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Friends of the Eel River to host symposium on science, law, and future of the Eel River
April 14 at the Riverlodge, Fortuna
Fortuna, CA – Friends of the Eel River is celebrating the work of the organization’s founding director, Nadananda, with an educational gathering at the Fortuna Riverlodge this coming Saturday, April 14. Seven distinguished experts will address a wide range of subjects in brief presentations meant to build public understanding of the Eel River’s outstanding values and potential for recovery.
A century ago, the Eel River was one of California’s greatest salmon and steelhead rivers. Today, the Eel presents one of the state’s best opportunities to restore and maintain healthy, harvestable runs of wild salmon and steelhead.
“Everyone on the North Coast has a stake in the future of the Eel River and its fisheries,” said Scott Greacen, Executive Director of the Friends of the Eel River. “This symposium offers an extraordinary chance to hear from some of the world-class experts who have focused on the Eel River and its fisheries.”
Leading scientists will present on geology, hydrology, frogs, salmon, lamprey, and beavers, and the relationships between different life forms in the watershed. Other experts will present on successful dam decommissioning and removal, and the laws governing the Eel River.
Informational tables and posters will provide additional information about groups and projects working for river and fisheries restoration in the region.
The Eel River symposium will run from 9:30 am to 5 pm. Lunch will be served for those who preregister. You can register online at www.eelriver.org, by calling (707) 822-3342, or email foer@eelriver.org. This event is free with a suggested sliding scale donation of $20-$60 to help cover costs of the event.
Presenters include:
Mary Power PhD, Professor of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley, faculty manager and lead researcher at the Angelo Coast Range Reserve on the South Fork Eel River, and Director of the California Biodiversity Center. Professor Power’s key research interests include freshwater ecology and food webs, but she has published widely for more than 30 years. For more information see http://ib.berkeley.edu/labs/power/
Bill Dietrich PhD, is a professor of Earth and Planetary Science at UC Berkeley (and married to Professor Power). Professor Dietrich’s research focuses on the processes that underlie the evolution of landscapes, including sediment dynamics in rivers, and landslides. He is collaborating in an intensive field investigation to identify, quantify, and model the processes that will control the co-evolution of climate, vegetation and water availability in Northern California forested landscapes.
Dietrich co-founded the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping. As part of the National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics he is co-developing a digital terrain model for predicting salmon populations from digital terrain data. For more information see http://eps.berkeley.edu/development/view_person.php?uid=1164
Sarah J. Kupferberg PhD, a post-doctoral research fellow in the Power lab, studies the effects of hydropower facilities on aquatic resources in California rivers. The river breeding Foothill yellow legged frog, Rana boylii is a sentinel species in this effort. She focuses on flow velocity and water temperature as the key abiotic conditions influencing frog populations. Her approach combines field experiments, long term monitoring, and population modeling. Dr. Kupferberg is also working with Questa Engineering in analyzing the proposed removal of the Benbow dam.
Bill Trush PhD, is one of the North Coast’s leaders in the applied science of river preservation, management, and restoration. Dr. Trush has worked for more than two decades at improving river ecosystem health in regulated rivers; assessing impacts of land use and water development activities on stream ecosystems; and developing mutually beneficial management strategies that improve those ecosystems. Dr. Trush specializes in integrating river ecosystem processes, salmon life history, and cumulative land use management practices.
Brian Cluer PhD, has worked in the Habitat Conservation Division of the National Marine Fisheries Service, Southwest Region since 2000. Dr. Cluer has worked on sediment-related issues over the entire Southwest Region and in the Northwest Region. His work for NMFS has included authoring Sediment Removal Guidelines for salmonids in California streams; expert witness testimony on Klamath River hydropower relicensing; co-development of new sediment transport software (DREAM) to assist in dam removal decision making; and field investigation of the effects of forestry and vineyard development on a small salmon stream. His current focus is designing, in coordination of other sediment scientists, studies to support dam removal decisions. Major projects include the four Klamath River dams, and the San Clemente Dam on Carmel River. These efforts build on his participation in past dam removal projects such as the Matilija Dam in the Ventura River watershed, and the Elwha River dams on Washington’s Olympic Penninsula.
Kevin P. Bundy, Senior Attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, works with the Center’s pathbreaking Climate Law Institute. Before joining the Center, Mr. Bundy represented public-interest and citizen groups, including Friends of the Eel River, in environmental and land-use cases as an associate with the well-respected law firm Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP. He also served as a judicial clerk to the Honorable Procter R. Hug, Jr., of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and the Honorable David W. Hagen of the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada. Between graduating from Oberlin College and attending the University of California’s Boalt Hall School of Law, Mr. Bundy spent several years advocating for ancient forests and endangered species on California’s North Coast as a staffer with the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC).
Brock Dolman, co-founder of the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center and nationally recognized for his dynamic presentations on building sustainable culture, will be the keynote speaker. Mr. Dolman is Director of OAEC’s WATER Institute (www.oaecwater.org) and Permaculture Design Program, and co-directs their Wildlands Biodiversity Program. Mr. Dolman’s experience ranges from the study of wildlife biology, native California botany and watershed ecology, to the practice of habitat restoration, education about regenerative human settlement design, ethno-ecology, and ecological literacy activism towards societal transformation.
For more information, see http://www.regenerativedesign.org/brockbio.
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