This clip below about the county that I grew up in (if you watch the entire three minutes it gives statistics at the end about the various industries that have collapsed and the unemployment rate which stands at 20%). The same agency in this clip, that's been harassing farmers over tiny streams, refuses to do anything about the massive environmental damage that's being done in a neighboring county by pot growers.
One state congressman's aid that I heard speak before we moved had questioned people at the agency and were told that they weren't doing anything about the complete destruction of the forest (think bulldozers and no sewage disposal, alongside what is basically becoming a small city of people) because the people there "have guns." The ranchers likely have guns too. But the ranchers don't begin firing their guns in the air whenever government officials show up. The growers do. I have a feeling that if the ranchers were acting the way the growers were, the outcome wouldn't be the same and the government would crack down hard on them.
Or, on a smaller level, each year it was upsetting to see the geese and ducks lay their eggs along the river in spring near my family's home. Then they'd decide thousands of miles away whether it was a dry year or a wet year and artificially flood the river to recreate what they believe would have happened if the dam hadn't been there. I have a feeling what would have happened naturally wouldn't have been tens of thousands of square feet of water rushing down all at once and destroying the nests of many of the birds.
I'm all for being good stewards of the land we've been entrusted with. However I haven't seen many good decisions being handed down from people who have no understanding of the places they're making decisions about.
Anyways, here's the clip on the power struggle going on in Northern California:
I can totally agree. There are horrible decisions made in the name of the environment. I recall my Dad talking about the business he ran back when bottles were washed and re-used, so the problem was how to handle the soapy surgary water. My Dad loves the woods and streams with a passion that is deep as his love of breathing. So in the absence of any good way to deal with what was OK at the time to simply dump into the river, he created a wetland. The dump where the broken bottles made a deep granulated basin, they let the water run into it. They let it sit and they got water plants growing in that pond, and then let the water seep through the finely broken glass into a second pond that had fish and more plants. The water in the end that was going into the river was tested regularly and was nearly clean enough to drink. Ducks loved the ponds, migratory birds liked to stop in on their way south and north, and the fish were safe from pollution being added to the river. Great huh?
ReplyDeleteThe business was made to get rid of their effective little water cleaning system because somebody thought an artificial wetland was a bad idea.
I have little respect for environmentalists and government officials because most of them do more harm than good. That has been true of governments down through the ages.
Just another example of too much government. The government is just becoming a tyrant.
ReplyDeleteI have lived in Northern California for most of my life and I understand why this is so near to your heart. Water rights are true battles out here. Not only do they water us, our animals and plants, but water protects our homes too. Two years ago we had a horrific fire near the home I grew up in. http://www.kcra.com/news/20636210/detail.html I've lived through many drought seasons, on well water where we would get 1 tsp per minute and end up having to borrow water from neighbors who still had water. I remember learning about how Southern California, desperate for water, drained Mono Lake which still looks awful. Our problem comes mostly from environmentalists who are more concerned with protecting Wetlands than preserving human life, and polititians who are more than eager to sell our rights to the highest bidder.
ReplyDeleteI worked in government for 15 years, military, county, and court, so I know how tangled the law can be for the people responsible for tending the land (both land owner and government employee). I will tell you it is often just as frustrating for the government worker who has his hands tied up in beurocracy.
I saw a lot of dead almond groves and signs saying it was the government's fault when I was in California. So sad to see so many almond farms dying out.
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