Rivers and streams in our region got a bigger voice in Washington, DC last week when a Redway woman and river advocates from around the country traveled to Capitol Hill to push for greater protection of rivers and clean water. Nadananda from Friends of the Eel River met with staff of legislators Mike Thompson and Dianne Feinstein, to discuss ways to safeguard all our river systems, including the Eel River, and support measures that ensure clean water and healthy rivers in communities across the country. She was one of more than 130 river citizen advocates in Washington this week as part of an annual effort by the national non-profit American Rivers.

”The Eel River is so important to our community that we’ve got to take every opportunity we can to speak out for it. The chance to make that case in Washington, DC was just too good to pass up,” said Nadananda. “Aides to both Representative Mike Thompson, Jonathan Birdsong, and Senator Dianne Feinstein, John Watts, were extremely interested when told about how national policies affect the river people love back home.” Nadananda also emphasized the importance of protecting wetlands, and small, sometimes intermittent streams, in order to ensure clean water

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in our rivers and lakes. Safeguarding these waters, which are often easy to overlook, is vital to any effort to protect or enhance drinking water, fishing, swimming and other recreation in the rivers and lakes that are important to towns and cities across the country.

Other subjects discussed included water transfer in Senate Bill 1472, a bill introduced by Thompson, carried by the House and presented by Feinstein in the Senate. Problems with this bill stem from it not being vetted locally, with its inherent problems of Eel River water going to Napa Valley to recharge their depleted ground water without protection for the Eel as source water. Also discussed was the proposed use of the military or the private military security company, Blackwater, to sweep through the Mendocino National Forest to eradicate the significant environmental destruction in the headwaters area and all its wild life by the massive marijuana plantations operated by the armed and dangerous Mexican cartels. This is problematic to say the least, given past experiences with this kind of action in both Mendocino and Humboldt counties. But then the question arises, “what to do about the increasing anger voiced by locals impacted by this out of hand situation, threatening to take matters into their own hands if the government does not do something right away.” Nadananda also voiced concerns regarding the Humboldt Bay Harbor plan to package itself with the railroad, both public assets, into a privatization scheme managed by Goldman Sac with potential partners from other parts of the world. Thompson replied, “Well, we’ll see what the financial market says about the feasibility of that proposed package.”

Friends of the Eel River is working to restore the Eel River to its natural state of health and abundance, wild and free. This non profit organizations’ immediate goal is the removal of two antiquated dams and diversion tunnel, known as the PG&E Potter Valley Project, located in the headwaters of this river system. The PVP produces 9.2 megawatts of power at its limited peak. It is truly a water delivery system in the guise of a power plant sending half of the Eel River’s headwaters to the Russian River. Not only does this project block hundreds of miles of prime spawning and rearing habitat for our beleaguered salmon, but the meager flows allowed to escape to the Eel River has held that river system in drought conditions for 100 years. Visit www.eelriver.org.

”It’s thrilling to see so many people in Washington, DC spreading the word that a healthy river is a valuable community asset,” said Rebecca Wodder, president of American Rivers. “Senators and Members of Congress got the message loud and clear that people back home care about their rivers, and want to see real progress in protecting them.”

Founded in 1973, American Rivers is a national non-profit conservation organization dedicated to protecting and restoring healthy natural rivers for the benefit of communities, fish, and wildlife. American Rivers has over 60,000 supporters nationwide, with staff in Washington, DC and the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, Midwest, Southeast, California and Northwest regions. Visit www.AmericanRivers.org.

Submitted by Friends of the Eel River