Mayor Rexroad's giveaway of Woodland's wetlands to developers

Woodland's Republican Mayor Matt Rexroad's plans to increase the city's Urban Limit Line by annexing extra farmland east of Woodland is a recipe for flooding disasters in the future. The Urban Limit Line (ULL) contains the regions that are open to sub/urban development, in this case more suburban tract houses for upper income brackets. Development of farmlands near wetlands for suburban sprawl houses can increase the risk of severe flooding events. The region that Rexroad is attempting to annex into Woodland for development purposes lies in the eastern flood prone regions of Yolo County, near the Yolo bypass that is a seasonal floodbasin for Cache Creek in the north and Putah Creek in the south. This inland lake is visible during winter and spring from the long causeway auto/bicycle bridge on the I-80 and the I-5 bridge only 6 miles north. Currently these sites at risk for development under Rexroad's ULL plan are farmlands bordering wetlands. Farmlands can tolerate and absorb excess water input far better than pavement, concrete and raised lawns. The presence of newer suburban developments in eastern Woodland may displace enough water to increase flooding events elsewhere in Woodland..

Rexroad's opponent in the upcoming election, Brenda Cedarblade, suggests renaming Rexroad's proposition the Urban Expansion Line;

"Mayor Rexroad's Urban Limit Line "ULL" is really an Urban EXPANSION line. Matt's history of City politics clearly shows he is not a friend to agriculture in Yolo County. This is a scheme being sold to voters as a "slow growth" policy. In fact, this new line creates a major growth opportunity on our prime agricultural land. Land now substantially owned by Sacramento Developers. The "Ull" allows the city to significantly exceed the population allowed by the current General Plan voted on in 1996 which imposed a growth cap of 60,000 people in 2015.

We already have growth limits which were set by voters in 1996, the "ULL" will change these limits to allow growth to the north and east, bringing more sprawl. Major development will be allowed in areas subject to "Deep Flooding". Growth in the floodplain shifts flooding onto surrounding properties; as well as CREATING SERIOUS FLOOD RISK to our community. As homeowners in the Southeast area found, development in the floodplain shifts flooding potential and insurance burdens onto neighboring properties that previously had no flood risk. It is like putting bricks in a filled bathtub. If you build in the floodplain, you put human lives at risk, what happens if we have an earthquake and the levee breeches?"

read Brenda's entire rebuttal to Rexoad's UEL @;
http://www.brendacedarblade.com/new/index.php?module=article&view=7&MMN_position=5:5

What California's pro-development politicians learned from New Orleans and Katrina;
Zero, Zip, Zilch, Nada, Nix, Nothing.

Wetlands are indeed important as flood buffer zones despite the corporate media's complicity with suburban developers who fill in wetlands for spacious high end suburban housing. The regions surrounding New Orleans were once wetland habitats before suburban sprawl Wal-marts, auto malls, oil refineries and other non-permeable surfaces of development invaded the bayous. Currently Halliburton is profiting from rebuilding the damaged regions of the Gulf Coast. Severe flooding events like Katrina could have been prevented by leaving wetlands as intact ecosystems to play their role as flood buffers and habitat for biodiversity..

"In California, development in the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta, where flood control efforts first started in the mid-1800s, represents a major risks to cities such as Stockton as they expand, said Jeffrey Mount, a professor of geology at the University of California, Davis.
"We are reinventing Katrina all over again," Mount said.
Mount estimates a two-in-three probability over the next 50 years of a catastrophic levee failure in the massive delta region east of San Francisco.
Even a moderate flood could breech the delta's levee system while a larger one, perhaps following an earthquake, would inundate the region, Mount said.
The Sacramento-San Joaquin delta, which covers 738,000 acres (295,200 hectares), receives runoff from more than 40 percent of California. Much of the land is below sea level and relies on more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) of levees for protection against flooding, according to the California Department of Water Resources.
"In California, we know that we have two kinds of levees: Those that have failed and those that will fail," Mount said.
The lack of coordination among local, state and federal officials after a flood was evident with Katrina. Similarly, even before a storm hits, coordination on issues such as land use and development is a problem, Galloway said.
"Local land decisions later result in cries for federal help. Does that make sense? No," Galloway said, adding that the federal flood program was "rudderless."
Nor do efforts to guard against floods automatically reduce risks, said Nicholas Pinter, a professor of geology at Southern Illinois University.
Pinter said as much as 85 percent of the Mississippi in St. Louis is confined behind levees, which have raised flood levels 10 feet to 12 feet (3 meters to 3.6 meters) higher than they were just a century ago. That parallels the situation in New Orleans, which suffered catastrophic flooding when levees failed in the wake of Katrina.
Bolstering levees may lure more people onto flood plains, Mount said. In California, the modest investment required to shore up a levee protecting farmland can result in a dramatic increase in the value of that land, Mount said. That in turn increases the likelihood a farmer will sell out to developers, ushering in the construction of houses on what had been flood plain.
"You actually spur development. It's a self-fulfilling process," Mount said."

article cont's @;
http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/34/17863

Some suggestions for the future of New Orleans to prevent another Katrina flood diaster;

"MM: What is the Gulf Restoration Network proposing to deal with the problems you’ve been facing?

Sarthou: One proposal is for comprehensive wetlands restoration in Louisiana. There has been an effort, but with very little buy-in by the political forces that be in the administration or in Congress, for comprehensive restoration efforts. This is an economic and community protection issue, not just an environmental issue.

We’re asking for what we call comprehensive Category Five protection. That doesn’t just mean structural protections, like levees — the reliance on levees alone for protection is misplaced. There needs to be a more comprehensive focus on combining structural and nonstructural flood control. Wetland buffers combined with levees, more stringent building codes and set-back requirements. Much of the destruction of homes — which now have to be burned or bulldozed and dumped — could have been avoided if elevation requirements had been imposed for FEMA insurance or by local land use planners.""

more on flood prevention @;
http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2005/092005/interview-sarthou.html

Arnold fired the state's flood control board in the middle of their research of Sacramento/San Joaquin valley flood risks and replaced with a more developer friendly flood board. No worries here, just build it, sell it to some yuppies and the taxpayers will provide flood insurance in later years. Short term suburban sprawl over wetland buffers to benefit the Republican governer and his developer lobbyists. When the levees break and the lowlands flood, guess who will be airlifted to higher grounds before anybody else? Certainly not the residents of public housing in eastern Sacramento near the swollen river. Unfortunately lower income neighborhoods are not often provided taxpayer funded flood insurance as are wealthier neighborhoods and rebuilding is replaced by gentrification..

Rexroad's record on other issues isn't showing he has much public support outside of powerful corporate entities. Matt Rexroad's PR firm Meridian Pacific Inc. was recently fired by PG&E for stealing files from the South San Joaquin Irrigation District. The battle between PG&E and the SSJID is similar to PG&E's battle with SMUD. PG&E was searching in vain for any info that could be used against SMUD (regional energy provider) to prevent SMUD's annexation of Yolo's customers in Woodland, Davis, and West Sacramento. SMUD has shown to be more customer friendly and will research and develop ecologically friendly energy sources than the monolithic PG&E. The SSJID seems to be on the Republican's hitlist also. No wonder Republicans don't like SMUD or SSJID, though they love PG&E, even enough to steal documents..

"An employee of a political consulting firm working for PG&E allegedly hacked into computer files belonging to the South San Joaquin Irrigation District (SSJID) last week. The files were reportedly internal documents related to the irrigation district’s campaign to annex parts of PG&E’s territory in the towns of Ripon, Manteca and Escalon.
PG&E and the irrigation district are embroiled in a contentious battle over the area’s 35,000 electricity customers, a fight that in some ways parallels the Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s effort to annex parts of Yolo County.
Officials of the SSJID have accused the utility of inflating the value of its electricity assets and of exaggerating the costs of the annexation to local ratepayers. The consulting firm PG&E had hired to wage the public-relations battle there, Meridian Pacific Inc., is partly owned by Woodland Mayor Matt Rexroad."

more on Rexroad's San Joaquin/PG&E-gate scandal @;
http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/Content?oid=oid%3A44039

Other detailed info can be found in the recent issue of the Woodlander, a free publication much hated by the Rexroad regime in Woodland. The Woodlader is a sister publication of the Davis Flatlander, another free publication that is unafriad to voice their ideas on local issues and expose the myriad of corruption scams of many a politician. Currently the Woodlander is not available online, though the Flatlander has a blogspot site;

Flatlander's views on other local issues;
http://yoloflatlander.blogspot.com/

The approach of Republican politicians like Matt Rexroad to flood control issues seems to be annex, develop and wait. Following the predicted flood event, call in ol' pal Cheney's Halliburton corporation who can bilk taxpayers into rebuilding the damaged development in the same flood prone location. This time convince wealthy out of town urban "refugee" residents of the future that flooding is not a risk this time around and collect bank from their ignorance. Lower income residents like those from the lower 9th ward of New Orleans can be relocated post flooding to another at risk habitat after enduring grueling misery in FEMA work camps. To sum up, make lot's of money off people's suffering and then begin the process elsewhere. Provide plenty of distractions to erase people's memory of your crimes, eh Matt, Arnold, George, Dick, etc..??

The Democrat approach to flood control seems to be more levees and more dams to retain water upriver, then promoting 'slow' growth options. Neither of these options are dramatically improved from the Republican platform of conquer, build, wait for flood and rebuild. Again many people are confined to lesser evil decisions and choose the Democrat's praise of levees, dams and slow growth for flood control policy. While some options given by local Democrats may sound different from the Republicans obvious development scams, people continue to wonder when the Democrats will roll over for developers and give them what they want anyway. Gray Davis wasn't really able to prevent the incursion of ENRON into the CA energy market either despite his vocal protests..

Once again we modern humans find ourselves a people lost in a bizarre past of exploitation and ecological destruction. To regain some sense of direction it could be relevant to consider the indigenous occupants of the Sacramento/San Joaquin valleys and their ecological knowledge of living in this low lying habitat. Housing was in fact temporary and the food sources were harvested seasonally according to availability. This may be a far stretch from the modern capitalist economy of private property delineations and yearly profit requirements for small farmers to remain in business, yet somehow the indigenous peoples were able to remain healthy and happy with what Madre Tierra provided. The key concept here is learning to live with natural ecosystems rather than expending tremendous energy (usually via fossil fuels) in sketchy attempts to dominate and control natural ecosystems..

The Pomo are one of many indigenous cultures that seasonally inhabited the wet ecosystem around the valley and low lying regions in the foothills. The tule reeds were integral components of the Pomo language and culture, thus protecting tule habitat is also crucial to protecting indigenous cultures from losing information to forces of assimilation. When developer friendly politicians like Rexroad discuss potential economic profits from land development they need be reminded that the land they speak of is only available as a result of centuries of genocide and land theft practiced against the many diverse indigenous peoples of North America (aka Turtle Island). The Pomo are one of many cultures struggling to remember their language and ecological knowledge..

""Amah ko set. Kuchinwallit. Mecha wee hah ket kay." She pauses, and finally gives up. "Help me out, Robert." He thinks a moment. "She was saying something about eating tules." She nods. "Where we're at now is where I was raised. We'd go down to the water, we'd eat the tules." "

article cont's @;
http://www.imdiversity.com/villages/native/family_lifestyle_traditions/voa_elempomo_language_0306.asp

Seasonal flooding may benefit riparian farmlands with enough diversity of plant growth to catch the soil particulates dragged along in the floodwaters. The concept of wetlands as soil building entities is in the thickness of the tule reeds and other vegetation can trap the soil particles traveling in the water currents. This also takes some volume out of the water, reducing flood impacts further downstream. Simultaneously the extensive biomass of the plant's/tree's root system is sucking up the water saturating the soil and immediately releasing into the air as water vapor. This process is not visible and difficult to measure, yet happens during seasonal flood events. Concrete, pavement and suburban lawns are not capable of perfroming this task..

Small scale permaculture farming tends to improve in flood events as there is more crop diversity and other varied plant matter available to trap soil in floods. In addition these farms may consume less water in the summer since there is enough shelter to protect from the open summer sun. Since permaculture doesn't use petrochemical pesticides and herbicides, there is lower levels of input into watersheds and thus less toxicity bioaccumulation in riparian wildlife. Suburban sprawl housing as proposed by Rexroad often comes with turf lawns that depend on frequent heavy applications of petrochemical fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides, all of which have nothing to prevent their entry into the watershed..

Some other ideas include keeping the eastern farmlands bordering the Yolo wetlands as experimental farm plots for community residents and public schools. Children are interested in growing vegetables and witnessing the changes in the seasons if they are given the chance and encouragement. Similar to the South Central community farm in LA threatened by developers, this small parcel of land between Woodland's sprawling burbs in the west and the Yolo wetlands to the east is potential community garden lost to sprawl. There are equally as many reasons to save Woodland's community gardens of the future as protecting the existing vibrant green community farm in SouthCentral LA from being lost to another dead, grey and lifeless warehouse..

Time is running out to save South Central farm from developers;
http://www.southcentralfarmers.com/

The borders between wetlands, forests, farms and human villages need not be so distinct and delineated. Just as the no borders (sin fronteras) movement voices opposition to US militarization of the imaginary US/Mex border wall, we also need to remove the artificial borders capitalist society has placed upon natural ecosystems. We can all benefit and grow from recognizing that our lives are interwoven with and not seperated from all natural ecosystems. Thus a farm, village, forest and wetlands do not require any borders between one another as people deconstruct man-made barriers and allow natural systems to redefine zones of interactions..

Another indigneous group that depends on the tules is the California Indian Basketweaver Association (CIBA) who rely on tule and other reeds for making tightly woven waterproof baskets. Some of these baskets are for cooking harvested acorns from valley/blue oaks in the autumn. CIBA also announces a gathering on Saturday June 24th in at the Soboba Reservation in San Jacinto, CA. CIBA is also relocating their offices from Nevada City to Woodland..

more CIBA info @;
http://www.ciba.org/

also;
http://www.actaonline.org/grants_and_programs/TADP/2001_rounds/Basket_Weavers_retreat.htm