Sonoma County Gazette January 2017

Your Water &
JANUARY 2017
Do you have Profiles of The Changing Sonoma County joins
Kindle your Happiness ... Volunteer! ~ 62
a Nose for Snooping? ~ 18
Strength & Courage ~ 20
Face of Healthcare ~ 29
Women’s March on Washington ~ 61
Choices
Wildlife
By Lynda Hopkins
A number of people have asked
A Watershed View of Problems and Opportunities for the Russian River
me what to do in the wake of the November election. My answer is: don’t stop voting.
I realize it’s currently January 2017, not November 2020. And no, I’m not referring to the special elections that will be held throughout Sonoma County in the next several months – elections in which residents may determine the fate of a cannabis tax, parks funding, and rent control in Santa Rosa.
By Don McEnhill
Two reports on the Russian River
These are important decisions, and we should cast our ballots as we see t. But when I say “don’t stop voting,” I’m referring to the much greater time between elections, to the choices we make in your daily life.
The first is the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the “Fish Habitat Flows and Water Rights Project” (Flow EIR) that concluded we need to reduce summer flows by 44% to improve habitat for endangered salmon and steelhead. The second document was the Russian River Independent Science Review Panel Report (IRSP Report) on watershed hydrology and stream ecology, in other words the science around the movement of water and it’s relationship to wildlife and fish habitat. It’s the Flow EIR that has everyone talking, but the ISRP Report is far more comprehensive and focused on the biggest issue in our watershed.
WATER cont’d on page 14
late this summer offered two different pictures of our watershed and most people are focused on only one.
Time & Money
Perhaps the most important ballots we cast are not for President or Members of Congress. Perhaps the most important ballots we cast are the dollars we spend, and the ways in which we pass our free time.
CHOICES cont’d on page 16
I want to start o by saying that nobody is perfect. As Seneca – a Roman who lived approximately 2,000 years ago – wrote: “errare humanum est,” or “to err is human.” Which means that we all have those days (or weeks or months or years) where we forget to
If we had to point to the single biggest problem for the River, it’s the complete disconnection of our River from its former floodplains from Ukiah to Jenner. For a river not having a floodplain is like a car with no motor, it just won’t do the job we need it to.
The EVERYTHING to DO Calendar: pgs 52 - 71
This QR CODE will take you to our web site. Use your Smart Phone with a QR CODE app such as RedLaser