognize the responsibility. I welcome the opportunity. I will do what is necessary to bring the salmon back to our watershed. I envision a day when young women and men can aspire to be commercial fishers along California’s coast. I see a future when parents that live in the Bay Area’s suburban landscapes can bring their kids to fish the renewed abundance in the Eel River. Those kids will discover a river that’s not just “Wild and Free,” but a river that embraces the spirit of my grandfather – a river that is Wild and “Damn” Free!
I have long since cut my hair and ditched my poncho, but I am still up for an adventure. I have one in mind for FOER. I propose opening another office in Willits—an office that not only advocates eliminating the water diversion but also promotes the artists, tourists attractions, recreational opportunities, agricultural products and sustainable living technologies of the Eel River Watershed in Mendocino County.
Most of the land in our watershed is held in private ranches. We need to make sure those ranches stay economically viable so the owners do not have to succumb to the pressures from water-hungry real estate developers. This is why it is important for the FOER to play an even greater role in promoting Mendocino County and its commodities. We need an office in its heart to assist growing communities like Ukiah in using their well-stocked intellectual reserve in procuring native water sources because the Cape Horn and Scott dams are coming down. We need to be there to help the area’s city governments, agricultural and development communities in finding alternate water sources and implementing water conservation practices that will minimize or avoid negative impacts to their budgets. With a stronger presence there, we could more easily educate the next generation of consumers about their potential footprint on the environment and the economy through programs such as “Salmon in the Classroom.” The appetite for water is great. The stomach grumbling is down here. So should be our next office.
I still have not matched my late Grandfather’s contributions to our society – nor his wisdom. Even now, I often consult my many mentors: Chuck Ream, Jay Gordon, mom, step-dad and most certainly grandma. I am seeking even more mentors. I have a lot to learn, but I’m a quick study. Grandma once told me that the only thing more powerful than experience is vision. To the board of FOER, I bring both.
By restoring the salmon habitat on the Eel, I see opportunities for our watershed to gain tourist dollars, jobs for residents and recreational opportunities for all Californians. Once this goal is reached, we will also have a sustainable food source that could help Eel River communities weather an unfortunately possible economic collapse. Whatever the future may bring us, know that as a board member, I will do my best to make the Eel River truly Wild and Free. It’s a dream that will come true. Its time has come.