In 1960, when Marin Water, then the Marin Municipal Water District, constructed the Seeger Dam and Nicasio Reservoir, six flourishing dairy and beef ranches—the McIsaac, Farley, Tognalda, Garzoli, Tom Gallagher and Tomasini ranches—were flooded and forced completely out of business. Four more—the northern Gallagher, Dolcini, Lafranchi and Bill Hall ranches—were stunted by lost acreage. Longtime ranching families watched as their land was cleared, old oaks cut down, vegetation scraped off and homes, barns, outbuildings and corrals bulldozed and set on fire. Rancher Heloise Tomasini recalled trees bulldozed into the creek bed and homes demolished. “They dozed the Gallaghers and our place and the Tognaldas’ across and burned them,” she said. “It was just very, very sad.”
The ranchers and other Nicasio residents resented what they felt was bullying treatment at the hands of the project’s overseer, engineer William Seeger, whose tactics to obtain the ranch properties were seen as divisive and coercive. Joe Tognalda, a resident of a flooded ranch, remembered that “it was a really uncomfortable time, the way that Seeger…went around trying to get property owners to sell and talking to different people. I’ve heard it described that he talked to one guy one way and talked to another a different way…He didn’t want us to get together, so he could get what he wanted, and what he wanted was our land.”
Another landowner, Wilfred Lafranchi, remembered that “Seeger thought we were a bunch of hayseeds.” Another landowner recalled how “Seeger…just came and told you, ‘That’s it. You have nothing to say.’ Everybody realized it was a way of life that was going to be altered completely.”
Today, many people, perhaps knowing little of its history, pass by the reservoir and see an often-tranquil body of water with birds swimming on the surface and people fishing from its banks. But even after all these years, for many residents of Nicasio, the reservoir represents the displacement of families, the loss of livelihoods and a time of anxiety, anger and sorrow.
Now Marin Water has returned to Nicasio with a proposal to raise the reservoir’s spillway to a height that could lead to disastrous flooding of much of the Nicasio School grounds in winter storms. Even in non-winter seasons, higher water levels would very likely inundate part of the school property.
In the 65 years of the reservoir’s operation, sediment and debris such as fallen trees have accumulated in the reservoir’s main feeder, Nicasio Creek, and siltation has visibly occurred in the reservoir itself. Describing a damaging winter flood in 2006, then-Nicasio School principal Kathleen Ferrando, in a letter requesting help from Marin Water, noted that the water district’s yearly dredging of the creek behind the school had “not been done in the last several years” and that “the build-up (of sediment) in Nicasio Creek may have added to the problems (of flooding).”
Nicasio residents know only too well the extent of routine winter flooding, but if Marin Water is allowed to proceed with its proposal, enormous runoff from the high hills above the town will likely cause a huge increase in flooding. This would affect Nicasio’s roads, bridges and culverts, several homes and properties along Nicasio Creek, the town square area, acres of ranch lands adjacent to the reservoir and especially Nicasio School, which is situated in the low-lying area south of the reservoir. Marin Water’s own preliminary project maps predict that the proposed four-and-a-half-foot rise will inundate areas close to town, even in dry seasons.
Although no Nicasio resident is connected to Marin Water’s system, many in our community understand the district’s desire to increase water storage and drought resilience for the county. Still, the cost of severe flooding is too high to justify this project. Even one foot of rise would be harmful, but a four-and-a-half-foot rise would be devastating.
My colleagues on the Nicasio Historical Society’s board believe that Marin Water needs to explore less harmful alternatives. The public comment period on the plan has been extended. Comments may be submitted to Marin Water until Monday, Aug. 4, either by email to Elysha Irish at [email protected], with the subject line, “Nicasio Spillway Modification Project public comment,” or by postal mail to Marin Water, Attention Elysha Irish, 220 Nellen Ave., Corte Madera CA 94925. The full story of the construction of the dam and reservoir and its aftermath may be found in the excellent 2008 book by Dewey Livingston, “Nicasio: The Historic Valley at the Center of Marin.”
Thomas Wood is an artist who has lived in Nicasio for nearly 50 years and serves on the board of the Nicasio Historical Society.