We Don’t Know What We’ve Lost.
by Klara East
Tears well up in my eyes when I read about what we have lost. I live next to what used to be Tulare Lake, the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. Stories of the skies darkening when the waterfowl took flight. Home to salmon, elk and antelope. A bit north is the dry riverbed of the San Joaquin River. There are no longer any unimpeded rivers in the San Joaquin Valley. During the last 100 years almost all of the water has been diverted to irrigated agriculture. We have lost so much.
And it doesn’t end here. Massive pumps suck the water of the Sacramento River out of the Delta into the California Aquaduct. Plans are being drawn to raise dams and bore a tunnel under the Delta to channel ever more irrigation water south. My soul weeps and I am outraged.
My association with Friends of the River didn’t come about because I love white water kayaking. Kayaking is yet in my future. I became a volunteer because rivers and wetlands feed my soul. When I ponder the thought that the rivers and wetlands have existed for tens of thousands of years something inside me is moved. I experience deep pleasure in watching V’s of geese and sandpipers flying in from Alaska, knowing that I am witnessing a piece of the Great Pacific Flyway. Sitting beside the headwaters of a clear stream in the Sierra I feel connected to the universe and it keeps me sane.
I applied to become a RAT because I wanted to deepen my knowledge about water legislation and to join forces with an organization that is working to protect the things I love. It has fulfilled those desires and has connected me with the larger community of people who have been working for so many years to protect our rivers. During the RATS training I got to hear stories from some of the founders of Friends of the River and realize that this work has been going on for a long time. I got to meet a man working with disabled veterans to heal some of their psychic wounds by taking them out on the river. I got to meet the woman who fought for the preservation of Mono Lake. It has been very gratifying to see how this work goes on in so many ways. It is good to know I am not alone.