Public key to saving streams

Environmental groups call for more connection with public to affect change

By KERANA TODOROV
Register Staff Writer

The general public should be more involved in the conservation of natural resources, speakers at a recent symposium in Napa said during a discussion on the future of Napa County’s watersheds.

Frederick Euphrat, principal consultant for the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture for Sen. Patricia Higgins, D-Santa Rosa, said watershed groups may work together to figure out how to leave more water in the streams — a goal of AB 2121, the state bill passed four years ago to protect instream flows in Napa, Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino and Humboldt counties.

“I think that citizens’ solutions are going to act faster and further than we do in the (state) Legislature because a lot of this is going to be bottom up, consumer driven, wallet driven — and driven by the people,” said Euphrat, one of the speakers at the symposium on May 22.

John Woodbury, general manager of the Napa County Open Space District, spoke on the importance to involve the public in the management of natural resources.

“We’re not very good at involving the public in the solutions which I think exacerbates the disconnect between what the issues are — the need for stewardship, the need for management and the solutions to that,” Woodbury said.

Felix Riesenberg, principal water resources engineer for Napa County, said that 50 percent of all potable water in Napa County is imported via the North Bay Aqueduct. Delta water has been the subject of federal and state suits.

Riesenberg, who said his job is to make sure that Napa County’s cities have available water supplies, called for collaborative solutions to conserve and recycle water.

“My concern is how are we going to make sure that water is going to flow into this county so that we are going to maintain a lifestyle that we currently enjoy,” he said.

“In Napa County, the greatest challenge — this is easy — in the next 20 years is going to be water,” he said.

More than 150 people attended the Napa County Resource Conservation District symposium at Copia.

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