Dear friends of the forests,

A few days ago, we at the Berkeley office of the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters (BACH) got a letter from someone who had filed comments about pollution problems in the Eel River tributary Outlet Creek in Mendocino County. He was referred to us by the Ecology Center, and wanted to know who was doing restoration and clean-up around the area where Outlet Creek flows into the Eel River.

I think of this call as we wonder-after all the campaign changes, organizational changes and “down-sizing” we have had to do operationally- whether we are still needed; if we are still relevant. Well, I believe the answer is yes, indeed we are. It is not entirely clear where else this person would turn with their inquiry: yes, the web, but sometimes you need a place to start, and sometimes you just need to connect with a real person with history on these issues.

The Bay Area is a veritable cornucopia, teeming with progressive non-profits, but we-in our tiny cubbyhole of an office in west Berkeley-are in fact the bridge to the grassroots environmental groups on California’s north coast. We interact with them on a regular basis; we usually know what they are up to. We are likely to have their latest newsletters and information in our office (and, by extension, those publications also wind up in the “info lobby” of the Ecology Center building that also houses the Sierra Club Bay Chapter, Audubon and other environmental non-profits as well as the BACH office). Our long-term engagement in the campaigns and work to preserve species habitat and forests on California’s north coast means that we can make quick judgment calls about the campaigns that need the public’s input and involvement. That affects and colors the way we distribute information and alerts to you, our Bay Area constituency. I think you know we don’t distribute alerts and updates in a mass-email or haphazard way, and I think you appreciate that.

We talk to other grassroots forest and habitat groups like EPIC, Earth First!, Trees Foundation and many others that operate behind the “redwood curtain” on a regular basis. In fact, we are planning to head north with the media workshops that BACH’s Roots of Change Media Education Project devised to bring the workshop to some of those groups after the first of the year. These workshops represent some of the current work for which we seek support.
Also, the Richardson Grove campaign continues to heat up and we are committed to staying involved ourselves and to keeping you informed. Our resolution before the Albany City Council in September got the media’s attention, generated a flurry of communication in Humboldt, and was also forwarded on by the City of Albany to all the City Councils in Alameda County! We are working closely with North Coast groups on the Richardson Grove campaign and tracking Caltrans’ misguided highway widening project. Look for alerts in January.
We know times are tough all around. We’ve cut our expenses to the bare roots. We hope you will want to help the work continue by sending any donation you can. Know that anything helps pay the rent on our office and keeps the emails flying. Checks should be payable to Ecology Center/BACH and are fully tax-deductible. Please be generous if you can. You can also donate online through our website HeadwatersPreserve.org/–just go to the Support the Cause button on the right hand side. We appreciate your continued support of our precious forests.

For the Wild,

Karen Pickett, for the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters
p.s. We referred the caller to the Friends of the Eel River and the Mattole Restoration Project, in case you were wondering.