danbacher by Dan Bacher
I find it appalling that Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom had the gall to ask Fish and Game Commission President Dan Richards, in a February 27 letter, to resign for participating in a legal hunt in Idaho because he doesn’t represent “California values.”
Newsom recently joined 40 California Legislators in calling for the resignation of Richards for posting on-line a photo of him holding a mountain lion that he had legally hunted in Idaho. Sport hunting for mountain lions, while legal in Idaho, has been banned in California for over four decades, first under action taken by Governor Ronald Reagan in 1970 and then under an initiative passed by the voters in 1990.
“While not in California at the time, your actions call into question whether you can live up to the calling of your office. Since 1870 the Commission has worked to manage the wildlife resources of our state,” said Newsom. “As president of the commission, I am sure you understand that merely complying with the conservation laws of California is not the standard by which the Commission or its members are measured. As is stated on the Commission’s website, your actions should be in the ‘best interest of the resource and truly reflect(s) the wishes and needs of the people.’”
“I do appreciate that you did nothing illegal in Idaho, but it is clear that your actions do not reflect the values of the people of California,” he concluded.
Regardless of somebody feels about mountain lion hunting, Newsom’s hypocrisy is simply stunning. The only “values” that Newsom represents are Wall Street values – and those of the corporate “environmental” NGOs that do the bidding of the one percent.
Newsom, like other corporate Democrats and Republicans, doesn’t care about the people, fish or environment of California, only the 1 percent that profit off the exploitation of California’s water and natural resources.
Newsom, a proud member of the 1 percent whose restaurant and wine businesses at one time employed 700 people, has been a staunch opponent of the campaign to remove O’Shaughnessy Dam and restore the Hetch-Hetchy Valley, the pristine mountain valley that John Muir formed the Sierra Club to oppose.
“The idea of tearing down this dam is a serious concern to me,” Newsom told the San Francisco Chronicle in August 2005, during a tour of Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.
“The idea of competing and sharing resources with other parts of the state takes away the ability and the autonomy for San Francisco to carry its own fate into the future,” he said. (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/19/BAGV4EA9761.DTL)
Unlike any real environmentalist and the vast majority of northern California politicians, Newsom waffled over taking a stand on the peripheral canal, a project that would devastate San Francisco’s embattled salmon fishing industry, at an appearance at the Concord Senior Center on January 15, 2009. At the same time, he appeared to endorse “conveyance,” the corporate “environmentalist” and water contractor euphemism for the peripheral canal, in effect actually endorsing the canal!
And who did he cite as his sources for his “information” on the peripheral canal? Of course, he cited EDF, NRDC and the Nature Conservancy, all corporate “environmental” NGOs funded by Wall Street, for his information. Here’s the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mMHsDMiZNU.
Gavin Newsom is also a huge supporter of the fake “marine protected areas” on the Southern California Coast, created by the privately funded Marine Life Protection Act Initiative, that went into effect on January 1, 2012. In an egregious conflict of interest, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President of the Western States Petroleum Association and a huge supporter of new oil drilling off the California coast, the Keystone XL Pipeline and the evisceration of environmental laws, served as the Chair of the (MLPA) Blue Ribbon Task Force that created these “MPAs.”
In a letter sent to Assemblyman Wes Chesbro on February 15, 2011, Lieutenant Governor Newsom greenwashed the oil industry-overseen “marine protected areas” that fail to protect the ocean from oil drilling and spills, pollution, ocean mining, military testing, corporate aquaculture, wind and wave energy projects and all other human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
“As a long time advocate for protection of our magnificent coast and ocean, I am proud to join in support of the South Coast plan and urge your continued support for the Marine Life Protection Act, Newsom said. (http://www.ltg.ca.gov/newsc3c9.html?id=8_)
The values that Newsom embraces are those of the 1 percent, not the values of the 99 percent that he has been entrusted to uphold in his position as Mayor of San Francisco and the Lieutenant Governor of California. By opposing the restoration of Hetch Hetchy Valley, by waffling on his stand on the environmentally destructive peripheral canal, and by shamelessly backing oil lobbyist-overseen “marine protected areas in Southern California under the corrupt MLPA Initiative, Newsom stands firmly against the environmental values of the majority of Californians.
I agree with the assessment of Richards by Eric Mills, coordinator of Action for Animals, who opposes the removal of Richards, unlike Newsom and the 40 Legislators.
“Unlike most of the nay-sayers, I’ve been attending commission meetings for more than 20 years,” said Mills in his comment on the LA Weekly website. “Though I don’t always agree with Mr. Richards, I’ve invariably found him to be thoughtful, honest, fair, articulate and willing to speak his mind. Would that all commissioners shared those traits.”
“So be careful what you wish for, folks. We could do far worse than Dan Richards. (And have),” Mills warned.
I believe that the real reason an unholy alliance of the corporate media, unethical political hacks, Wall Street-funded corporate “environmental” NGOs, opportunistic Legislators, “animal rights” zealouts and hypocritical politicians like Gavin Newsom is pursuing their current witch hunt against Dan Richards has NOTHING to do with his mountain lion hunt. It has everything to do with his unrelenting criticism of the worst, most corrupt political process in the history of California – Governor Arnold Schwarzegger’s privately-funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative.
The corporate “environmental” NGOs, flush with Walmart and Packard Foundation money and buoyed by their alliance with Catherine Reheis-Boyd of the Western States Petroleum Association, didn’t like it when Richards spoke the truth and called Schwarzenegger, whom they worshipped as the “Green Governor,” a “forked-tongue devil.”
This smear campaign against Richards is undoubtedly revenge for Richards’ courageous stand against the worst governor for fish and the environment in California history. The reality of Schwarzenegger’s “scorched earth” policies against fish, fishing communities and Indian Tribes were a stark contrast with the disgusting portrayal of the “Fish Terminator” as the “Green Governor” by Wall Street “environmentalists” and the corporate media.
Please read my article (http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/09/28/18660163.php) for the full story about Schwarzenegger’s removal of a Fish and Game Commissioner – and Dan Richards heroic interview where he accurately described Schwarzenegger as a “forked-tongue devil.
While on the Commission, Richards has relentlessly criticized the conflicts of interest under the MLPA Initiative – and has consistently voted against the implementation of fake “marine protected areas” that fail to protect the ocean from oil drilling and spills, military testing, pollution, ocean mining, corporate aquaculture and other human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
Unlike Newsom, Richards is a big supporter of Delta fish restoration – and along with Davis appointee Jim Kellogg- moved forward the vote to stop the corporate agribusiness/DFG striped bass eradication proposal at the February Commission meeting. He and Kellogg spoke passionately against the proposal – and convinced the other two commissioners to vote against it also. Richards’ advocacy for the striped bass, now considered a native species by the state of California, helped save hundreds of thousands of stripers that would have been killed otherwise!
Finally, on every issue I’ve seen brought before the Commission, Richards always asks the hard questions about the economic impacts of proposals on fisheries, fishermen and Indian Tribes. Richards and Kellogg were appointed by two different Governors and belong to two different parties, but, unlike Newsom, they consistently stand up for our Central Valley salmon and Delta populations, fishing communities and environmental justice.
danbacher 
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Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has received awards for his “green” leadership from NRDC, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the “Beautiful Earth Group” and others in recent weeks in a carefully orchestrated campaign to greenwash his legacy before he leaves office.
In spite of the claims of his collaborators, Schwarzenegger’s true legacy is the unprecedented collapse of Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt, threadfin shad, young striped bass, Sacramento splittail and other fish populations spurred by record water exports out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta from 2004 to 2006.
Rather than taking the necessary measures to restore these imperiled these fish populations, the Governor only tried to make things worse by attacking the biological opinion protecting Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River spring and winter run chinook salmon, green sturgeon and southern resident killer whales, along with the biological opinion protecting the endangered Delta smelt.
He relentlessly campaigned for a peripheral canal and new dams that are likely to lead to the extinction of many of these species while fast-tracking a corrupt Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative that does nothing to “protect” the ocean from water pollution, oil drilling and spills, military testing, corporate aquaculture, habitat destruction and other human uses of the ocean other than fishing and gathering.
Schwarzenegger will finally leave office on January 2, 2011 after waging an unprecedented war on California fish populations and fishing communities. Millions of us will celebrate the departure of Schwarzenegger, the worst Governor for fish, water and the environment in California history.
Faced with the environmental wreckage that Schwarzenegger has left in his wake, Jerry Brown will have a monumental task ahead if he plans to restore California salmon and other fish populations. Here are seven immediate actions that I advise Brown to take to begin the recovery of California fish and fishing communities.
First, issue an executive order mandating all state agencies to comply immediately with the provisions of the federal biological opinions protecting Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt and other species. To comply with these decisions, the state and federal governments must reduce water exports, better manage water releases from dams, remove dams and provide fish passage for fish above dams.
Second, direct all state agencies, in cooperation with the federal government, to comply with the “doubling goal” of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) of 1992. The law set as its goal the doubling of all natural spawning anadromous fish populations – chinook salmon, steelhead, white sturgeon, green sturgeon, American shad and striped bass – by 2002. However, rather than doubling, these populations of fish collapsed to record low levels because of abysmal management by the state and federal governments.
Third, abolish the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) that was instituted under Schwarzenegger and all state plans to build a peripheral canal and new dams. Instead of continuing the BDCP’s path to the Delta’s destruction, Brown should establish the first ever “Blue Collar Task Force” (a concept inspired by Troy Fletcher, acting executive director of the Yurok Tribe), to recover fish populations and restore the Delta. The task force would be made up of representatives of California Indian Tribes, recreational fishing groups, commercial fishing organizations, grassroots conservation groups, family farmers, environmental justice organizations and those who have been marginalized in the BDCP and Delta Vision fiascos.
Fourth, cancel or suspend the controversial MLPA Initiative and work with the Legislature to begin an investigation of corruption, conflicts and the violation of numerous state, federal and international laws, including the American Indian Religious Freedom Act and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, under the process. The investigation would begin with an executive order by Brown, citing the provisions of the California Public Records Act, asking the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, MLPA officials, Department of Fish and Game to turn over all of their records relating to the implementation of the MLPA.
Fifth, remove Lester Snow, Schwarzenegger’s Natural Resources Secretary, and appoint a new Secretary, a person with integrity and environmental ethics, who will work closely with Tribes, fishermen, conservationists and family farmers to restore California’s declining fish populations. While he’s at it, Brown should also immediately remove Jack Baylis, a Schwarzenegger stooge, from the California Fish and Game Commission. You can’t rebuild California fish populations by keeping the people appointed by the “Fish Terminator” in power!
Sixth, Brown should meet with Jane Lubchenco, NOAA administrator, and demand she terminate the “catch shares” program being instituted on the West Coast, since it is a failed environmental strategy that will result in local, sustainable fisheries being replaced with corporate, unsustainable fisheries. This policy, if implemented, will result in the privatization of public trust resources and the concentration of West Coast fisheries in a few corporate hands.
Seventh, Brown should officially oppose the Water Bond on the November 2012 ballot and should find an alternate source of money to finance California’s costs for removing the four PacifiCorp dams on the Klamath River, like the State of Oregon has done. Schwarzenegger stuck $250 million for Klamath dam removal in the water bond, an initiative that funds new dams in the Central Valley.
These seven actions by Brown would help to reverse the fishery collapses that the Schwarzenegger administration helped to engineer and will begin to put California fish and fishing communities back on the path to restoration and sustainability.
For more information about Schwarzenegger’s true environmental legacy, go to: http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2010/12/03/schwarzeneggers-abysmal-environmental-legacy-exposed.
danbacher 
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by Dan Bacher
The seven motions adopted by the BRTF are available at: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/recommendations_nc.asp. One of the most significant motions, motion 2, clarifies Tribal gathering rights in marine protected areas:
“When the legal authority to do so is clarified and settled by the State of California and California tribes and tribal communities, the BRTF recommends that the California Fish and Game Commission identify ‘tribal uses’ as a separate category of use in the regulations applicable to each MPA. And, for each state marine conservation area (SMCA), state marine park (SMP) and state marine recreational management area (SMRMA) for which the NCRSG has proposed to allow tribal uses, the California Fish and Game Commission should include the following descriptive language in the regulations: ‘Members of California indian tribes and tribal communities shall be allowed to fish, gather and harvest marine resources for California Marine Life Protection Act Initiative traditional, non-commercial subsistence, ceremonial, religious or stewardship purposes.’”
This resolution also provides for “a mutual reservation of rights by the State of California and California tribes and tribal communities.”
MPA Proposal and Special Closure Recommendations (MLPA website) are available at: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/mpaproposals_nc.asp. These recommendations are the North Coast “Enhanced Compliance” Alternative MPA Proposal (ECA), the Revised Round 3 NCRSG MPA Proposal (RNCP), and the North Coast Special Closures Recommendation.
The materials currently available are: overview maps, descriptions of individual MPAs, consideration of existing MPAs and special closures maps, description and basic information.
“In the coming days and weeks, additional materials will be made available, including more detailed maps and evaluations of the MPA proposals and recommended special closures,” said Kelly Sayce of the MLPA Initiative.
The MPA Proposal and Special Closure Recommendations (Marine Map) are available at: http://northcoast.marinemap.org (under the “MPA Proposals” tab). The names of MPA proposals and special closures recommendations in MarineMap are: the North Coast Enhanced Compliance Alternative MPA Proposal, Revised Round 3 NCRSG MPA Proposal and North Coast Special Closures Recommendation.
Any of the above information is available in print or on CD: Contact the MLPA office at mlpaoffice [at] resources.ca.gov or 916.654.1885.
The North Coast MLPA process is unique in that the diverse stakeholders, including Indian Tribes, commercial fishermen, recreational anglers, seaweed harvesters and local business owners, agreed to a unified proposal for marine protected areas. The proposal is also unique for inclusion of language protecting tribal subsistence and ceremonial gathering rights.
Unfortunately, the Fish and Game Commission has already designated and implemented marine protected areas on the Central Coast and North Coast without language protecting sovereign tribal rights, although a marine protected area off Stewarts Point in the North Central region was changed to allow for ceremonial and subsistence use by the Kashia Pomo Tribe after the area was closed on May 1, 2010.
The unified North Coast proposal could not have occurred without the hard work from the stakeholders – and intense political pressure from the Coastal Justice Coalition and Klamath Justice Coalition, who organized two direct action protests at MLPA meetings in Eureka and Fort Bragg.
On July 21, over 300 members of 50 Indian Tribes, commercial fishermen, conservationists, recreational anglers, seaweed harvesters, environmental justice advocates and community members peacefully took over a MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force meeting in Fort Bragg to protest the violation of Tribal rights and corporate greenwashing that has occurred under the controversial initiative.
The MPA proposal, developed by the 33-member north coast regional stakeholder group (NCRSG), will be presented to the California Fish and Game Commission together with a modified “enhanced compliance alternative” marine protected area proposal and other recommendations in Sacramento on February 2, 2011.
After the proposal is presented to the Commission, the Commission will hold hearings to solicit public comment. A final decision is not expected until later in the year under the incoming Jerry Brown administration.
Brown has not made any public comments to date about what direction his administration will take regarding the implementation and enforcement of Schwarzenegger’s MLPA process. In 2004, Schwarzenegger privatized the process by allowing a private corporation, the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, to fund the initiative through a MOU between the foundation and the Department of Fish and Game.
Although some political insiders have speculated about possible Brown appointees to fill positions in the Resources Agency, Department of Fish and Game, Department of Water Resources, State Water Resources Control Board and other state agencies, Brown has not yet announced any appointments in the incoming administration.
Frankie Joe Myers, a Yurok Tribal ceremonial leader and organizer for the Coastal Justice Coalition that organized the direct action in Fort Bragg on July 21, said that he was glad that the task force adopted the unified proposal and passed motions supporting traditional tribal gathering and co-management, but emphasized that the proposal still has to be approved by the Fish and Game Commission.
“It is close to what we are looking for,” said Myers. “However, the proposal still has to go through the Fish and Game Commission – it’s not over yet. As native people, we have seen time and time again where we sit down and agree on something and then what comes out in the end is nothing like we expected.”
Tribes, fishermen and environmentalists have criticized the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force, a panel that prominently features an oil industry lobbyist, marina developer and real estate executive, for numerous conflicts of interest and violations of state, federal and international laws.
While “Big Green” environmental NGOs including the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Ocean Conservancy and the League of Conservation Voters constantly praise Schwarzenegger’s MLPA Initiative for being an “open, transparent and inclusive” process, grassroots environmental and environmental justice organizations such as the Ocean Protection Coalition, Klamath Justice Coalition and Coastal Justice Coalition are among the initiative’s fiercest critics.
