More than 185 local residents filled the San Andreas Town Hall on Monday, March 30 for an East Bay Municipal Utility District public hearing on the district's draft Water Supply Management Program 2040. That plan includes a proposal to expand Pardee Reservoir in the Sierra foothills and drown miles of the Mokelumne River. EBMUD gets 90 percent of its water from the Mokelumne.

Thirty-five speakers of all ages and from all walks of life spoke out against the reservoir expansion. They urged EBMUD to find more progressive, less environmentally destructive alternatives for its future water supply.

Calaveras residents spoke personally and passionately about their love of the Mokelumne and the role it plays in their lives and the life and identity of their community.

Miwok tribal members Marge Grow and Arvada Fisher spoke about the sacred willow-gathering site that would be inundated by the reservoir, and its importance to their children, grandchildren and cultural memory. Grow, who brought along her granddaughter, showed the EBMUD directors in attendance a cradleboard crafted from willows collected at the site.

Judy Jebian of the Amador County Historical Society expressed the society’s opposition to the reservoir enlargement because of the damage that would be done to significant cultural and historic resources, including the 1912 Middle Bar Bridge. The bridge, which would be inundated by the expanded reservoir, is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Several individuals spoke of the great beauty of the river and its importance as a recreation resource for families and a source of solace, rejuvenation and inspiration. Others pointed out that destroying environmental resources is contrary to EBMUD's stated values.

Fred Velasquez of Paloma and fly fisherman Mikey Weir, a native of Amador County, described the wildlife habitat that would be destroyed by the inundation of miles of free-flowing river.

George Wendt, owner of locally based rafting outfiitter OARS, described benefit trips his company has conducted over the last few years on behalf of the Calaveras Youth Mentoring Program. Wendt noted that his company would like to run 1/2 day commercial trips on the river as soon as this summer if permitted to do so. He said the Mokelumne Electra-Middle Bar run is suitable for people who cannot raft more difficult whitewater rivers, including the elderly.

"The most beautiful part of the river is the reach below Highway 49," Wendt said. He remarked that adding commercial rafting activity to the Mokelumne would create local jobs and increase tourism revenue.

More than 330 local residents and Mokelumne river lovers from outside the foothills have filled Amador and Calaveras County meeting halls in two EBMUD public hearings over the last two weeks. Local residents are concerned about the economic, recreation, public safety, cultural and historical resource, recreation, and scenic impacts to their treasured Mokelumne River. Only one person, the former general manager of a small local irrigation district, has spoken in favor of expanding the reservoir.

For more information on the EBMUD water plan and proposed Pardee expansion, see http://www.foothillconservancy.org/pardee

Comments on the water program EIR are due to EBMUD by April 6.

Groups and organizations opposed to the Pardee expansion include:

City of Jackson
Amador Water Agency
Amador County Historical Society
CalTrout
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance
Friends of the River
American Whitewater
Sierra Nevada Alliance
Sierra Club Bay Chapter
Sierra Club Mother Lode Chapter
Loma Prieta Paddlers
Foothill Conservancy