Intermingled with the brouhaha regarding Dry Creek’s watershed is the occasional article on the subject of the welfare of our Salmon and Steelhead.  You might assume that anything suggested that has the potential to protect the gill-bearing denizens of our creek would have overwhelming support by the two-footed dwellers of the Valley.  But, the truth is, how you view protecting the fish and/or how protection is instigated, isn’t as simple as one might think.  The flow of water and riparian rights tend to complicate what would seem obvious.  The DCVA website will soon publish an interview with two members who find themselves on different sides of this issue.  In the meantime, you can educate yourself by checking out the newly published Sonoma watershed characteristics found on the website of the Southwest Regional Office of the National Marine Fisheries Service, a branch of The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service.  The website is www.swr.nmfs.noaa.gov/default.htm Look on the Home Page under “Items of Interest” for “North-Central California Coast Salmonid Watershed Characterizations.  The website gives a summary of their work: 

      The NOAA Fisheries Service is dedicated to the stewardship of living marine resources through science-based conservation and management, and the promotion of healthy ecosystems. As a steward, NOAA Fisheries Service conserves, protects, and manages living marine resources in a way that ensures their continuation as functioning components of marine ecosystems. For the Santa Rosa jurisdictional area of the Services’ Southwest Region that means dealing primarily with salmon and steelhead in their freshwater component. 
      In order to ensure that the best science-based inquiries are conducted, comprehensive watershed inventories need to be available to staff biologists. To achieve that end, the Habitat Conservation Division is creating Watershed Characterization portfolios for each of the watersheds that fall within Santa Rosa’s regional domain (coastal streams in Mendocino County south to Monterey County inclusive and San Francisco Bay tributaries). Each portfolio provides statistics and maps that describe the watershed in detail. All the data portrayed is from publically available sources but it has been arrayed in such a manner as to provide a quick and thorough overview of the health and resources of each watershed.

 SONOMA COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT OVERTURNS SONOMA COUNTY WATER AGENCY MANAGEMENT PLAN

Santa Rosa – Today (October 31, 2008) a broad coalition of community organizations representing conservationists, farmers, ranchers, fishermen and recreationists announced that Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Gary Nadler has ruled in their favor and struck down the Sonoma County Water Agency’s (SCWA’s) recently-adopted Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP).  Judge Nadler agreed with the Water Coalition that the Water Agency’s UWMP was deficient in five fundamental respects.  California’s Urban Water Management Planning Act (UWMPA) requires major urban water purveyors such as SCWA to prepare a UWMP every five years to assess available ground and surface water supplies and determine whether they are sufficient to meet projected water demands.  The Act declares that “[a] long term, reliable supply of water is essential to protect the productivity of California’s business and economic climate” as well as its environmental quality.  SCWA’s most recent UWMP claims that Sonoma County has adequate ground and surface water supplies for substantial urban growth.

   CONSERVATION GROUPS FILE LAWSUIT TO OVERTURN

COUNTY APPROVAL OF RUSSIAN RIVER GRAVEL MINING

Santa Rosa – Today (Nov.6, 2008) a coalition of community organizations representing conservationists, farmers, fishermen and recreationists filed a lawsuit in Sonoma County Superior Court to overturn the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors’ approval of Syar Industries’ proposal to resume terrace gravel mining of a 36-acre site west of the Russian River for three more years.  Terrace gravel mining by Syar and other companies over the past 40 years has devastated the Middle Reach of the Russian River.  Gravel mining has transformed this once verdant, fertile valley of vast vineyards, oak woodlands, and riparian forests towering above the Russian River into a barren landscape pockmarked with deep stagnant pools incapable of any form of agricultural production.  Excavation of gravel pits, which reach 90 feet in depth, has substantially depleted the storage capacity of the Russian River’s Middle Reach aquifer.  The resulting loss of agricultural production and aquifer storage capacity is permanent and irreparable.

The Dry Creek Valley Association is a member of two larger organizations that are concerned about issues related to water in Sonoma County – its quality, availability, and utilization practices:  These two umbrella groups are: The Clean Water Coalition of Northern Sonoma County (CWC), which includes 5 member organizations; and the Sonoma County Water Coalition (SCWC), which includes 33 member groups.