| December 2009
Dear Friends,
This letter is to all the members and residents of the Eel River watershed.
After 15 years in Garberville, Friends of the Eel River has decided to
move our office to Marin County and to rearrange our staffing. FOER continues
to vigorously press ahead to restore the Eel River's fish and water to
health. While we will miss being in the heart of this beautiful watershed,
strengthening our efforts requires us to move the base of operations south
for now.
As Science Director, Dave Hope will concentrate on the science that is
most important to the current legal effort; David Keller remains doing
an exceptionally fine job as Bay Area Director; and Nadananda is back
as Executive Director, temporarily managing the organization. She will
be contributing to the FOER team during the next phase of the effort to
restore the Eel River. (She hopes to return to part-time work within six
months.)
FOER anticipates closing the Garberville office December 1st, and opening
the new one in Marin in January 2010. During November, we will be selling
our merchandise at a discounted price. Please stop by and see us or give
Judy Gueulette a call at (707) 923-2146 to order goods. Nadananda will
be back in Garberville quite often during the month of November and would
love to talk with you personally, answer questions, and say "thank
you" for your support.
FOER remains on a strong path to success, now with additional projects
on a larger regional scale. This is ultimately needed in order to gain
support for the Eel River by the whole North Coast of California, with
a better understanding of the real environmental and economic disasters
happening in our own back yards. With this knowledge, we expect greater
support for achieving solutions and bioregional action. We are now witnessing
a significant change in direction from the Sonoma County Water Agency,
which is finally acknowledging the difficulties and expenses of continuing
the old path of taking as much water as they can get from the Eel and
Russian rivers. SCWA is now charting a course of reduced use, conservation,
restoration, and responsibility, although some of the cities are still
in a quandary about how to do that.
It seems obvious that water has to be real and available, not just an
illusion on paper, as the consequences of mistakes are dire. We have to
be alert, pay attention, and not allow the discussions to be "dumbed
down" or avoided: our lives and livelihoods depend on our persistence
and success.
FOER needs your continued strong support so we can achieve our goal of
removing the PG&E Potter Valley Hydropower Project with its dams and
diversions, and regain all water natural to the Eel River. This popular
support is vital. It is what people know is right that will save our watersheds,
our habitat, and our water.
We will continue to hold camp-ins, forums and celebrations in the Eel
River watershed. Coming your way soon will be a new map that shows just
where people on the north coast get their water. Many are not aware of
the Eel Russian connection. Check out www.eelriver.org
for updates. Our phone number will remain the same until we establish
a new office. Mailing will be forwarded to a new mailing address. We will
send you information as it is updated.
Our work has been quite a river trip with new opportunities around each
bend. We never know for sure what we will find or how the river reshapes
the channel. We learn more every year. Your support over the past 15 years
has been invaluable, we hope you will continue with your contributions
as we keep up this fight for the Eel River. We look forward to continuing
to serve you and the watershed in victory!
For our National and State Wild and Scenic Eel River, thank you.
Nadananda, Board, and Staff of Friends of the Eel River
|
| The sun rose three times this
morning, racing with the river fog to see who could go the highest in
the sky. By the third rising the warmth of the sun was palpable. Environmental
conditions and weather variations are showing us that global warming is
real. What are the causes and can they be rectify? We truly are at a point
where being in present time and dealing with one’s own back yard, so to
speak, is the most productive activity we can engage ourselves in doing.
Awareness in the moment is filled with information clarifying what daily
actions are most important. This discipline of being in present time is
an ancient one.
This magazine has carried articles for many years discussing Decision
1610 part of the operating manual for Sonoma County Water Agency (SCWA)
and the Army Corps of Engineers regarding water releases from Lake Mendocino
(a reservoir on the Russian River). Releases are predicated on the water
levels of Lake Pillsbury in the Eel River headwaters. Recent alterations
to this document began on May 6, 2008, when the State Water Board called
SCWA before it to answer questions about the need for changes in operations
since flows from the Eel River to the Russian River changed under a Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) order. Since SCWA is the participating
Agency for carrying out Decision 1610, its staff will prepare an Environmental
Impact Report (EIR) by 2010. Before that date the agency will hold public
scoping sessions, where concerned citizens can submit questions and comments
they want addressed during preparation of the EIR. The public will also
have a chance to respond to a draft EIR. Remember, in a participatory
democracy this is your water, so it’s your responsibility to become informed
and to participate. It is foolish to expect anyone else to take care of
your long-term needs. There has been little frost for the past fifteen
years on the north coast, but this year there were at least 15 days of
it. Vineyard operators not only use overhead sprinklers to keep temperatures
above freezing on the vines but then re-fill their ponds from tributaries
and the river. Their use of water sprinklers for frost protection in vineyards
dropped the Russian River by 35 to 40%, according to SCWA. This is a significant
problem for that agency as it came unexpectedly, with little to no communication
from the grape farmers, while the agency is trying to maintain flows in
the Russian River. Since these farmers needed this emergency water we
wondered if it is in addition to the 85% of available water they already
take. In a time period when water is becoming critical for humans and
wildlife as well as trees, it becomes questionable if farmers who grow
money crops instead of food for people should take water before anyone
else. Is this the best use of water? Only if you like to drink water instead
of wine.
Friends of the Eel River has co-signed a letter written by Byron Leydecker,
Director of Friends of the Trinity River, to Senator Dianne Feinstein
concerning the million acre-feet of water she was gifting her friend in
Westlands water district. (See in this issue “Feinstein Attempts to Give
Away One Million Acre-Feet of Water.”) This is an outrage, but here again,
letters of protest arriving before the act was done went a long way in
getting this public official to stop action. As David Keller points out
in this issue, your letters were instrumental in helping to stop the bill
containing this “gift,” as well as another Senate Bill, also from Feinstein,
SB1472, which proposed to give treated wastewater from Marin and Sonoma
to grape growers in the Napa Valley instead of offsetting urban water
usage. |
Then you add the detrimental effects of pot
growers on the watersheds. These farmers also need to look at a much larger
picture to understand and act responsibility in carrying out their business.
Individually we need to better comprehend how water is being used in our
own communities and counties, and who is being called upon to sacrifice
water when these kinds of growers take the lion’s share. Our work continues
to focus on removal of the PG&E Potter Valley Project with its antiquated
dams. It is astonishing how people receiving free Eel River water through
this diversion consider it rightly theirs. However, Humboldt County has
protested and fought for this water since 1908. We are doing a new Petition
and Resolution, this time addressed to the State Water Board and the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Individuals sign the Petition, and
the Resolution is for organizations to sign. Your help with this effort
is necessary for success. The petition is printed on the next page, without
the ten signature lines. The Resolution is too long to print here, but
you will find both of these documents on our website: www.eelriver.org
(home page) so you can print them out yourself. It is important that you
print these documents out on 8 1/2 by 11 paper with only 10 signature
lines per page for the petition. The Resolution is self-explanatory. Make
as many copies of blanks as you want. Or stop by our Garberville office
at the north end of the main street just before getting back on Highway
101. Additionally, we can mail you copies at your request. We will have
them at all events. Please sign your name and contact information on the
bottom of the page and mail them back to us at our main office, PO Box
2305, Redway, CA 95560. We hope to gather at least 100,000 signatures
before the end of the year. This is a two-year project, but the sooner
we get signatures the sooner we can start referring to the numbers of
people who want to see the PG&E Potter Valley Project ended, the unsafe
and antiquated dams removed so that our once-prolific Eel River is allowed
to regain its health. Thank you so much for your help with this. Please
call our office to volunteer your time in putting the Fish Tent up or
helping to staff the booth. We will be taking the Fish Tent to the Salmon
Bar-b-q at Noyo Harbor, Ft. Bragg, on July 5th and to the Bioneers Conference,
San Rafael, Marin County, October 17-19th. Judy Gueulette is our office
manager and events coordinator and can be reached at 707-923-2146 or foer@eelriver.org.
We will also be at several more events with a smaller tent and could use
your help. Purchasing memberships and items from our store also is extremely
helpful. And be sure to visit our advertisers whose support makes this
magazine possible. Many of you heard I fell and broke my back. I am doing
very well. First, I am still alive and secondly I am not paralyzed. My
recovery is amazing. Your phone calls with love and support helped a lot
in my healing process. Because I have been unable to fly until recently,
there are few photos in this issue. I know how much you all like them
and we will return with lots for the next issue. There is so much content
for this time I could fit in only a few photos anyway. If you have photos
you would like to share, please send them on to me. For our Wild and Scenic
Eel River, I thank you.
Nadananda
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