STANISLAUS CONNECTIONS
Working For Peace, Justice, and A Sustainable Environment
February, 2003
Living Lightly
Reforesting the Tuolumne River
Corridor
By FRIENDS OF THE TUOLUMNE
WATERFORD BEGINS PLANTING
Volunteers began planing trees in the floodplain along the Tuolumne River in Waterford in February. The restoration site to begin the reforestation is immediately downstream from the Hickman Bridge.
We have partnered with Waterford to restore approximately 9 acres along the Tuolumne River between the percolation ponds and the river. This floodplain would have been naturally covered with willows, cottonwoods, valley oak, and a variety of herbs and grasses. We plan to restore it to a more natural condition.
The design was completed about a year ago and we have acquired all the necessary permits. Approximately one fifth will be planted each year. By spreading out the time for planting, we can adapt our techniques to take advantage of our new knowledge.
NATIVE GRASSES FOR TUOLUMNE RIVER REGIONAL PARK
The Tuolumne River Regional Park has accepted our offer to plant native grasses along the bike trail near the airport. We will be providing enough native grasses to seed approximately 4 acres. This pilot project will provide a knowledge base for further native grasses in the Regional Park. The Regional Park will plant and maintain the area. Watch for an area roped off this summer as they begin clearing it of invasive weeds in preparation for the fall planting.
The Gateway design of [the Tuolumne River Regional Park] recommends native grasses. By providing a small area to plant this coming fall, we can adapt our planting and maintenance techniques on this small project and be better prepared for success on the Gateway parcel. If successful, we also hope to expand this pilot project along the bike trail to re-establish native grasses.
BOBCAT FLAT RESTORATION
We are developing a conceptual restoration design for Bobcat Flat. This project is upstream of Waterford, approximately 8 miles downstream from La Grange.
The process of preparing designs and acquiring permits is lengthy because it involves science from several areas-vegetation, fish, avian, mammal, and river hydrology and flood conveyance. We are focusing our restoration efforts on native fish, vegetation, and avian.
The project has an island with dredger tailings that will be used to provide spawning habitat. The dredgers turned the river upside down and left the large cobble on top and the soil 30 feet under. Although this makes it impossible for native herbs to re-establish themselves, it does provide the cobble for salmon and trout spawning habitat.
We will be planting several varieties of willow, cottonwoods, oaks, white alder, mugwort, wild rose, native grasses and sedges, and many other native plants. We have begun the baseline monitoring for spring bird populations so as the project grows into a more natural condition, we will be able to measure the success in attracting greater numbers and varieties of birds.
GRAYSON RIVER RANCH
The restoration of Grayson River Ranch is nearly complete. The last 850 trees were planted this January. They will be irrigated this year and we expect the same high level of success. We also seeded approximately 40 acres with wild grasses-creeping wild rye, blue rye, gum weed, and meadow barley.
This project, 140 acres, is downstream about four miles from the confluence with the San Joaquin River. The sandy soil has provided excellent growing conditions. The birds are already using our young forest of 6,000 trees. We look forward to our first bird nest! ACTION: For more information or make a donation, Friends of the Tuolumne 2412 Hilo Lane,Ceres, CA 95307;(209) 537-7522; or e-mail dboucher@netfeed.com
Hunger and Harvest: two new books reviewed
Hope’s Edge: The Next Diet for a Small
Planet by Anna and Frances Moore
Lappé
Book
review From: Oxfam
Exchange the newsletter of Oxfam International
“I am going to make a
choice about the way I eat.”
In their recent book, Hope’s
Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet, Anna and Frances Moore Lappé write
again about the importance of choosing what we eat. The Lappes offer hope that
each of us can make small “but significant” choices that lead to control
over our diets, the environment, and the quality of our lives.
Why, they ask, are we
creating a world in which we are killing off the environment, allowing 32,000
children to die daily of hunger-related illness, and burning a hole in the ozone
layer that is a doorway to cancer.
Public schools serve fast
foods and sell exclusive rights to soda companies; our high sugar and fat diet
is a killer; there is a crisis in obesity among children as well as adults in
this country.
The Lappés document the
destructive nature of our agricultural methods, with its massive subsidies and
intensive pesticide and fertilizer usage. The book tells the story of this
mother and daughter team’s journey to five continents, encountering courageous
and creative people who find alternative ways to organize themselves and their
resources and empower the poor.
Women in some of the
world’s poorest communities, in Bangladesh and India, inspired the Lappés
with their newfound sense of power. The work of the Grameen Bank in providing
micro-credit to women is told (a few years ago Stanislaus Connections had a
story about this project)
Naturally, Anna and Frances
Moore Lappé included a rich and tempting selection of healthy recipes. So when
you’ve read the meaty part of the book, you can start cooking healthy from it,
too.
Stolen Harvest
by Vandana Shiva
By
MYRTLE OSNER
At the same time I was
reading about the Lappés, I was given Stolen
Harvest by Vandana Shiva
(South End Press, 2000)
which, in considerable detail, documents the great damage being done in
countries like India by multinational companies, particularly Monsanto, the
inventor and patent holder of “terminator” seeds.
For hundreds of years,
Indian farmers developed many varieties of grains and legumes which are adapted
to the various habitats in India. Monsanto and other companies have also
patented many seeds and claim that farmers who save seeds from year to year are
“stealing” their patent. (Under NAFTA, several lawsuits have been started
over this problem, one of them in Canada.) Saving seeds over generations has
been practiced the world over, the best seed which produced the best crop won
out and was the chief way in which new varieties were developed to fit into the
niches where they were grown. Particularly damaging are seeds which have had
inserted into their DNA a weed killer such as Roundup. Very nice if you don’t
like weeds. However when these genetically-engineered plants spreads theirs
pollen around the countryside, other crops not so resistant can be destroyed,
thus destroying with it some other farmer’s livelihood.
Shiva also discusses the
damage done to the soil of India by the killing and shipping to other countries
of much of the livestock. Her premise is that the cattle indigenous to India
provided fertilizer for the farmers along with milk. As beasts of burden, the
cattle in India are unexcelled by tractors and are far cheaper for poor farmers.
Reliance on commercial fertilizers and pesticides has bankrupted farmers who
were formerly self-sufficient. Since many people in India are vegetarians, their
reliance on wholesome foods from the land requires the land to continue to be
fertile and productive. Her point is that the so-called “green revolution,”
with its heavy reliance on new seeds and chemicals has actually depleted the
soil of India instead of providing more and better food, the reason that the
green revolution was touted in the first place.
There may be more polemics
in this book than you care to read, but it certainly will make you think again
about ways in which we in this country can buy locally grown products. The
immense amount of fossil fuels burned each day in transporting food from one end
of the world to the other could be cut enormously by going back to eating
locally produced foods in season. (Another plug for Farmers Markets and growing
your own.)
