Editorial

On Nov. 17, Cal Fire approved a Timber Harvest Plan that will permit aggressive logging in the headwaters of Felta Creek, one of the last remaining native fish habitats in the entire Russian River watershed. Despite more than 130 letters of public concern from school board officers, the local fire department, concerned citizens, ecologists, nonprofit organizations and neighborhood associations, as well as elected officials including county supervisor James Gore and state senator Mike McGuire, Cal Fire gave the green light on THP 17-017 SON “Fox Meadow.”

The Healdsburg City Council is having a discussion on potentially changing the permitted use of hotels in the Downtown and Plaza Commercial Districts at 5 p.m. on Monday, December 4, at city hall.

Healdsburg business owner Lucia Azevedo Fincher made this statement to the Healdsburg City Council on Monday night:

Since its very beginnings, this community has had a very proud tradition of military service. Healdsburg area citizens have stepped forward to serve their country’s military, beginning with the Mexican War when less than two months after the declaration of war on May 13, 1846 local militias supported United States Marines and sailors for the occupation of Sonoma on July 9, 1846 after California had been declared part of the United States. Area residents have served in every major and most of the lesser wars and military deployments since.

In recent months our country has been embroiled in a contentious social and political climate fixated on how fundamentally divided we are. The fire disaster and crisis that has befallen our counties here in northern California transcends political views, prejudices and controversies that pervade news and social media.

Pouring fats, oils and grease (FOG) down sinks can ruin your home or restaurant’s plumbing systems and have negative impacts on municipal sewer systems and private septic systems.

In a reversal of the folksy joke “you can’t get there from here,” local shoppers should take heed that when they drive south to patronize big box stores or click on virtual shopping carts at Amazon.com they are forever exporting dollars that will almost never return. In other words that’s money that “can’t get here from there.”

A precious gem of coho salmon habitat just became more rare and special. Felta Creek watershed did not burn in the firestorm, but a whole lot of Sonoma County’s forest and wildlife habitat did. The streams that flow through the burned areas of the Russian River watershed are perhaps irreparably damaged. They will still carry water but without the shade of surrounding trees, that water will be warmer, will dry up earlier and erosion from the scorched hillsides will choke spawning gravels with fine sediment.

Recently, our 37-year-old son Morgan died of an accidental heroin overdose. He was an avid surfer who dodged big waves and sharks, but could not dodge addiction. We are devastated by his unexpected and untimely death.

Thousands of Sonoma County residents represented by the Sonoma County Water Coalition and the local Democratic Party seek permanent protection of the headwaters of Felta Creek. Why is this, you may ask?