Still time to Save the Moke - Speak out at: www.friendsoftheriver.org/SavetheMoke
Watch last nights tv news feature: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=6866783
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
The Spirit of the Stanislaus
Ex-river guide among many who fought dam
By Alex Breitler
Record Staff Writer
June 14, 2009 6:00 AM
ANGELS CAMP - With water already pooling behind New Melones Dam, river guide Mark Dubois wandered upstream and bolted himself to a rock with a 6-inch chain around his ankle.
He sat.
Authorities got word and went searching, but Dubois didn't want to be found; trees and brush cloaked him from the helicopters and boats.
He claimed to his friends, who brought him food under cover of darkness, that he was willing to drown to save the scenic Stanislaus River canyon.
But federal officials blinked; that claim could not be tested. A dry Dubois climbed out of the canyon after one week, having received assurances that the reservoir would not rise above Parrott's Ferry Bridge that year. Eventually, of course, it did, and today New Melones Lake is California's fourth-largest reservoir.
Dubois, now a prominent environmental activist, and about 150 others gathered in Angels Camp last weekend to remember the 30th anniversary of his protest, and a river swallowed up by California's growing thirst.
"I had fallen in love with the place," Dubois said. "I got completely swept into it. And I felt that the life, magic and beauty of the place - that 9 million years of evolution - was about to be eradicated if I didn't speak up."
The bittersweet reunion came, coincidentally, three days after the release of a new plan to protect steelhead on the Stanislaus. That plan from the National Marine Fisheries Service says New Melones Dam - which supplies Stockton and south San Joaquin County with much-needed water - has imperiled a fragile population of steelhead that spawns downstream.
With the focus on the Delta as the heart of California's water wars, one might forget that New Melones was perhaps the country's last great battle over a large new dam.
The Stanislaus was, as one advocate put it, "the last river lost." Advocacy group Friends of the River said the decade-long fight was "probably the biggest citizen effort to save a river and stop a dam in American history."
At stake was nine miles of Class 3 river rapids through a cave-riddled limestone canyon. Even beginning boaters could enjoy the trip, often spread over two days, recalled George Wendt, president of Angels Camp-based Outdoor Adventure River Specialists.
Much of the land was public and accessible, unlike other streams. Historic artifacts abounded. And upstream dams meant reliable year-round flows for rafters, Wendt said.
Supporters of the dam argued New Melones would increase storage while providing flood control, hydroelectric power and lake recreation. Calaveras County leaders, whose law enforcement officers spent time and money searching for Dubois, called his hideout "a cheap publicity trick."
The reservoir finally filled in 1983. The protestors lost, but Wendt said the movement triggered "a major societal shift."
"We realized we can't keep expending resources and borrowing from the future," he said.
Last weekend, Dubois, 60, of Bainbridge Island, Wash., visited New Melones on his own for the first time since chaining himself to the canyon wall. He saw the bathtub ring of mud around the lake. A half-dozen motorboats jetted through the water.
"It was just stunning to feel the death of the place, compared to the magic of the river," he said. "The place just felt dead."
Contact reporter Alex Breitler at (209) 546-8295 or abreitler@recordnet.com
By Alex Breitler
Record Staff Writer
June 14, 2009 6:00 AM
ANGELS CAMP - With water already pooling behind New Melones Dam, river guide Mark Dubois wandered upstream and bolted himself to a rock with a 6-inch chain around his ankle.
He sat.
Authorities got word and went searching, but Dubois didn't want to be found; trees and brush cloaked him from the helicopters and boats.
He claimed to his friends, who brought him food under cover of darkness, that he was willing to drown to save the scenic Stanislaus River canyon.
But federal officials blinked; that claim could not be tested. A dry Dubois climbed out of the canyon after one week, having received assurances that the reservoir would not rise above Parrott's Ferry Bridge that year. Eventually, of course, it did, and today New Melones Lake is California's fourth-largest reservoir.
Dubois, now a prominent environmental activist, and about 150 others gathered in Angels Camp last weekend to remember the 30th anniversary of his protest, and a river swallowed up by California's growing thirst.
"I had fallen in love with the place," Dubois said. "I got completely swept into it. And I felt that the life, magic and beauty of the place - that 9 million years of evolution - was about to be eradicated if I didn't speak up."
The bittersweet reunion came, coincidentally, three days after the release of a new plan to protect steelhead on the Stanislaus. That plan from the National Marine Fisheries Service says New Melones Dam - which supplies Stockton and south San Joaquin County with much-needed water - has imperiled a fragile population of steelhead that spawns downstream.
With the focus on the Delta as the heart of California's water wars, one might forget that New Melones was perhaps the country's last great battle over a large new dam.
The Stanislaus was, as one advocate put it, "the last river lost." Advocacy group Friends of the River said the decade-long fight was "probably the biggest citizen effort to save a river and stop a dam in American history."
At stake was nine miles of Class 3 river rapids through a cave-riddled limestone canyon. Even beginning boaters could enjoy the trip, often spread over two days, recalled George Wendt, president of Angels Camp-based Outdoor Adventure River Specialists.
Much of the land was public and accessible, unlike other streams. Historic artifacts abounded. And upstream dams meant reliable year-round flows for rafters, Wendt said.
Supporters of the dam argued New Melones would increase storage while providing flood control, hydroelectric power and lake recreation. Calaveras County leaders, whose law enforcement officers spent time and money searching for Dubois, called his hideout "a cheap publicity trick."
The reservoir finally filled in 1983. The protestors lost, but Wendt said the movement triggered "a major societal shift."
"We realized we can't keep expending resources and borrowing from the future," he said.
Last weekend, Dubois, 60, of Bainbridge Island, Wash., visited New Melones on his own for the first time since chaining himself to the canyon wall. He saw the bathtub ring of mud around the lake. A half-dozen motorboats jetted through the water.
"It was just stunning to feel the death of the place, compared to the magic of the river," he said. "The place just felt dead."
Contact reporter Alex Breitler at (209) 546-8295 or abreitler@recordnet.com
Monday, June 8, 2009
Must watch TV tonight
Monday, June 8
7:00PM-8:00PM
ABOVE THE AMERICAN
Find all broadcasts View schedule
Above the American takes you on an aerial tour of one of California’s most picturesque waterways: the American River. The journey begins at the confluence with the Sacramento River and travels up the North, Middle, and South Forks of the American River. Included are incredible scenic views, Old West history, wildlife, Native American artifacts, and a thrilling ride down some of America’s most famous whitewater rapids. Production funding provided by InterWest Insurance Services.
Announcement origanally sent by:Jim RickerPresident, North Fork American River Alliance P.O. Box 536 Alta, CA 95701530-389-8344
7:00PM-8:00PM
ABOVE THE AMERICAN
Find all broadcasts View schedule
Above the American takes you on an aerial tour of one of California’s most picturesque waterways: the American River. The journey begins at the confluence with the Sacramento River and travels up the North, Middle, and South Forks of the American River. Included are incredible scenic views, Old West history, wildlife, Native American artifacts, and a thrilling ride down some of America’s most famous whitewater rapids. Production funding provided by InterWest Insurance Services.
Announcement origanally sent by:Jim RickerPresident, North Fork American River Alliance P.O. Box 536 Alta, CA 95701530-389-8344
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Pumping water and cash
Got to read these articles....really?! Great work by this Contra Costa Times writer.
Pumping water and cash from Delta
By Mike Taugher
As the West Coast's largest estuary plunged to the brink of collapse from 2000 to 2007, state water officials pumped unprecedented amounts of water out of the Delta only to effectively buy some of it back at taxpayer expense for a failed environmental protection plan, a MediaNews investigation has found. Read more.
Paper shuffle allows for vast supply of easy money
By Mike Taugher
It must have seemed like easy money.
The state was delivering more water than ever to its customers, and in Kern County some of those customers sold some of it back, through a simple trade, at a higher price. Read more.
Water ownership murky, complicated
By Mike Taugher
Kern County water users who sold millions of dollars worth of water to a program meant to help the environment said the arrangement made sense because the water was rightfully theirs.
Few would dispute that water that was purchased and stored in Kern County could be sold to the environmental water account.
But the sales were made easier by the fact that the state Department of Water Resources was cranking up water deliveries to unprecedented heights at the same time it was buying water back for the environment. Read more.
The Resnicks: farming's power couple
By Mike Taugher
Stewart Resnick is not your typical dirt-under-the-fingernails farmer.
The Beverly Hills billionaire's companies, according to tax records, appear to own more than 115,000 acres in Kern County, about the size of four San Franciscos and more than all of the East Bay Regional Park District's parks combined. Read more.
Pumping water and cash from Delta
By Mike Taugher
As the West Coast's largest estuary plunged to the brink of collapse from 2000 to 2007, state water officials pumped unprecedented amounts of water out of the Delta only to effectively buy some of it back at taxpayer expense for a failed environmental protection plan, a MediaNews investigation has found. Read more.
Paper shuffle allows for vast supply of easy money
By Mike Taugher
It must have seemed like easy money.
The state was delivering more water than ever to its customers, and in Kern County some of those customers sold some of it back, through a simple trade, at a higher price. Read more.
Water ownership murky, complicated
By Mike Taugher
Kern County water users who sold millions of dollars worth of water to a program meant to help the environment said the arrangement made sense because the water was rightfully theirs.
Few would dispute that water that was purchased and stored in Kern County could be sold to the environmental water account.
But the sales were made easier by the fact that the state Department of Water Resources was cranking up water deliveries to unprecedented heights at the same time it was buying water back for the environment. Read more.
The Resnicks: farming's power couple
By Mike Taugher
Stewart Resnick is not your typical dirt-under-the-fingernails farmer.
The Beverly Hills billionaire's companies, according to tax records, appear to own more than 115,000 acres in Kern County, about the size of four San Franciscos and more than all of the East Bay Regional Park District's parks combined. Read more.
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