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photo by Donald Kinney
In one corner, ladies and gentlemen, we have the S.P.A.W.N. organization who favor stringent restrictions on development, and in the other corner we have the San Geronimo Valley Stewards who are concerned about their property values taking a nose-dive. Both organizations have been slugging it out for years, and both are genuinely concerned about environmental issues, but the animosity between the two groups is currently at the boiling point.
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photo by Donald Kinney
The most recent debate took place on Tuesday in a packed meeting with the Marin County Board of Supervisors where a final vote was supposed to take place, but was postponed when it became clear that the county planning staff needed to come up with a better and more realistic approach that would meet the needs of property owners as well as the fish.
Translated into practical terms--the Board of Supervisors realized that they would be negotiating a string of costly lawsuits for years if they didn't come up with a more workable and realistic plan.
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photo by Donald Kinney
So, here's the deal--the Pacific Ocean is in really bad shape from pollution and over-fishing. The Lagunitas Creek (San Geronimo Creek is a tributary) has seen populations of the spawning Cohos diminish dramatically in the past several decades. Newly hatched "smolt" spend one year here in the creek, then make their way out to sea where they spend two years before returning to spawn in the exact spot where they were hatched.
In 2005 the mighty Lagunitas and its tributaries was dealt a severe blow with heavy floods that did heavy damage to the spawning cycle and numbers of returning Cohos took another hard hit--reducing their numbers to an estimated 300. But this year the experts say the number has increased to 500, which is still a far cry from the many thousands that spawned here 100 or so years ago. My fingers are crossed that the population of Cohos will continue to increase. Hopefully, the Marin County Board of Supervisors and the two feuding organizations will finally hammer out a plan amicable to all, and supportive of a major Coho Salmon comeback in the future.
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photo of spawning Coho Salmon (from January 2012) by Donald Kinney
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