A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
September 22, 2008
3. Watersheds –
Boat ramps may be closed when quagga inspectors are not present
Thousands volunteer to clean up Bay Area coast
The
Federal act turns 40, will more rivers be affected?
The Union Democrat- 9/19/08
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Boat ramps may be closed when quagga inspectors are not present
By Adam Jensen
A proposal by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency to require
On Wednesday, the TRPA’s Governing Board is scheduled to decide on the new code, which would also require boat owners to get a TRPA-approved boat decontamination if it is deemed necessary by an inspector.
Limiting boat access during early morning and late evening hours, the cost of inspections, the infrastructure necessary to implement the potential closures, and a loss of revenue from ramp closures are concerns surrounding the potential new regulations.
TRPA staff met with boat ramp operators this month in an attempt to resolve such concerns and an implementation plan for potential closures will be presented at Wednesday’s meeting, according to the meeting’s agenda.
If the code changes pass, implementation could “occur very quickly,” according to a TRPA letter sent to boat ramp operators last month.
“For this reason we need your input and assistance to make certain we have an implementation strategy that is flexible enough to address the needs of the boating community,” indicates the letter. “Our focus here is to ensure every boat entering the lake is inspected — not to close ramps and limit public access.”
The potential new code does not require approval by the agency’s advisory planning commission because it will be discussed under an emergency declaration regarding invasive species, approved by the governing board in May 2007.
Earlier this month, the difficulty of enforcing invasive species inspections was highlighted by an incident at the
On the morning of Sept. 1, a man became uncooperative at the Lake Forest Boat Ramp in
The TRPA does not have the enforcement capability to stop a boat from entering
The planning agency sent a letter to the registered owner of the boat — a
Whether the registered owner was the man who launched the boat on Sept. 1 is still unknown, Oliver said.
The letter warned that litigation in federal court is possible because of the incident.
As of Friday a response from the owner of the boat had not been received by the TRPA and the agency was giving the man more time to reply.
“The matter requires more investigation before it goes to an enforcement action or penalty phase,” Oliver said in an e-mail.
During a presentation last month, TRPA Wildlife Program Manager Ted Thayer told the governing board of the need for jurisdictions around the lake to adopt ordinances so local law enforcement can prevent boat owners who refuse an inspection from launching their boats in
Invasive mussels have been found in nearly 20 lakes and reservoirs in
Mussels have also been found in
Lake Tahoe joins five other areas in
Thousands volunteer to clean up Bay Area coast
The
It seems so meaningless at the time. Someone drops a plastic bottle or a disposable lighter on the ground. Just one more piece of litter.
But the rains come, and the trash gets swept away. Over days, weeks and months later, the trash makes its way inexorably to low ground. To the beach.
Now multiply that by hundreds, thousands, even millions of people, and it adds up to a very dirty coastline.
That was the battle facing thousands of volunteers who turned out for the annual coastal cleanup, sponsored by the California Coastal Commission. People descended on 750 different sites on Saturday, most of them beaches, to pick up trash and try to tidy up the state a bit.
"It feels good to do something for your community," said 13-year-old Jason Kwang of
Jason was at Damon Slough with his foster father, Stephen Cunningham, picking up old tires, plastic cups, wood, nails and more. Cunningham said he found a gallon container full of gasoline out in the mudflats.
The cleanup at Damon Slough took place during low tide, which exposed a vast expanse of garbage all along the coastline. The slough is considered one of the dirtiest waterways in the state, and it's easy to see why. The waterway is encircled by a thick ring of trash and garbage.
There were sofa cushions and mattresses, beer bottles, soda cans and millions upon millions of cigarette butts.
But what really freaked out the volunteers were the drug paraphernalia.
Everyone, it seemed, found syringes with needles still attached.
"We found a whole bunch of drug baggies," said Katie Elzy, 14, who was there with several classmates from the
Discarded dynamite
Eben Schwartz, outreach manager for the Coastal Commission and statewide coordinator of the cleanup, said
"Nobody was hurt," he said, "but they did have to call in the bomb squad."
Preliminary reports indicated that statewide there were 55,634 volunteers who collected 742,154 pounds of debris, Schwartz said. Of that, 106,500 pounds were recyclable.
In
The volunteers at Damon Slough were mostly kids from schools or community centers in the
Gage Beal, 11, a sixth-grader from
Out in the mudflats, there were recycling containers, a radio-controlled car and a sailboat stuck deep in the muck.
Trell Davis and Gabriel Sanchez were there with Civicorps, formerly known as the East Bay Conservation Corps. They said their biggest discovery was dead seagulls.
"We're here to help out our community and to keep those seagulls alive," Sanchez said.
More than 70 people came out to Heron's
Ken and Mary Ann Mooyman were there with their 11-year-old son, John, and 8-year-old twins Jeff and Jake. The
Volunteer gave up hike
"This is better for the environment," John explained as he loaded trash into an abandoned cart he had picked up along his cleanup route.
The park, located along the city's eastern shoreline in the shadow of the now-shuttered Pacific Gas and Electric Co. plant, was originally created by infill and was once considered as a location for another bridge to link the
A local nonprofit group, Literacy for Environmental Justice, has been working to restore the area with help from local schoolkids; they're also building an eco-center at the site. On Saturday, they were so overwhelmed by the turnout that by 10:30 a.m., organizers had put some volunteers to work pulling out invasive species of weeds and helping with other restoration work.
Many volunteers said they had come to Heron's Head because the city's northern and western waterways seem to get much of the attention. Plus, it's much closer than
Reclaiming industrial areas
"It's cool to see the industrial areas reclaimed - it makes the city more interesting and livable," she said. "We're finding a ton of cigarette butts. People who don't think of themselves as litterers will flick them. Most just drop them by the side of the road, but the more ambitious ones will flick them down by the water."
Volunteers seemed to be getting something out of the day as well. Lori Lamberton, 51, and Ned Doherty, 54, both
"You come out and you see millions of pieces of trash, and it's depressing, but then you realize, 'I just picked up 1,000 pieces,' " Doherty said. "And if a thousand people do it, then it makes a huge difference."#
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/20/BAO1131UKD.DTL
Federal act turns 40, will more rivers be affected?
The Union Democrat- 9/19/08
By JAMES DAMSCHRODER
The National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act has allowed George Wendt to run a thriving whitewater-rafting business in Angels Camp.
A decade after Wendt started OARS in 1972, New Melones Reservoir halted the
Wendt turned to the
"The Stanislaus was many outfitters' bread and butter," Wendt said. "When we lost that to New Melones, a lot of outfitters had to think of what they could attach their hopes to in the area."
"The
That potential was being threatened by three proposed dams at the time. But after losing the free-flowing Stanislaus, Wendt and others fought to stop the
In 1984, they won the fight— the
The National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. It was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1968.
More than a dozen area river forks have been studied and determined to have values worthy of the act's protection, but only the free-flowing
Voices pushing to protect the rushing waters of eligible rivers, like the Clark Fork of the
The act does protect 11,000 miles of 165 rivers in 38 states from being dammed.
A bill introduced by Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, and Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, proposes to protect an additional 74 miles of rivers and streams in the eastern Sierra, White Mountains, Mojave Desert and San Gabriel Mountains.
Besides restricting dams, the act protects water and public land a quarter-mile on both sides of the river.
The
In 1987, the Merced River was protected for 79 miles, stretching from
"To have the Tuolumne and
The act benefits local residents most, though, said Patrick Koepele, deputy executive director of the Tuolumne River Trust.
"The county and the foothills would be losing out on a serious recreational resource," Koepele said of previous proposals to dam the
A clause in the river's protection says that the designation cannot affect San Francisco Public Utilities Commissions' ability to divert water as needed. This clause has become increasingly important as the SFPUC proposed taking up to an additional 25 million gallons of water a day from the river.
"It's an argument we're making," said Galen Weston,
All rivers under the act are managed under three distinctions — wild, scenic or recreational — said Steve Evans, conservation director for Friends of the River.
"It's determined by the level of existing development at the time of the distinction," Evans said.
The areas determined to be wild generally prohibit logging, road building, new mining claims, developed campgrounds and motorized access.
Sections determined to be scenic may have an occasional road crossing and riverside structures. Activities associated with public lands are permitted, as long as the river's values are not compromised.
Recreational segments are developed with roads, bridges and structures. Activities normally associated with public lands are permitted if, again, the river's values aren't compromised.
A river's values can include fish, wildlife, historical, scenic, recreational, geological, botanical or ecological values, Evans said.
Most of the Tuolumne and
The act has become increasingly significant as
Last year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed building three dams in
"Without these type of protections, there could be impediments to stop the free-flowing nature of the rivers," said Jerry Snyder, spokesman for the Stanislaus Forest Service.
The Forest Service does manage the
"We've studied it and recommended it," Snyder said.
"It seems like a shoo-in," Noah Hughes, board member of the Clavey River Trust Coalition, said of the river being classified as Wild and Scenic.
Recently, there has been a grassroots movement to get the
"I went out there yesterday," Hughes said.
"There were millions of lady bugs covering the water and swarming trout," he said. "You think, ‘this is how it's suppose to be.' The Clavey shows you a baseline of what a healthy Sierra river should be."#
http://www.uniondemocrat.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=27618
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