WQRCB

North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board
5550 Skylane Blvd.
Suite A
Santa Rosa, CA 95403

Re: HEARING ON THE GARCIA RIVER WATER QUALITY ATTAINMENT STRATEGY

May 25, 2000

Dear Board Members:

Russian River Residents Against Unsafe Logging is a watchdog group of concerned Russian River residents formed to publicly scrutinize local timber harvesting practices. We are particularly concerned about the ongoing degradation by excessive sedimentation of the Russian River from various non-point sources, especially by logging. We applaud the EPA's efforts to curb destructive practices through the TMDL mechanisms of the Federal Clean Water Act. Implementation of a TMDL program for the Garcia River is a crucial first-step to restoring the beneficial public uses of all of California's waters, including the Russian River -- not only the Garcia. We strongly encourage your Board to recommend that the State Board expedite the Garcia TMDL.

We also urge you to ensure that any voluntary, "Tier One", planning strategy, such as a voluntary Group Plan, meet the same standards as the default TMDL rules.

Finally, we also recommend, through you, that the State Board consider implementing a one-step regional, "generic" TMDL planning scheme, in order to hasten the TMDL process. The Russian is not scheduled for a TMDL until 2011, and this is a long time for our endangered fish to wait.

Respectfully,

Jay Halcomb
Chair, RRRAUL

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