Early to Present Times on the Auburn Ravine

Early to Present Times on the Auburn Ravine As a child growing up on the Auburn Ravine in Ophir, I remember waterfalls above our home on Sunset Lane before the Ravine was dredged for the Ophir Tunnel for the now-defunct Auburn Dam to transport water from the American River to Auburn Ravine. On the granite formations above the waterfalls were countless wateros, ground into the rocks over the centuries by the Native Americans grinding pine nuts and acorns into flour for food. Along the entire length of Auburn Ravine are the diverse remains that indicate how central the Auburn Ravine Watershed was to its Native peoples. When I was in second grade at Ophir Elementary in Mrs. Van Riper’s class in 1946-7, she would take her classes each year on a field trip to her orchard, located on the Auburn Ravine off Geraldson Road in Ophir. The trip’s purpose was a lesson in history involving the culture of Ophir’s earliest natives the Maidu/Miwoks. Her orchard had been disked to make harvesting the fruit easier. The loosened soil enhanced the actions of our trip. The students were turned loose to search for native beads, arrowheads, spearheads and traders’ beads and other remnants of this early civilization in what was an ancient Miwok Burial Ground, which today would probably not be lawful to explore. Barbara Van Riper, the wife of my teacher’s son, lives on the Van Riper Orchard today and is a member of Save Auburn Ravine Salmon and Steelhead (SARSAS, Inc., 501C3 nonprofit corporation), whose mission is to return salmon and steelhead to the entire thirty-three mile length of Auburn Ravine. The entire Auburn Ravine Watershed, which includes Auburn Ravine and Coon Creek and all of their tributaries, is the ancestral homeland of the local Maidu/Miwok Tribe, currently identified as the United Auburn Indian Community (UAIC). The tribe is very tightly controlled by the company it hired to operate its Thunder Valley Casino in Lincoln, one of the richest and most success Gambling Casino in the US, but has not been involved with restoring its ancient tribal lands. These wateros are evidence of the centrality of the salmon and steelhead to the life of early Auburn Band of Maidu/Miwoks. They lived close to the salmon streams simply because the salmon was to the woodland people what the buffalo was to the plains Native people – the very fuel of life itself. In fact, many tribes referred to themselves simply and honestly as the “Salmon People”. SARAS will return Auburn Ravine to its former richness and abundance in fishes. When the first Calling Back the Salmon Ceremony was performed at the SARSAS’ first Calling Back the Salmon Celebration on Auburn Ravine in Lincoln by Ty Gorre and Bill Jacobson in 2011, a seemingly miraculous happening took place. One week after the Ceremony was performed, salmon reappeared in Auburn Ravine for the first time since 1989. Apparently, the Ceremony was magical. From that Ceremony, good things continue to happen on Auburn Ravine. Now that fish passage was installed by Nevada Irrigation District (NID) and Placer County, Granite Bay Flycasters and Bella Vista Foundation and others on its Lincoln Gauging Station in central Lincoln, opening up over two miles of marginal spawning gravels to NID’s Hemphill Dam, good things have happened. Two hundred and seventy-four salmon and about 80 redds were counted in these spawning gravels in 2012. In addition to the fish screen installed by rancher Albert Scheiber in 2011, in 2015 South Sutter and the Family Water Alliance have installed a Dual Cone Fish Screen on Pleasant Grove Canal, designed to keep smolt returning to the Pacific to mature from being diverted into agricultural canals and dying. Former SARSAS Board Member and Salmon Expert Ron Ott has stated, “Up to 90% of all salmon returning to the Pacific from Auburn Ravine are entrained and die in Pleasant Grove Canal.” Now salmon are no longer diverted and no longer die in agriculture fields. This is a fabulous benefit to Auburn Ravine salmon and steelhead. When fish passage projects are completed on NID’s Hemphill Dam, currently blocking upstream migration, and Gold Hill Dam, the largest blockage of fishes on Auburn Ravine, salmon and steelhead will be able to migrate eleven additional miles up Auburn Ravine to Wise Powerhouse, one mile downstream from the City of Auburn. The current good rumor is that NID has plans for fish passage over the two dams underway. Because of its abundant water flow, cool water temperatures and vibrant woodlands on its banks providing shade and habitat for aquatic life as food for fish, and the several state and federal agencies aware of efforts on Auburn Ravine, who are working to help SARSAS return fish runs, the Auburn Ravine may become one of the few success stories in returning salmon and steelhead runs to help offset Pacific Coast anadromy’s march toward extinction. The other element desperately needed is for the people of the Auburn/Lincoln communities to take become involved by writing letters, joining organizations and helping the agencies do what they are charged with doing to protect fish from extinction and return their strong runs to local small streams which will save the fish for extinction. The US Department of Commerce through its National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOOA) is directly charged by the US government for its oversight of inland anadromy; that is, oversight for the protection, well-being, and the return of healthy runs of salmon and steelhead to inland waterways. The public must support and urge NOAA to perform its duties diligently. Jack L. Sanchez President and Founder of Save Auburn Ravine Salmon and Steelhead (SARSAS, Inc.) nonprofit, public benefit corporation, whose mission is to return salmon and steelhead to the thirty-three mile length of Auburn Ravine.

February 22, 2016 SAVE AUBURN RAVINE SALMON AND STEELHEAD (SARSAS, Inc.) 501C3. Public Benefit Corporation with Employer Identification Number 80-0291680

February 22, 2016 SAVE AUBURN RAVINE SALMON AND STEELHEAD (SARSAS, Inc.) 501C3. Public Benefit Corporation with Employer Identification Number 80-0291680 General Meeting (OPEN TO THE PUBLIC) 175 Fulweiler Avenue (the Domes), Auburn, CA 95603 - 10 a. m. Contact: SARSAS President Jack Sanchez at 530-888-0281 or VP Gary Mapa ( 530 320-9097), who will conduct meetings when Jack’s away. jlsanchez39@gmail.com Meetings are Fourth Monday of each month at 10-11 a.m. Meetings are held to one hour in length ending at 11 a.m. Please be prompt. I. Self- introductions and sign-ins. II. SARSAS Philosophy – We believe by working together with many individuals and agencies at the same table, we can achieve the mission of SARSAS, which is to return salmon and steelhead to the entire 33 mile length of the Auburn Ravine Speakers are asked to bring their own laptops if possible loaded with their Presentation. III. Featured Speakers : February 22, 2016, Jeff Tooker and Rick Hitchcock, Placer Union High School District Administrators, "Next Generation Science Standards for Placer Union High School District" Jeff Tooker is the Deputy Superintendent of the Placer Union High School District. He heads the Educational Services division and is responsible for overseeing the multitude of educational programs that support the four comprehensive high schools, alternative education program and the Placer School for Adults. Jeff started his professional career in the early 1990s as an English teacher at Del Oro High school. He later served as an Assistant Principal on the campus where he supported many curriculum initiatives and cultural changes on the site and throughout the District. Mr. Tooker also lead Placer High School as their Principal before moving into his District level role. He is a graduate of Del Oro High School, earned a B.A. at C.S.U. Chico and an M.A. from the University of San Francisco. Rob Hitchcock is the Coordinator of Educational Services for the District. He too works to support the educational process throughout the district that serves just over 4000 students. Rob has been in education for the past 32 years, starting his career as science teacher at Temple City High School in southern California before joining the staff at Colfax High School in 1991. Rob has also been an athletic director and assistant principal at Colfax before moving to the district level in 2014. He completed a BS in Biology and Zoology with a minor in Chemistry through Cal Poly, Pomona and met the requirements for a Master’s Degree in Fish and Wildlife Management at Montana State University, Bozeman. Rob’s wife of 27 years, Danise also is a member of the Educational Services team and serves as an Instructional Coach. They have three boys, all who have been successful graduates of Colfax High School and the Placer Union High School District! IV. March 28, 2016, John Sikora, El Dorado Chapter of Trout Unlimited, VP, “Unlimited Options on How Trout Unlimited Can Work with SARSAS” V. April 2016, Chris Shutes, C-SPA TBA VI. May 23, 2016, Mary Tappel, “Beavers: Denning and Lodging- How Beavers Live” VII. June 27, 2016, Heidi Perryman, “Beaver Restoration of Urban Creeks” Dr. Perryman formed Worth A Dam to defend the beavers in her home town of Martinez CA. Along the way she became interested in helping other cities learn how and why to co-exist with beavers. Since 2008 she has organized an annual beaver festival that has inspired similar efforts in 5 states and Canada. As California faces more drought years, she believes it is more important than ever to coexist with these important 'water savers'. In addition to the beaver festival, Worth A Dam does several community outreach and education programs a year, including field trips and class room visits. In 2010 they awarded their first scholarship in beaver management to advocates in Tahoe. In 2011 Dr. Perryman presented at the state of the beaver conference in Oregon, and the State parks conference in Yosemite. She collaborated with beaver management expert Michael Callahan of Massachusetts to help release an instructional DVD teaching how to live with beavers (featuring footage of the Martinez Beavers). Most recently she worked with a historian, archaeologist and biologist to publish groundbreaking research on the western fur trade and the original prevalence of beavers in California - a subject that has been surprisingly misunderstood for a nearly a century Beavers and their dams create wetlands, store and filter water, augment fish populations, raise the number of migratory and songbirds, and have a dramatic positive impact on wildlife. Dr. Perryman feels that working to help people understand and coexist with this single species will continue to have a dramatic trickle-down impact on the environment in general. VIII. July 25, 2016, Burke White, Leland Fish Company, invited to speak IX. August 22, 2015 Matt Stoecker, Stoecker Ecological, Invited to speak X. September 26, 2016, Jeff Parks, Water Resources Control Engineer, Invited to speak. XI. October 24, 2016 – Pamela Creedon, Executive Officer of the Central Valley Water Quality Control Board, Pamela Creedon is the Executive Officer of the Central Valley Water Quality Control Board. She is a licensed Civil Engineer and a Board Certified Environmental Engineer with nearly 35 years of professional experience, including over 23 years of experience in both the public and private sector developing and implementing water quality regulatory programs. She holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Civil Engineering from California State University, Sacramento. She is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Tau Beta Pi. She serves on the American Society of Civil Engineers National Energy, Environment and Water Policy Committee and the CSU Sacramento Environmental and Water Resources Advisory Committee. She is a Vice-Chair of the Sacramento Chapter of the Environmental & Water Resources Institute (SCEWRI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers and is a member of the Board of Directors for the San Francisco Estuary Institute Aquatic Science Center. XII. November 28, 2016, JoAnna Lessard, Garcia Associates, “Efficient Rainwater Collecting” XIII. Tuesday, December 20, 2016 - Open XIV. January 23, 2017 – Rich Marovich, “Update on the Putah Creek Restoration” Biography: Rich has been Stream keeper since 2000, leading complex and cooperative projects to protect the resources of Lower Putah Creek. He has won over $12 million in competitive grants for physical and biological studies, community planning and habitat enhancement projects including: abating and deterring trespass and illegal dumping; controlling invasive weeds; stabilizing eroding banks; restoring natural channel form and function; and establishing native vegetation. He also manages a native plant nursery staffed with community volunteers. His prior experience includes 28 years with the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (part time since 2000) leading a statewide program to protect listed species from pesticide exposure. He obtained a B.S. in Plant Science (Horticulture) from U.C. Davis in 1978. XVI. February 27, 2017 February 27, 2017 – Bill Jennings, C-SPA invited to speak