Every day I drive into town I watch more of our Little Lake Valley being destroyed by a CalTrans freeway that is unnecessary. My wife, Carlin, and I have lived in Willits for 20 years, and it pains us to see the needless destruction. CalTrans says that we need a freeway in order to ease Willits traffic congestion. But there is a better way to do it that doesn’t destroy the natural environment. As more trees are cut down and the wetlands are drained, we grieve for what is being lost. It’s not too late to stop the destruction, but we have to understand why it’s happening and why its everyone’s business.
After World War II, there was a major drive to build a freeway network in the United States. Design and construction began in earnest in the 1950s, and many cities and rural areas were subjected to the bulldozer. However, many of the proposed freeway routes were drawn up without considering local interests; in many cases, the construction of the freeway system was considered a regional or national issue that trumped local concerns. In 1962 the California Division of Highways, later to become the California Department of Transportation, or Caltrans, recommended a four-lane bypass to the east of Willits, a small town in Mendocino County, California.
Many locals fought the plan as unnecessary and dangerous to the environment. But as the years went by and no freeway was built, people relaxed and assumed it would never happen. We under estimated the power and perseverance of Caltrans. With its $14 billion annual budget and 22,275 full-time employees, they are used to doing what they want. And they seem bent on building freeways regardless of the damage it may do to the local environment and our local economy.
On Wednesday, January 23, 2013, I joined 18 other people who took a tour of the bypass boot print sponsored by a new group, “Save Our Little Lake Valley” (SOLLV.) For the first time I got to see and feel the devastation that would be caused if the bypass, as planned, occurred. I knew I couldn’t stand by and watch our valley be devastated in order to build an unnecessary freeway through a sensitive wetlands area.
The Caltrans project will have irreversible adverse impacts on farmland, wetlands and unique and endangered habitats in Little Lake Valley. The project entails the largest wetland fill in northern California in over 50 years. It will install 55,000 “wick drains” to dewater and compact fill areas, with unknown impacts on valley hydrology, wells, and flooding. It puts 2,000 acres of farmland under Caltrans management, taking at least 400 acres out of production.
To paraphrase Woody Guthrie, “This land is your land, this land is my land, but it makes no sense to make it Caltrans’ land.” In describing the Little Lake Valley, investigative reporter Will Parrish says, “It is a valley that once teemed with wetlands, marshy areas that formed when the area’s once-lively streams overflowed their banks and scoured the surrounding meadows with moisture and nutrients. The Central Pomo people knew the area by the evocatively intimate name Mto’m-kai, which closely translates to ‘Valley of Water Splashing the Toes.’”
“The area acts as a collection point for three creeks that flow through the valley,” says Parrish. “It is then drained by Outlet Creek, a mighty 130-mile tributary of the Eel River. Among its other contributions to what might be called the ‘real world’ of inland Mendocino County, Outlet Creek provides the longest remaining run for the endangered Coho salmon of any river tributary in California.”
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, wetlands in general are second only to the ocean in the number of biota inhabiting them. They are natural recyclers of water; as water flows through them minerals, sediments, and contaminants are absorbed and transformed by the plants, animals, and bacteria that occupy the many niches available. The nearly endangered tule elk, re-emerged in Little Lake Valley this past summer after being gone for more than a half-century. There is a wide range of migratory birds, fox, rabbits, raccoons, opossum, bobcats, a variety of reptiles and amphibians, and hundreds of deer. These are only some of the wildlife that depend on the area and whose habitat would be destroyed if this bypass is built.
Caltrans has also run into problems with the local Native American community. Sherwood Valley Rancheria of Pomo Indians raised concerns in May about the historical cultural site at risk due to the Willits bypass construction. Nevertheless, Caltrans went ahead and violated some the protected cultural sites. “The site was not just destroyed it was ‘eviscerated,’ says tribal archaeologist Lee Claus.
Some people feel the best solution to the problem would be to get the governor to re-evaluate the whole project and stop the project now. Others, like Willits City Council member Madge Strong would like to see a compromise which would limit the damage to the sensitive wetlands area. She proposed asking the Governor to explore with Caltrans the option of scaling back the 40-acre northern interchange to a simple two-lane highway connection (less than 10 acres), potentially saving money, time, wetlands, traffic disruption, minimizing flood and hydrologic risks, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, while allowing work to proceed expeditiously on the 2-lane bypass as planned.
What’s happening in Willits is part of a larger historical conflict between a huge and growing “Transportation Industrial Complex” and the needs of local communities. Local land owner, Rosamond Crowder says, “I want you to know that there is a Transportation Industrial Complex. It is fueled by the mega-trucking industry and the highway construction industry. Caltrans is their agent. They take our tax dollars and they serve the Complex. Caltrans knows very well how to play a small town and a rural county. We have been played. The agencies whose job it is to balance need and impact have betrayed our trust. What do we do?”
More and more people from around the state and around the country are joining the efforts to stand up to Caltrans and find a better way to balance local needs and the needs of the transportation industry. These efforts are in the tradition of activists from all over the world who have stood against the destructive interests of the power elite on behalf of the people and the land. One such leader was environmentalist Chico Mendes who gathered friends and family, and used human blockages, to stop the deforestation by the Brazilian government.
“At first I thought I was fighting to save the rubber trees, then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest,” said Mendes. “Now I realize I am fighting for humanity.” Those who care about the land and humanity are united in our efforts. For more please visit http://www.savelittlelakevalley.org/
What is happening in your corner of the world that is worth standing up for? Please share your comments below.
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Jed,
It’s happening everywhere, and unfortunately those with money get their way. Case in point, what happened in this rural upstate NY community:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/nyregion/12towns.html?_r=0
Residents spent 5 yrs and thousand’s in legal fees working through the town’s zoning board of appeals up through the highest court of appeals in NY State just trying to have the town’s existing zoning laws enforced!
A text-book mid-life narcissist …
http://nypost.com/2012/01/12/where-theres-a-wilzig/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Wilzig
… can clear cut 200+ acres of pristine wooded farmland and build a racetrack without ever getting permits, and he can’t be stopped!?!? Something is seriously wrong with a culture that idolizes irresponsible excessive human behavior such as this.