HELP!?! Does anyone here have specific info or sources of info on
Vineyards’ illegal water diversions? Anderson Valley, in particular,
is said to have been the location of notorious non-permitted water
extractions for decades. These are said to be well known. Where are
they? No action is said to have ever been taken.
It is clear, both from the participation of the Mendocino County
Sheriffs Office and this item being a prominent feature of the
Measure B campaign, that the focus of the meeting will be outlaw pot
growers, NOT illegal diversions by Vineyard operators.
Vineyard operators use exponentially more water, both legally and
illegally sourced, than all the county’s cannabis cultivators
combined, but we can count on cannabis being a red herring in this
discussion.
THE BIGGER PICTURE – although pooh poohed by some well informed
cannabis activists, events such as this are forming the building
blocks for a statewide assault on Prop 215. Count on it
SYMPOSIUM ON ILLEGAL WATER DIVERSIONS TO BE HELD IN WILLITS
Coho salmon and steelhead trout that once were abundant in
Northern California’s rivers and streams are now nearly extinct. There
are many contributing factors to this decline, but one of the main
reasons is that people on both public and private lands are taking too
much water from the river systems for domestic and agricultural use.
Therefore too little is left flowing in the streambeds for the fish to
complete their spawning cycles. If these salmonid species are ever to
recover from the brink of extinction, immediate action by both private
landowners and government agencies responsible for protecting our
environment is essential.
PLEASE ATTEND AN IMPORTANT MEETING ON ILLEGAL WATER DIVERSIONS
THURS. OCT. 30th at 6:45 pm. READ ON. . .
The Willits Environmental Center has joined Friends of the Eel
River, the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman’s Associations, Gary
Roussan (Sportsman columnist for the Willits News), and the Mendocino
County Sheriff’s Department in cosponsoring the “Willits Symposium on
Illegal Water Diversions” to be held on Thursday, October 30th from
6:45 PM to 9:15 PM at the Willits Community Center. This Symposium
has three goals: 1) To inform the public about the dire condition of
the fisheries in spawning and rearing streams on public and private
lands; 2) To educate the public as to how fish and wildlife are
threatened by illegal water diversions and what constitutes an illegal
water diversion, and; 3) To explain to the public how the Mendocino
County Sheriff, the U.S. Forest Service, the California Department of
Fish & Game and the California State Water Resources Control Board are
currently enforcing the law against illegal water diverters. What is
the public’s role in helping to protect these resources? For more
information contact Jon Spitz at (707)984-6481 or jonspitz@xprs.net.
ILLEGAL WATER DIVERSIONS MEETING THURS. OCT. 30th at 6:45 pm.
WILLITS COMMUNITY
CENTER