Page 42 - Sonoma County Gazette January 2016

With the holidays safely behind us, we embark upon a new year. A fresh start with which to change for the better, the New
Year often inspires people to make drastic pronouncements of good intentions. They are more commonly called New Year’s
Ah, good old Damp Sneaker. As I write this I am huddled in my miserable hovel of a house, waiting for the furnace repairman. It seems that a whole bunch of people discovered problems with their heating. And, as most of those clients are clustered together in Santa Rosa, Camp Meeker residents can go to the back of the line. They were supposed
to be here yesterday, but...this is not a complaint. First of all, Rooter Express are about the only guys in this business who have a truck small enough for Camp Meeker’s roads. Therefore I love them and hold them in the highest esteem. Also because Cindy, who is manning the phones for this temporarily undermanned outfit, has been an absolute paragon of customer service. Friendly, personal, and taking ownership of the problem. We could all do to have Cindy on our staff.
Resolutions, and I thought I’d share a few of my family and I’s. I am going
to try to drink more water, even if it is in the form of tea, attempt to get some muscle tone in any part of my body, and be a supportive and not clingy girlfriend when my boyfriend of quite some time leaves for college this fall. He, Devin, is going to Tufts University in the greater Boston area, and he’s super excited, and so am I. Mostly. Minus the whole continent between us bit. But I am, nonetheless, very excited for him to go to his top choice school in a city he’s always wanted to live in.
It’s probably time to give you an updated on the Camp Meeker Park and
Rec Board (CMPRB, or The Board for short). “The Board” might be a little impersonal – The Board is your neighbors Lynn, Gary, Tony, Cathie and
Val. They meet the second or third Tuesday of the month to grind away at
the important business of Camp Meeker. It is always a thankless task, lately literally so: when no major hot button issues are on the table, attendance at Board meetings drops to the summer trickle of Dutch Bill Creek. This is not a good thing, because Lynn, Gary, Tony, Cathie, and Val desire and depend upon vigorous community involvement and feedback to ensure that their decisions and actions are in the best interest of the Camp Meeker community. So come and help your neighbors take care of Camp Meeker!
Other resolutions of my family and I’s this year include eating out somewhere new at least once a week. It is a rather expensive, but well worth
it resolution, in my opinion. Given that this is an Occidental column, it would now be a good time to list some yummy restaurants in Occidental, but my family and I have eaten at every single one of them many times. So for those of you who aren’t intimately familiar with the culinary options in Occidental, let me tell you about them.
Fortunately, in the absence of that community involvement, The Board manages to do a pretty darn good job the great majority of the time. Their
latest action in that regard takes care of other members of the Camp Meeker community: the Steelhead and (endangered) Coho fingerlings that ride out the summer in Dutch Bill Creek before the autumn rains wash them gently down into the Russian River. But what if there are no Autumn Rains? We may be off to a promising start to the rainy season now, but because of the now years-long drought the water available to fill those summer pools the fish hide in is in very, very short supply. When that happens those summer pools get smaller, warmer, and more accessible to raccoons – and that’s if they don’t dry up entirely.
There is, of course, the Union Hotel Pizzeria, which is well known for its family friendly atmosphere and finger-licking good food. Negri’s, across the street, is another Italian food place, with a reputation for being delicious and well-staffed. El Mariachi, the Mexican food joint on the edge of town, offers affordable, fast, and tasty options for carry out or dine in. Howard’s, the much loved breakfast place, is always a big hit—stop here for delightful food and
the friendly staff. Hazel, the new Mediterranean food place, is gaining a loyal following of diners, and has gotten great review from everyone. The lovely owners of Hazel also hooked me up with a new babysitting client whose house I am at as I write this, sitting in the living room as the kiddo sleeps. If you are in need of a babysitter, let me know. Hanging out with littles is one of my favorite things to do.
At the beginning of this latest dry summer, projections were that none of the two or three thousand (we counted) fingerlings in the creek would survive to the rainy season. And as this is happening not just here but across the west county, there is a real chance that the Coho and/or the Steelhead would become extinct in the lower Russian River watershed. That’s not something we want happening on our watch, is it? The Board agreed, and they took action.
On that note, here’s a quick shout out to Denny and Kelly Rosatti, for their very sweet letter to the editor. You guys are too sweet, and it’s been a pleasure getting to spend time with your darling daughters.
That’s a tall order right? How to add more water to the creek in the middle
of an epic drought, at a time when Camp Meeker residents are chafing under
the state bureaucratic thumb with respect to water conservation, at the very
least having to fill out forms reporting their water source and usage, and at the worst being sharply restricted in their water use. Fortunately, the Board (with help from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), and the Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District (GRRCD) among others. The idea (pitched for years by biologist Brock Dolman of Occidental Arts and Ecology) is to pump water from our Camp Meeker wells near Monte Rio up to the Camp Meeker water storage tank, then put it back in the creek at a rate of 63,000 gallons a day. The beauty of this plan is that it does not waste water – the water promptly returns to the river from whence it came, and is identical in chemical composition to the water the fish are already living in. “It’s like turning Dutch Bill into a giant fish tank”, said Board VP Gary Helfrich.
In a more community minded space, there is a meeting on January 10th
about the future of the Occidental Community Center, which will take place
in the Occidental Center for the Arts Auditorium at one in the afternoon. This meeting will cover the information found in the survey done by the Advisory Council, as well as new programs and four possible design concepts for the space. A second meeting, to be held on January 24th, from one to three in the afternoon at the Community Center, will be workshop style, designed for public comment on both the programs and possible designs. On February 7th, a third and final meeting will take place at the Community Center. At this meeting,
you can see the revised design, and receive information about how you can participate in the new programs and how to raise money for the revitalization.
Pretty cool, right? You’ll like it even better when I tell you the price tag. A thousand bucks, more or less, to run plumbing from the water tank to the creek, plus the cost of running the pumps an extra twelve hours a day. Oh, and NOAA is picking up the tab!
Have a happy new year, and I’ll talk to you next month!
42 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 1/16
So there you have it. A solution that doesn’t waste water, gives the fish a fighting chance, and doesn’t cost us a dime. Your Board at work.