October 12, 2005 |
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Sierra Club & BORever "Stuck on Stupid"
Dear Editor, Question: What does Napa Sierra Club President Carol Kunze and the Bureau of Reclamation Mid-Pacific Region Area Manager Mike Finnegan have in common? Answer:Both are afflicted with the Stuck On Stupid (SOS) syndrome sweeping the nations main stream media and federal bureaucracies. Below please find some recent SOS comments in the Press Democrat regarding Lake Berryessa’s mobile home parks. SOS Carol and Mike still don’t grasp that the seven mobile home parks had been lawfully zoned by Napa County and therefore do not expire in 2008 or 2009. These Napa County mobile home parks zoning continues in perpetuity. The BOR will continue to legally enter into new concessionaire agreements every twenty or thirty years with new successful concessionaire bidders that desire to own and manage these seven permanently zoned mobile home parks at Lake Berryessa. How can the Sierra Club BORever wet dream become a reality? Carol and Mike must put tens of millions of dollars where their SOS mouths are by lawfully buying the Concessionaires and 1300 mobile home Permittees assets and personal property. And after they come up with the funding for their Lake Berryessa purification buy out, they should be able to easily raise the $18.7 billion necessary to fund the Hetch Hetchy valley restoration project from all their SOS John Muir extremists and BORever mobsters. Oscar Braun, Half Moon Bay Oscar@cwposse.org The Press Democrat
Paul Payne / Staff Writer Dear Mr. Payne - In response to your "Trailers face federal ban" story. - It is untrue that - "...trailer owners hold long-term leases..." Reality - Nearly all vacation stakeholders have a month-to-month agreement with the resorts. Vacation units change ownership every five years, on average - some in one or two - a few span generations. The concessions hold leases with the federal government which require them to offer facilities and services to the public. Error - "...precious flat land occupied by trailers..." Reality - The seven resorts that were contracted by the Bureau of Reclamation [BOR] on lands that would be minimally affected by the "draw down" of the reservoir with steeper grades and deeper waters so that facilities and services could retain the most near-to-water relationship throughout the variances - subsequently much of the land has slopes greater 25% and considered unusable for short term use. BOR has unquestionably the flattest lands that have the greatest potential for parks and campgrounds - those were identified for development in the BOR's 1959 Public Use Plan [PUP] - in nearly 50 years those lands have been minimally developed, with almost no facilities. Carol Kunze lives in the Berryessa Highlands, the most visible housing development at the lake. Kunze selfish and hypocritical demands to abolish vacation rentals and create 150 miles of trails is contrary to public use. Perched on lands with some of the best views of the Lake, Kunze was instrumental in having a sign posted entering her area to discourage any public access. The Lake is used by the surrounding metropolitan areas' "water recreation public." The resorts have served millions of the visitor public - long-term, short-term and day users - based on contracts guided by the BOR documents: PUP, RAMP and ROD. Resorts at Lake Berryessa created the Resort Owners Plan [ROP] for the future of the Lake, offering the public optimal use and facilities. The ROP PDF is available from http://www.ranchomonticelloresort.com/news.html - The resorts' individual plans are based on a master plan that integrates all resorts and surrounding areas. Major changes are planned at each resort that follow the BOR's 1992/3 RAMP/ROD, incorporating upgrades, new units and increased short-term facilities. Additional BOR lands that the public deserves more access to and facilities on, are also in the plan for the future - including an area the PUP identified ideal for handicap access. I would hope you visit Lake Berryessa enabling you to write more accurately about a major issue regarding the future of the American recreating public and the future of the Lake. Lucy White Rancho Monticello Resort Owner / Vice President 707 799 2120 pcs lucy@wwwhite.com [correction for Bob White - he has worked for the resort beginning in 1960 - his home is in Calistoga]
hetch hetchy (aka San Francisco Bay Area Water System) Sierra Club says..."time to redeem a historic mistake" Video Clip: Hetch Hetchy: Yosemite's Lost ValleyPlease wait at least 30 seconds for video to load. Requires Free Quicktime Player Video not loading after 30 to 60 seconds?
"Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water-tanks the people's cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man." "Let me assure you that we have only begun to fight, and we are not going to rest until we have established the principle 'that our National parks shall be held forever inviolate,' and until we have demonstrated to the satisfaction of every one, including yourself, that the American people stand for that principle. We are going to keep up the good fight without fear or favor, 'if it shall take until doomsday.'" "Now is the time to complete a full analysis of the feasibility and many benefits of bringing back the treasure of Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite. The restoration plan would not "lose" the resource, or require "another clean source of water." The plan envisions simply collecting and storing the very same water somewhere downslope from Yosemite National Park in the high Sierra. Restoration would not only re-open the magnificent Hetch Hetchy Valley, but help reduce the chronic overcrowding that plagues its Yosemite Valley neighbor. A fitting tribute to John Muir would be for us to find the wisdom and the will to restore the grandeur of Hetch Hetchy Valley, in the early 21st century, for our families and all future generations." Mention Hetch Hetchy Valley to long-time Sierra Club members and their response is immediate: a heartfelt feeling of deep sadness for what has been lost, and a fervent hope that what has been lost can somehow be regained. Probably no environmental issue symbolizes the Sierra Club's historical role in protecting the Earth's natural wonders like its efforts to preserve and restore Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park.
Following a fierce nationwide debate led by John Muir and Will Colby of the Sierra Club, the City of San Francisco was authorized by the U.S. Congress, in the Raker Act of 1913, to construct a dam and reservoir on the Tuolumne River in Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park. The O'Shaughnessy Dam was completed in 1923 and, after the necessary pipelines and power houses were completed, San Francisco began using water from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir for its water supply and electrical power generation. John Muir, the first president of the Sierra Club and someone who is often called the "Father of our National Parks," spoke of Hetch Hetchy Valley as "a wonderfully exact counterpart" of Yosemite Valley, and therefore "one of nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples." Josiah D. Whitney, former State Geologist of California, stated that Hetch Hetchy Valley "is not on quite as grand a scale as [Yosemite] Valley; but if there were no Yosemite, the Hetch Hetchy would be fairly entitled to a world-wide fame; and, in spite of the superior attractions of the Yosemite, a visit to its counterpart may be recommended, if it be only to see how curiously nature has repeated herself."
In 1987, following Secretary of the Interior Donald Hodel's proposal to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley, the Sierra Club's Board of Directors reaffirmed its "historic and fundamental opposition to the damming of the Tuolumne River in Yosemite National Park," and called upon "all interests to take an open minded, long view of this issue, and to study and assess alternatives to meeting their needs and concerns through alternative sources of water, power and revenues." Hetch Hetchy Valley, in the Grand Canyon of the Tuolulmne River, should be restored to its natural condition in order to allow "one of nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples" to be available for public enjoyment, to be reintegrated into its natural ecological and biological systems, and to provide for scientific exploration. In addition, Hetch Hetchy Valley should be restored in order to preserve the integrity and inviolate status of our National Parks. As a 1988 report prepared by the Bureau of Reclamation for the National Park Service states: "Such restoration would renew the national commitment to maintaining the integrity of the national park system and keep in perpetual conservation an irreplaceable and unique natural area."
In a letter and accompanying technical response to the Bureau of Reclamation's 1988 report, the Sierra Club stated it favors options for Hetch Hetchy's restoration "that make fullest use of already developed [water] supplies and efficient management practices in the Tuolumne watershed, before additional supplies are developed." The Sierra Club's Hetch Hetchy Restoration Task Force is continuing the effort to find "win-win" technical/engineering solutions for restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley and satisfying the water and power concerns of the San Francisco Bay Area.
What You Can Do Today, the Sierra Club's Hetch Hetchy Restoration Task Force continues to advocate the renewed effort to restore Hetch Hetchy Valley. Your involvement is welcomed. The Hetch Hetchy Restoration Task Force invites you to:
Thanks for your help! Together, we can, as John Muir said, "do something to make the mountains glad." For information about this website, e-mail: harold.wood@sierraclub.org © Sierra Club 2002-2005.
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