Some ideas for the protection and preservation California's natural environment

By Laurence "Larry" Houlgate

California should take immediate steps to make more investments in renewable energy, preserve water quality, promote healthy forests, adopt "smart growth" planning, develop strict regulations for distributed energy, restore the Hetch Hetchy Valley, and preserve Lake Earl.

2. Preserve water quality and promote healthy forests Irresponsible logging harms the forested waterways that provide 80% of urban water supplies, and has contributed to the catastrophic decline of coho salmon populations to 1% of their former numbers. California's state-regulated forests have sustained a 225% increase in clearcutting over the past ten years, threatening water quality, wildlife, and rural economies. We must prevent further destruction of our precious forests and waterways. No-logging buffer zones around all rivers and streams and regulations that prevent the removal of large, old trees will help maintain the healthy, diverse forests that keep California strong.

3. Adopt "Smart Growth" planning for the 21st century. The state of Oregon is the best example of Smart Growth policy. Oregon adopted several statewide planning statutes in 1973, including one requiring the adoption of plans which zone for affordable housing within urban growth boundaries and the creation of protective zones outside of them. By preventing sprawl, the Oregon plan has protected 25 million acres worth of farm and forest lands. It has also allowed Portland's population to grow by 50 percent since the 1970s while its land area increased by a mere 2 percent. California expects 600,000 people per year to move into the state for the next 40 years. We need to adopt smart growth policies if we are to protect our farmlands and beautiful forests for our children and grandchildren.

4. Strict regulations for distributed energy. Small local power generation units are known as distributed generation. These units are used by commercial and residential consumers to provide some or all of their non-emergency power. However, most distributed generation units are powered by dirty fossil fuels that are 10 to 300 times more polluting than a modern natural gas-fired power plant. I support the Sierra Club's campaign to force strict regulations for distributed generation that transition us away from polluting power to clean technologies like solar and wind.

5. Restore the Hetch Hetchy Valley and preserve Lake Earl Need I say more? The Hetch Hetchy Valley was as beautiful as Yosemite before the Tuolumne River was dammed in 1923 to provide water and power to the Bay Area, turning the valley into a deep reservoir. Lake Earl, near the Oregon border, is the largest shallow water coastal lagoon in the Western US, outside of Alaska. It is being threatened by developers and ranchers who want to drain it and turn it into a mud puddle.