Point Reyes Light - November 18, 1999
Valley dam ready for fish run
Conservationist David Brower, a three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, is expected to be among those attending a Nov. 20 ribbon-cutting ceremony in the San Geronimo Valley to celebrate the transformation of Roy's Dam to a series of jump pools for migrating coho salmon.
Wedged between the seventh and eighth holes of the San Geronimo Valley Golf Course, Roy's Dam has been a long-time obstacle for the threatened coho. A fish ladder installed in 1954 had fallen into disrepair, and many spawning fish have exhausted themselves trying to leap over the dam's jagged apron.
Over the last three years, however, a broad group of fisheries advocates, local activists, and government bodies have collaborated to re-engineer the dam into a series of jump pools that allow safe passage of the fish without drastically altering the water level of San Geronimo Creek. The work was completed last month.
"Roy's Dam to Roy's Pools is a celebration of grass-roots activism supported by positive actions by local, state and national government agencies, as well as many business in Marin County," said Todd Steiner, director of the Forest Knolls-based Salmon Protection and Watershed Network.
Participants in the work included members of SPAWN, Trout Unlimited, federal fisheries officials, the San Geronimo Valley Golf Course, and workers at various county agencies. Their efforts were encouraged by no one less than US Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, who visited the site last year to spotlight their work.
Besides Brower, who's a former leader of the Sierra Club, representatives from the US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency, National Marine Fisheries Service, and the US Congress are expected to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony at Roy's Pools at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 20. Speeches will be made and refreshments served.
"We hope all of West Main will come and celebrate this fantastic achievement, one of many necessary actions to save the threatened coho salmon of Marin," Steiner said.