Getting Down to Earth: What is Happening Here and Why Should We Care?
A Fish and Forestry Forum
Presentations, Exhibits, and a Public Discussion on the Theme of Fish and Forests
Sonoma State University
3:00 to 5:30, Monday, April 17, 1999
during Earth Action Week (April 17-22)
at The SSU Commons (follow signs).

Fish: Coho, steelhead, and King (Chinook) salmon are going, going.... gone? How do the impacts of present forestry practices affect this loss? Fishermen, the public, educational institutions, the government... what are they doing, what do they think?

Forests: What is the state of our forests? Clearcuts? Pesticides? Wildlife? Bio-diversity? Can we have hills without oaks? Do you know about the recently discovered Tanoak Sudden Death Syndrome, the fatal disease which can wipe oaks and other species -- now taking hold in Marin and Sonoma County?

Want to know more, including what you can do? Russian River Residents Against Unsafe Logging (RRRAUL) and Sonoma Earth Action (SEA).are hosting a forum on Fish and Forestry: exhibits, slide shows, and talks ... by and with 5 people who have made a difference.

Pavel Svihra, University of California Cooperative Extension (Marin)

The man who jolted the state awake on the epidemic of dying oaks, now reaching from Santa Cruz to Mendocino, and, yes, Sonoma County. NOW there is a mad scramble to find research money, to find the cause of this invariably fatal disease -- and a remedy.

Chris Poehlmann, Gualala River Improvement Network (GRIN), Gualala Watershed Council.

Mr. Poehlmann is a biologist and a designer of interactive museum exhibits.. He will present THE ROCKY LOGGING -- AND WILDLIFE -- HORROR PICTURE SHOW, a slide show of some of the worst logging going on in Sonoma County. Clearcutting, herbicides, and environmental devastation -- it's going on right now and the same rules that allow these horrors also permit it in your own neighborhood. Chris engineered the daylighting of these horrors, long hidden away.

Helen Libeu, Russian River Residents Against Unsafe Logging, Citizens for Watershed Protection, Foresters Licensing Committee (Calif. Board of Forestry).

Helen has been a prominent forestry activist for 30+ years, is a Public member of the Foresters Licensing Committee, and, among numerous distinctions, has won the Sierra Club's Henry D. Thoreau "Difficult Person" Award.. (Example: She once obtained a logging license for her dog). She will speak on the topic: Making a Difference (as a person or a small group). The prime example of this is...

Alan Levine, Coast Action Group.

Mr. Levine was a major participant in the lawsuit resulting in TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) requirements, in watersheds impaired by sediment and hot water--namely all of our coastal rivers where salmon and steelhead occur. This is the program with teeth, affecting timberland and agricultural landowners.

William Kier, Kier Associates, Institute for Fisheries Resources.

Bill was a fisheries scientist with the California Department of Fish and Game 40 years ago, and later served as adviser in the State legislature He manages a fisheries and natural resource consulting practice. He will use the KRIS computer program, which runs on any modest Windows 95 machine, to illustrate Good Watershed Planning.

A Panel Discussion with Questions and Answers will follow the presentations. Come hear these 5 who made a difference. If you or your group have a relevant exhibit, or a publication to distribute, bring it along with your own questions and information. Set-up will be at 2:30.

For more information: phone Steve Hernandez, SEA, at 792-1401, or e-mail: rrraul@sonic.net.

RRRAUL is a forestry watchdog group formed to publicly scutinize timber harvesting practices in Sonoma County. It began in 1997 among some Guerneville residents in response to a local Timber Harvest Plan. The group successfully challenged that Plan, which was a very bad one. Ultimately, the plan was denied by the California Deparment of Forestry. Some of the group decided afterward to stick together to examine other timber harvest proposals in the County. Since beginning, the group has helped to usefully mitigate several other timber harvests, and has appeared before the Board of Forestry and state legislators on behalf of regulatory and statutory relief.

Russian River Residents Against Unsafe Logging
P.O. Box 2030, Guerneville, CA 95446
Tel: 707.869.3302 Fax: 707.869.3602
E-mail: rrraul@sonic.net
Http://www.rrraul.org

SEA...We are a grassroots environmental action group based at Sonoma State University. Our personal backgrounds, views and interests are diverse. However, our one common belief is that in order to improve the environment for ourselves, our neighbors, and future generations, it is up to us as individuals to take action to bring about the changes needed to attain our environmental aspirations. "Educating. Empowering, and taking Action for the future of the Planet."

Webpage: SEA Earth Week Celebrations
(http://www.sonoma.edu/Clubs/SEA/earth.html)
C/O Dept. of Environmental Studies
Sonoma State University
1801 E. Cotati Ave.
Rohnert Park, CA 94928