Glad To See the Salmon Return, But…

Seeing Steelhead trout and Chinook salmon returning to our creeks and tributaries is a wonderful sight indeed. In the early 70’s when I first began a career as a Psych Tech at Sonoma State Hospital (SDC) I remember taking a few of our residents down behind the Butler building along Sonoma Creek to watch for an occasional Steelhead work its way up the small fish ladder that the State had installed. If you were patient you might see two or three Steelheads within an hour’s time. As the years passed I stopped seeing the fish. Even after the fish ladder was removed I never again saw any sign of spawning Steelies. And now with news of our local fisheries making a comeback I can’t bare to think of what will happen if and when the State moves forward with Rogal’s Eldridge Renewal plan. What will happen to these tributaries – Mill creek; Asbury creek; Stewart creek? Obviously the State and the County don’t care enough to give it much thought. Putting in a thousand homes, a luxury hotel, tens of thousands sq.ft of commercial space, right in the middle of an Historic District and at the base of Jack London State Park is way more important to them. What are they thinking? Where’s Sonoma Land Trust and Sonoma Ecology Center through all of this?
— Gregg Montgomery