By Richard Dale
As the 44th Earth Day returns today, it’s worth reflecting on two things that highlight the bonds between the natural world and those of us lucky enough to reside here in Sonoma Valley.
Perhaps the most significant fact affecting our valley this year is less water. Though February and March rains slaked our thirst a bit, there is still a shortage. The drought reaches along our community’s main water line, into northern Sonoma County and Mendocino County, to the two reservoirs that supply water to more than two-thirds of Valley residents.
The reservoirs are presently at 75 and 50 percent of normal capacity. We could still see more wet weather, but it would take a lot of rain to change things this year.
Underground, where 75 percent of the water used in our valley comes from, mostly for agriculture and rural properties, the situation is even more stressful. Groundwater levels continue a vexing year-by-year decline, and saline groundwater is moving northward from the Bay, despite improved agricultural water practices and increased use of recycled water. There are more wells, deeper wells, and more of us using water for agriculture and rural properties. Fish and animals that rely on summer water in streams have a very hard time, especially in dry years, as groundwater falls.
Water will be increasingly scarce in a warming region like ours unless we significantly change our relationship to it. Positive shifts in our use must include re-using water in our homes and businesses, using less thirsty crop varieties, making farm irrigation even more efficient, greatly reducing the water we use for landscaping, capturing rainwater and runoff water, and finding or making places to sink water into the ground, if we are to sustain the life-giving benefits water brings us. A great resource for information about wise water can be found found online at savingwaterpartnership.org.
Another significant Earth issue this year is a new path for Sonoma Developmental Center, which cares for the most disadvantaged people among us. Over the next five years, SDC is going to change because of a new mandate from the state. It is the Valley’s largest employer, and many of us rely on it because of the many parts of life in our Valley that its land, employees and families touch.
Its 900 acres contain a wildlife corridor of statewide significance, and support many rare species. It provides water for animals and people downstream. It has more than 12 miles of trails and two lakes used by residents and visitors.
Changes coming to SDC can be either a crisis or an opportunity for Sonoma Valley. To a large extent, whether it’s one or the other depends on how much our community can direct these changes. Fortunately, a diverse group of valley and regional nonprofits, agencies, elected officials and patient advocates, representing a wide range of interests, have come together and are working with the state to create a visionary response to this opportunity.
That vision includes excellent residential care and support services for patients, training for providers and services for others with developmental disabilities around the region, creative reuse of its facilities, and protection for its stunning wildlands. Several public forums about SDC are likely in the near future and groups are invited to work with our coalition. For more information, contact Sonoma County Supervisor Susan Gorin.
We live in a special place at an important time. The challenge for each of us is to be sure that the actions we take, large and small, support our special place, this year and into the future.
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Richard Dale is executive director of the Sonoma Ecology Center.
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