Is there such a thing as River etiquette? A basic primer of good behavior for paddlers, picnickers and yes, even locals exploring the Russian River?
“Stop screaming. Leave the ducks alone. Pick up your trash. Don’t poop in the bushes” — these are four ways River visitors can improve their behavior, my traveling companion said when asked what basic River etiquette might require.
That pretty well sums it up, doesn’t it? We see River visitors by the thousands up close and personal in Guerneville. Most of them paddle downstream like good boys and girls but they also frequently stop to take a leak in the riparian forest. River etiquette tip number five: Go behind a tree.
Many come here for the peace and quietude of floating in beauty. Others prefer to drink and crank up the hip-hop. We like to say there’s room for all but you have to draw the line somewhere.
Fourth District Sonoma County Supervisor Mike McGuire was talking about this the other day. “What we have seen out on the River and the coast and particularly on Fitch Mountain are overwhelming numbers of individuals that drink and perform activities you would never want kids to be able to witness,” McGuire told fellow supervisors during a recent discussion of beach crowds and bad behavior. “We’re talking about large numbers, in the hundreds, who have flooded onto Fitch Mountain.”
Thanks to a concentrated law enforcement effort over the last couple of years, “Those activities have nearly ceased, at least on Fitch,” said McGuire. “It has been a tag team effort between the CHP and the Sonoma County Sheriff’s office.”
River etiquette tip number six: Avoid activities that require a law-enforcement response.
The Russian River is “the most canoed River in the world,” Healdsburg’s W.C. “Bob” Trowbridge used to say. Many of the canoes belonged to Trowbridge who rented them out from his boatyard in Healdsburg where the River’s Edge and Russian River Adventures now rent boats, sometimes to several hundred people a day.
“We always want everybody to pack their trash out,” said Russian River Adventures owner Larry Laba on the subject of River etiquette.
Between Healdsburg and Forestville, where his customers paddle, the River is somewhat isolated and tends to stay cleaner, which is good, said Laba. “There’s not a whole lot of trash out there.”
It’s a different story in Guerneville where riverside homeless camps are a familiar facet of the area’s affordable housing. Expecting good manners, or even hygiene, from people down on their luck, possibly drugged and mentally ill, can be a challenge. But as a moral as well as an environmental question, do we just let them live that way? Right next to the River?
Dave Delmue and Scott Heemstra at King’s Sport & Tackle shop in Guerneville see a lot of homeless camp debris and wonder what effect that population has on River water quality. Sometimes, as members of the Russian River Wild Steelhead Society, they also help clean up the mess.
Heemstra wrote a memorable letter to the paper awhile ago about what he encountered on a walk down Hulbert Creek to fish in the River at Guernewood Park, where the homeless tend to camp under the Highway 116 Hulbert Creek Bridge and along the creek.
“I first ran into the disgust of what smelled like a toilet, probably an area used as a bathroom by the inconsiderate,” said Heemstra.
“I called out to see if anybody was about and nobody answered so I started to gather up garbage and pile it onto a trash tent. I pulled garbage out of the creek, which included a mini barbecue, a bag of trash, some rags and parts of a tent. Downstream of the encampment was a gathering of trash amongst the main river. It was not only upsetting, but saddening.
“Unfortunately, it is not only them but also the careless summer partiers from other areas and even some of our own local people who think our river and the wilderness around it is a dumping ground,” said Heemstra. River etiquette tip number seven: Neatness counts.
The other day, down at the River, I watched two kids harass a mother duck and her ducklings. They were boys about 12 years old, probably staying in a vacation rental house down the street. The miscreants were chasing the ducks and throwing rocks at them. The frantic mother hen tried to protect her frightened brood by confronting the boys, quacking and flapping her wings.
I went down to the water and said, “Hey!”
The two looked around, surprised. They probably thought they were unseen, away from home, here at the wild Russian River where you can do anything you want.
“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” I asked.
That seemed to dampen their zeal. They were two chubby little boys who knew they had been caught doing something mean and petty. The mother duck took this opportunity to swim away with her brood paddling close behind.
It was Mother’s Day at the River. I won’t forget that mother duck taking on those two boys. It was a fundamental thing to see.
River etiquette tip number eight: Watch your kids, and remember the golden rule. There are a lot of us here.
Russian River Beaches
Cloverdale River Park, 31820 McCray Rd., Cloverdale
Veterans Memorial Beach, 13839 Old Redwood Hwy., Healdsburg
Riverfront Regional Park, 7821 Eastside Rd., Windsor
Steelhead Beach, 9000 River Road, Forestville
Sunset Beach River Park, 11403 River Road, Forestville
Forestville River Access, 10584 River Dr., Forestville
Johnson Beach, Downtown Guerneville
Monte Rio Beach, Beneath Bohemian Hwy. bridge across from Rio Theater
