Every year, juvenile steelhead die in Pescadero Marsh before they are able to make it out to sea. Last year, 300 died. This year, there is no accurate count.  Steelhead are a threatened species that comes to the creek to spawn every year. According to the County Times, it’s unclear whether the fish are dying from natural or human causes, but disease has been ruled out.

Every spring, adult steelhead swim upstream to spawn. As water levels decrease, a 40-foot sandbar forms on the beach, dividing stream from ocean and creating a brackish estuary rich in plankton for their newborn trout to feed. The first storms of winter break the sandbar open, delivering the young fish to the ocean and beginning the process anew.

The problem, explained Joanne Kerbavaz, a resource ecologist with State Parks, is that a portion of the young fish suffocate before they reach the ocean.

There are a number of theories as to why, one of which has to do with the movement of water in the marsh. The water contains saltwater on the bottom and freshwater on top. When the sandbar breaks and the marsh flows out to sea, the water gets mixed together and the fish lose their oxygen. Another hypothesis is that naturally occurring hydrogen sulfides are stirred up off the bottom of the lagoon, killing the fish.

There is some concern that the die-off may be the result of changes made over the last 20 years. California State Parks has been working for twenty years to restore the creeks. They have removed numerous farmers’ levees built to prevent flooding. In 1991, Caltrans built a bridge over the watershed.

Dungeness crabs in most of the Pacific fisheries won’t be ready to harvest until the end of the year, but the crabs are ready in Half Moon Bay, San Francisco and Bodega Bay, reports the Daily Journal.

More farmers are opting out of the Williamson Act, which offers tax breaks for keeping farmland in agricultural production, reports the Chronicle in an excellent article on the issues with the program.

In September, Roger Nicholson, a longtime Tehama County rancher, took 320 acres of his 7,000-acre ranch near Flournoy out of the Williamson Act, partly because the land abuts two subdivisions.

"I’m not a subdivider or a developer, but there is a lot of value in that land," Nicholson said. "I’ve resisted before but I’m feeling tremendous pressure from those subdivisions."
[...]
The law was signed in 1965, and has become inextricably linked with its author, John Williamson, then the assemblyman representing Kern County.

Farmers in Williamson’s district complained that the practice of making them pay property taxes for the highest and best use of their land rather than agricultural use was hurting their bottom line. Without some tax relief, they would have to give up and sell their land for development, they told Williamson.

Williamson’s solution was to assess agricultural land at a lower rate if the owner agreed to farm the land for 10 years.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Flooding is a serious problem every year in some neighborhoods in Montara.  It is exacerbated by   the removal of trees, exposure of soil, increased hardscaping, and poor drainage.  These combine to increase the amount of runoff and the erosion it causes and reduce the number of places the water can drain or be absorbed.

I met Stephen Lowens, of Montarans United Against Flooding, at the Board of Supervisors hearing on the Local Coastal Program Update.  He came with photos of the flooding in Montara this November and last April, a letter to the supervisors, and proposal for solving the problem. We’re running a copy of his letter and an album of photos of flooding in Montara.  If you have more photos, especially as the rainy season wears on, send them to Coastsider, and we’ll add them to the album.  Click on any image to see the album.

This letter is intended to provide formal input and comment on the Midcoast Local Coastal Program (LCP) Update Project and the public meeting on December 6, 2005.

We have read the staff report prepared by Marcia Raines dated November 9, 2005, and we find that it has a gaping hole.  In the infrastructure section of the report, there are no policies related to flood control or to the stormwater collection system that is in place throughout unincorporated portions of the county.  That system is in significant disrepair and is failing on many counts due to the lack of formal policies in the design, maintenance, management, inspection and enforcement of stormwater collection.  The San Mateo County Department of Public Works has consistently refused to take action on this problem, and we surmise that the lack of official policy is a contributing factor to this lack of action.

Because of the lack of policy, homes are being flooded, soil is being eroded, and silt-laden runoff is entering our streams and the ocean many times a year during the rainy season.  This county has long ignored and buck-passed this issue, and the results are being felt by residents with no power to control the incoming waters.  Homes throughout the midcoast area are being flooded because of Board inaction; and the uncontrolled runoff from new development is the principal cause of this growing problem.  The only way this problem can be solved is for San Mateo County to take action on stormwater management on a comprehensive basis in the Midcoast area.

San Mateo County is far behind all other Bay Area counties in dealing with this issue.  Some counties have developed policies to allow urban development only in cities, where city standards apply.  Several counties have flood control districts.  Others have policies in their General Plan and/or a stormwater management plan.  San Mateo County is alone in avoiding the issue.

Click on "read more" to see the rest of this letter, including proposed policy letter from Montarans United Against Flooding.

Cunha’s drama class presented "Humpty Dumpty is Missing" on Friday, November 18. The play was a broad private-eye comedy about the disappearance of a beloved nursery rhyme character who turned out to have many more enemies than any of us could have guessed. The Dashiell Hammett-style mystery exposed the dark secrets that motivate some of our most beloved fairy-tale celebrities.

Click on the image to see Coastsider’s album.

Leland Yee is Speaker pro Tempore of the California State Assembly

Dear Editor,

I want to publicly thank Senator Dianne Feinstein and Congressman Tom Lantos for their commitment to the recent passage of the Rancho Corral de Tierra Golden Gate National Recreation Boundary Adjustment Act of 2005.

This Act will significantly increase the size of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, but more importantly it will permanently protect over 4,000 acres of open space on the Peninsula.  In fact, these areas will protect land from the Pacific Ocean to the watershed four miles inland as well as sensitive coastal habitat for golden eagles, mountain lions, and falcons, among other wildlife.

With the additional land secured by Feinstein and Lantos, the recreation area will grow to nearly 80,000 acres, making it the nation’s largest urban park.  Thanks to our delegation’s leadership, generations of Bay Area residents will be able to enjoy this protected open space.

It is imperative that we continue to be vigilant in protecting our environment.  Currently, there is an effort by Congressional Republicans to end the long-standing federal moratorium on offshore oil drilling.  Lifting this moratorium could have a devastating impact on our coastal communities, particularly to commercial fishing and tourism, which annually contributes over $50 billion to the state’s economy.

I look forward to continuing to work with our Congressional delegation in protecting our environmental resources.

Sincerely,

Leland Y. Yee, Ph.D.

We’ve just put up a album of candid portraits of the nearly 70 coastsiders and carpetbaggers who spoke at the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors hearing on the proposed revisions to the Local Coastal Program.

This is an experiment in citizenship and journalism. It’s also a work in progress that you can help with.  Montara photographer Darin Boville took the pictures, which are amazing. I have added names and a brief note about what each person said.  I got the spelling right in most cases, but there are some where I misspelled or simply missed the name.  If you have corrections to the names, or my account of what people said, please email Barry Parr using the link in the left-hand navigation bar.

You’ll notice that many speakers wear yellow tags. These say "The Coastside belongs to everyone".

IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO BE HEARD: The next hearing on the LCP revisions will be Tuesday at 10:30am in Redwood City. If you haven’t spoken yet, it’s critical that you speak at this meeting. Supporters of increasing the Midcoast’s growth rate were badly outnumbered at this meeting and they’re sure to show up in force on Tuesday.

The recount of ballots for the Half Moon Bay City Council election will begin at 8:30am, Monday, Dec. 12 at the Elections Office at 40 Tower Road in San Mateo, according to the Daily Journal.

A meeting with Half Moon Bay council candidate Mike Ferreira and the San Mateo County Elections Office was held on Wednesday to set the ground rules for the recount. Recount law was designed to give all candidates an opportunity to review, challenge and reach or alter the conclusion that the Elections Office reached when they counted and certified the election results.

“Mr. Ferreira is exercising his right to a recount and review of the votes cast in this very close election. In doing so, he has given the public a chance to learn or be reminded of this legal avenue that’s available to challenge the outcome of close elections,” said Chief Elections Officer Warren Slocum. “We welcome his request.”

This raises an interesting question about choice of words.  Coastsider’s headline when Ferreira announced his recall was "Mike Ferreira asks for recount", the Chronicle didn’t put it in a headline, but their story said Ferreira "asked San Mateo County elections officials for a recount", the County Times said "Defeated councilman seeks recount", and the county Elections Office said "Half Moon Bay Candidate Requests Recount of City Council Race ". 

But the Review’s headline was "Ferreira demands a recount".  "Demands" is an interesting choice of words for two reasons. The first is prosaic: it’s a howling cliché. The second is more significant.  It’s the wrong word. Ferreira was entitled to ask for a recount and the county "welcomed his request". The Review’s headline makes him look like a sore loser, when his request is appropriate, within the rules, and what any sane person would do under the circumstances.