A NEW BEGINNING

In early 1974 there was no DCVA.  The Valley was mostly in prunes with some grapes.  Most of the folks who lived in the Valley were “old timers”.  Indeed, many families had farmed this Valley for generations.  There was no Warm Springs Dam.  In the summer time our children played in a creek which lived up to its name.  It was truly “DRY”.  The Dry Creek Valley was paradise then, as it is paradise now.

However, the Valley was threatened.  A dam was being proposed for the head of the Valley.  The very streambed itself was being over mined by gravel extractors and, as a result, stream bank erosion was rampant.  It was because of these threats to paradise that the DCVA was incorporated on September 13, 1974.  Jack Rist, Rexford Holmes, Maria Rist, Kevin O’Connor, Warren Rossiter, Chris Haugsten, Lou Preston, Jasper Long, Jerry Lambert, and perhaps others were the founders.  (Maria Rist and Lou Preston are still on the Board of Directors).   This was a group of grass roots farmers who knew that there was work to be done.  The DCVA’s primary focus in the beginning was the gravel mining in Dry Creek that was stealing the land of the Dry Creek farmers through erosion.  Suit was brought against the gravel miners and, after a hard fought battle, the Dry Creek farmers prevailed.

Here we are some 32 years later and the Dry Creek Valley is once again facing a monumental threat to its agriculture and to its natural environment.  This new threat goes to the heart and soul of the Valley---our superb Class I agricultural soils, and the very water we drink.  Our Valley has been targeted as the place of choice for the dumping of the waste water that the City of Santa Rosa, the Sonoma County Water Agency (SCWA) and others don’t know what to do with.  At the same time, the SCWA is attempting to commandeer every single drop of our fresh Dry Creek water.  This includes both the water flowing in the Creek itself and the groundwater that serves our wells.  Since the Warm Springs Dam was constructed, the SCWA has used Dry Creek as an open pipeline to get water to its customers in Sonoma and Marin Counties.  Now it wants the rest of our water.

In order to be successful in our struggle, the DCVA must return to its roots.  We must recognize, as the founders recognized in 1974, that each of us has a stake in what happens to the Valley.  This Valley is our community.  It is our home and our environmental habitat.  It is once again time that we pull together as a grass roots organization to protect the heart and soul of this magnificent Valley. 

Thus, the members of the Dry Creek Valley Association are once again called to man the ramparts.  The DCVA Board of Directors recognizes this and is up to the task.  Changes to the basic structure of the Board of Directors have been made.  There is a renewed emphasis on building a war chest.  Richard Kagel has agreed to chair that important fundraising job.  The Natural Resource Committee, chaired by Judith Olney, has an incredible group of members ready to lead the charge.  These members include Fred Corson, Doug Lipton, Fred Euphrat, Richard Kagel, Don Kaminski, and others.  Each brings both scientific expertise and commitment to the fray.

From the above, you can see that the DCVA is gearing up for battle.  In its beginnings, the DCVA was formed to fight the “gravel wars”.  The Association now finds itself engaged in the “water wars”.

AUT PAX AUT BELLUM

Edwin W. Wilson
PRESIDENT