By Joel Reese
After only one person spoke strongly in favor of retaining the Giacomini Dam and swimming hole on Lagunitas/Papermill Creek, the State Water Resources Control Board Thursday voted unanimously to prohibit the dam after the 1997 irrigation season.
The vote may have ended two decades of controversy about the seasonal dam, which in dry years also prevents saltwater intrusion into Point Reyes Station's wells.
The dispute is part of a larger water-rights order drafted by the state staff with an eye to improving trout and salmon fisheries on Papermill/Lagunitas Creek.
A battle has raged for years over the amount of water Marin Municipal Water District must release from their Nicasio and Kent Lake reservoirs. MMWD, which provides water for the San Geronimo Valley and most of Marin, had hoped the board would lower the required releases from the reservoirs to 8,300 acre-feet a year.
The state Department of Fish and Game, on the other hand, wanted the board to recommend that the district release 18,300 acre-feet a year.
In its ruling the state water board compromised between the two, setting releases at 11,050 acre-feet of water in wet years and 9,000 acre-feet for dry years.
MMWD is considering taking legal action on the matter. The Waldo Giacomini family said they have not decided whether to fight the ruling.
The board, in ruling that the dam could be erected for only two years, allowed that it can be erected on June 15. For the past two summers, the dam's erection was delayed until July 15.
Before making their final decision, North Marin Manager Chris DeGabriele talked about an agreement between the district and the Giacomini family to move the dam upstream of the Green Bridge and pipe water to the ranch.
DeGabriele also objected to the dam's removal, mentioning specifically how important the dam was in the fight against the Inverness Ridge fire.
"The pond behind the Giacomini family's dam saw quite a bit of use in fighting the fires," he said.
But DeGabriele also told the Board that "although NMWD is not enthusiastic about moving the dam, we are aware the board is trying to meet all needs. We want to move forward on this, so we request the board implement the [staff's recommendations] with the new revisions."
A more forceful plea for the dam came from Bob Giacomini, who noted his family had worked their ranch for 60 years. "We've got to be able to have that dam in place to keep this dairy," he said. "We were amazed when the staff recommendations came out. This is unacceptable not only to us, but to our community."
Giacomini also talked about the community's use of the dam as a gathering place and swimming hole. "The dam was originally put in place to irrigate our patch of land, but over the years it has become an invaluable part of the community," he said.
After Giacomini presented the state board with a 300-signature petition from West Marin residents who want to retain the dam, Ken Fox, president of the Tomales Bay Association, said he had a 100-signature petition in opposition.
Fox claimed the Giacomini petition had more signatures because they had been collecting signatures for a longer time. He said that he talked to several students at West Marin School who "all agree that the fish are more important than having a pond there."
Saying that coho salmon are "hovering on the brink of extinction," Fox argued that even slight damage to the fisheries has a strong effect.
Eugene Kojan of Point Reyes Station claimed Lagunitas/Papermill Creek, from which the Point Reyes Station, Inverness Park, and Olema get their drinking water is actually unsafe for swimming. He claimed a "significant number" of cases of giardia and e. coli infections have resulted from the pond.
"It's very clearly a public health hazard," he said.
Kojan also discounted the dam's value in fighting wildfires such as the Inverness Ridge fire: "There are numerous ways water could be temporarily or permanently stored [to fight fires]," he said. "There are stock ponds all over the place."
John Grissim, executive director of the Environmental Action Committee of West Marin, noted he lives on the banks and said, "It's going to break my heart to see the dam go.... But, in the long run, the fish really do count, and the habitat does count. The habitat and resources must prevail."
After the meeting, Bob and brother Rich Giacomini said they were disappointed with the ruling.
"Personally, I believe they put too much emphasis on the fish and they didn't take enough into account for the community, the ranch, or the water company," Rich said. "But there were no surprises."