East Bay Monthly

Mokelumne River upstream of Highway 49

The new state study that recommends including 37 miles of the Mokelumne River in the California Wild and Scenic Rivers System is the subject of a feature story in the East Bay Monthly.

Excerpt:

"Almost 30 years ago, Katherine Evatt cofounded the Foothill Conservancy, and one of the group's first challenges was protecting the Mokelumne River. Once a prolific salmon stream originating in the central Sierra Nevada, the Mokelumne became studded with dams over the years and is the primary water source for Berkeley, Oakland, Richmond, Alameda, and much of the East Bay—1.4 million people in all.

"Now, Evatt and other conservationists are on the cusp of victory as state officials have finally decided to consider adding nearly 40 miles of the river's middle reaches to the California Wild and Scenic Rivers system. In a report released in January, the California Natural Resources Agency recommended designating five segments of the river as wild and scenic—a status that would protect the Mokelumne from being dammed in the future, while generally not impacting existing uses of the river for recreation and water supply."