What went wrong?     An attempt by Clive Sanders, one of the founder stakeholders and recently elected President of the Conservancy of the events leading up to a decision by Council stakeholders, those who had been heavily involved in fund raising to first complete the assessment & action plan and then to set a new direction for the Conservancy.

Bringing together a diverse group of interests in most places is difficult.  In the Monterey Peninsula with its water wars, no growth advocates and environmental problems such as two dams, one with seismic and both with sediment problems it is a recipe for inaction. The original promoters saw the need to establish an organization  to watch over the watershed thought in terms of a foundation.  Setting up a foundation is no easy task and we quickly embraced the idea of a Council of Stakeholders. Our mission statement included this phrase,

The Council will balance environmental protection and the diverse needs of the Community. This will be accomplished by exemplifying integrity, inclusiveness, education and mutual respect.

Noble sentiments no doubt but when allied to a governance program based on concensus the end result was again inaction. Concensus to some meant unanimity ; the group elected to use the terminology "we can't live with it". The only stakeholder group that consisted primarily of young people, many of them artists left in despair and went off to set up their own watershed  group namely Rising Leaf Watershed Arts.  Apart from a few well received outreach presentations on the lagoon issues, the seismic problems at San Clemente dam the public and a few stakeholder representatives perceived that CRWC really was doing nothing.  In some areas we were thought to be merely a political group.

In March of 2003 the board dispensed with the services of the Executive director.  We were eight months into the State contract much of which was centered around services that the director was directly to perform.

The stakeholder group was in a state of disarray.  A small group of directors were behind the idea of one of the directors resigning from the board and taking over the day to day operations of the Conservancy. We successfully completed the assessment and action plan on schedule & under budget on March 31 2005.

It consisted of a Physical & Hydrological Assessment of the Watershed and Map Posters by CSUMB Watershed Institute, Assessment of Riparian Functions & Conditions of the Main Stem of the Carmel River, Biological Assessment of Fish and Amphibian Populations, Assessment of Water Quality Conditions in the Carmel River and Lagoon, Assessment of Benthic Macroinvertebrate Community, Including Drift Feeders by the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District and a Proper Functioning Condition (PFC) review of anadromous creeks, conducted by members of the Conservancy and two independent contractors.

The original intent was for Conservancy volunteers to undertake the PFC's. 43 people attended training seminars on the process.  Many of these volunteers were landowner stakeholders.  They agreed to participate either by reviewing their own property or by requesting assistance from the Administrator.  Only one landowner made such a request.  Therefore, not all of the higher stretches of the creeks were surveyed. And no information was submitted to the Conservancy by those landowners who had promised to participate.  A less than satisfactory situation for the Conservancy.

Later a more disturbing situation developed.  At the outset stakeholders were aware that all were to participate in the public presentations of the assessment and the action plan.  It was expected they would serve on small panels to respond to public  questions.  To say the least we had a poor turnout.  However, the few that were there did a sterling job.  At the action plan meeting with the public the stakeholder numbers were greater and included a few cattlemen. Their stakeholder representative , a board member did not make much of a contribution to the meeting but he did strike an uncooperative note with his final comment that  "we will never let you on our land."

Moving on, the current board feels strongly that we need to re-shape how the public sees us.  Some think that perhaps we have fulfilled our purpose in completing the assessment & action plan.

We agree we need to change the public perception.  We need young conservationists to join our ranks at all levels. We need people to help with our fundraising. In 2003 & 2004 we ran the Steinbeck Century Cycle Run.  The events were a huge success and raised over $50,000 for our restoration work.  The physical effort was just too much for most of the team many of whom are way over  the hill.

 As part of our new program we hope to qualify for grant funds to set up a three year volunteer monitoring program to measure The Daily Maximum Sediment Load (TDML) of sediment movements throughout the watershed.  This is one of our most important action plans as it encompasses both education and gathering of science. There will be significant impacts on the watershed when the San Clemente dam is decommissioned.  We also must be prepared for defensive action if mother nature intervenes and causes widespread movement of the effects of erosion in the watershed. There are areas where colossal amounts of sediment lay accumulating. Places where for some years little rain has fallen in sufficient amounts to move sediment downhill.

Dissolving the Council was the first step.  Having just one organization to manage makes sense. Focusing on conservation and being there for the public as a catalyst around which the agencies of the county can interact with the public, an organization that can act as a pipeline for grant funds for groups when they do not have the experience or the financial vehicle and continuing the efforts to create a degree of cooperation among the agencies.  We strongly support the leadership of the MPWMD in forming a regional watershed group. We can partner individual agencies by being the conduit for grant funds that cover parts of watershed outside the jurisdiction. 

Copyright (C) 2000- 2005 Carmel River  Watershed Conservancy   All rights reserved.

Last updated 26 Sep 2005 by Clive Sanders.