Local HEROES Clean Water

Coho SalmonOur Canary in the Coal MineDon’t Trash the ‘HoodBy Bob BurkeHow often do you see mattresses,beer cans and plastic bags of garbagethrown on the side of the road or, worseyet, in the creeks in your neighborhood?Probably often. And, if you’re like me,such a sight causes depressed feelingsabout the state of the human condition.And you’ve probably felt helpless to domuch about it.Well, things have recently improvedin terms of what you can do aboutthis problem. There is a new website( www.keepsonomaclean.org )where you can report illegal dumping.It’s user-friendly, and I have used it withgreat results.Four Sonoma County agencies gottogether and obtained a grant from theState Integrated Waste ManagementBoard to establish a program toreduce and hopefully eliminate illegaldumping in the County. The agenciesare the Environmental Health Divisionof the Department of Health Services,and the Department of Transportationand Public Works, Roads and IntegratedWaste. In addition, the County’sInformation Services Department andthe Community Oriented Policingand Problem Solving Unit (COPPS) ofthe Sheriff’s Department complete theline-up of agencies. As part of the newprogram, the agencies have createdthis web site as a means of identifyingillegally dumped trash so it can becollected before it does greater harm toour environment. Because collectionof dumped trash is not a long-termsolution to the problem, the programincludes education and public outreachintended to reduce illegal dumping.It is regrettable that our tax dollarshave to be used for this purpose but,given the scope of the problem, I believeit is an appropriate use of our tax dollarsbeing put to good use. But to go aroundcleaning up after violators is not a longtermsolution. The only sustainablesolution is to make illegal dumpingsocially unacceptable. The best way toreach this goal is for each of us to letour friends and acquaintances knowthat roadside dumping is harmful andincompatible with the rules of society.While we strive toward that goal,I believe we should clean up trashthat has found its way, willfully orinadvertently, onto our roads, into ourcreeks and across our countyside. Untilwe reach that goal we should do ourbest to clean up after those whosesocial consciousness is deficient.Many watershed councils, schoolsand other civic-minded organizationsorganize clean-up efforts regularly. TheAtascadero / Green Valley WatershedCouncil (AGVWC), for wh ich Ivolunteer, recently completed its annualclean-up of the creeks and roads inGraton and along Green Valley Roadbetween the Atascadero and BonesRoad. If you’d like to be a part of futureAGVWC clean-up projects, visit www.atascaderogreenvalleywatershed.netShowing respect for our homesets an example for visitors.16 - www.westcountygazette.com - 1/15/09By Vesta CopestakesOnce again, I’m merely a connectionfor readers. I’m providing more links onmy web site www.westcountygazette.com through WCG Extra! in theENVIRONMENT category if you wantto go directly to web sites for moreinformation.In these pages, I can only hopeto inspire you to learn more, to payattention to our beautiful home andto love every part of our planet thatsustains all our lives. As I wrote inmy article in the December WCG,Falling in Love with Fish & Forests,it takes a personal relationship withour environment, a real love affair, tobecome intimate enough to feel howour lives – and decisions – impact ourpresent and future. And in reality - notjust the us as humans – but the us asevery living entity on our planet –Mother Earth.Right now we are about lose anotherprecious water creature, Coho Salmon.There are a few watershed areas inthe west that have managed to bringback marginally healthy populationsof these rather delicate fish, but righthere in our back yard, our efforts arebeing hampered by the density of ourpopulation, the increasing water useof agriculture, specifically vineyards,and the drought we are continuing toexperience, especially during thesemonths when Coho come back tospawn.Within the past month a group ofvolunteers, biologists and governmentenvironmental scientists releasedhatchery bred wild salmon into SalmonCreek near Bodega Bay. This creek wasonce filled with salmon and it’s beendecades since the creek has lived upto its name. These fish are now largeenough and old enough to head outto sea, and if all goes well, they willreturn in three years to spawn in SalmonCreek. It’s a lot like raising a child andsending him/her off to college andbeyond. Will they ever return to raisetheir families where we can watch andbe part of their lives? We don’t know.Down in Marin County in LagunitasCreek Watershed, fish that were releasedthree years ago are not returning.Hampered by seriously lacking rainfall,water levels of streams that flow intothe sea are insufficient to allow Coho tobreach sand bars to find their spawninggrounds. Fish that were released threeyears ago are not coming home to raisetheir families. This winter could bethe worst spawning year in recordedhistory. For a fish already on theEndangered Species List, this couldmean the end of the line.Is there something we can do to helpour fish children return home to raisetheir children? Yes. Brock Dolman of theOccidental Arts& Ecology Center has alist below and you can visit web sitesto educate yourself and your humanchildren on wise water use. (see linkbelow)We c a n b e c o m e p a r t o f t h eenvironmental movement in meaningfulways that are more than a few dollarsin an envelope. There are groups thatrestore watersheds on weekends,restore fish habitat along streams, planttrees to shade water in summer whereagriculture has denuded huge areasand baked creeks dry. (SEE the WCGVOLUNTEER section & articles I thispaper) Bringing our human children withus on these environmental adventuresraises them to see the heart connectionbetween themselves and the othercritters with whom we share our planet.Fall in love, so we can all survive.Securing your watershedUse less waterUse water wisely, the reuse that waterReduce stormwater dischargeUse NO toxic chemicalsRetain your soil on your propertySource : www.OAECwater.orghttp://www.oaecwater.org/yoursalmon-creek-video“We share out of a fierce need, and out of an ‘innercall’ to give voice to what the earth would say if itcould speak in human language. Our art points outwhat is already embedded all along the mountains,the rivers, our gardens, and in our blood.”- Joaquin Lopez de San Roman