Stan died peacefully on March 16, 2011 at
the age of 91.
Stan continued to work out of the Berkeley TU office at least three days a week and served on numerous fishery and watershed advisory committees until only a few weeks before his death.Stan’s tireless work to protect, restore, and advocate for California’s coho salmon and steelhead populations lasted over the last three decades. After retiring from the Southern Pacific Railroad, Griffin began his conservation work as a volunteer with the North Bay Chapter of Trout Unlimited in the early 1980s. His accomplishments include orchestrating the removal of Roy’s Dam in Lagunitas Creek, restoring fish passage over the Healdsburg Dam on the Russian River, promoting regulation of in-river gravel mining operations on the Russian River, and calling attention to threats to the North Coast’s once renowned fisheries that are posed by water diversion s and illegal dams. Stan relentlessly pursued his work, interrupting it only for regular trips to the Trinity Alps and Coffee Creek, his favorite place to fish, and the occasional road trip with his son John to watch the Giants at Spring Training.Griffin’s groundbreaking work for the rivers and streams of Marin and Sonoma Counties paved the way for state-wide water rights reform. His efforts to identify and protest illegal water diversions and dams resulted in legislation in 2004 that required the state to develop a policy to maintain flows for salmon and steelhead in the Russian River and coastal streams from San Francisco to the Mattole River. Approved in 2010, the policy provides water for salmon and steelhead across 5,900 stream miles and covers over 1,500 unauthorized reservoirs and dams.Stan has received a long list of local, state, and federal awards, most
notably from the California State Legislature, the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, United Anglers of California, the Tomales Bay
Advisory Committee, and the Marin County Board of Supervisors. Stan received
the Mortenson Award, TU’s highest honor, and was recognized as one of the
ten individuals who have had the greatest impact on the nation’s trout and
salmon fisheries throughout TU’s fifty-year history.Stan’s work, enthusiasm, persistence, and leadership have inspired
generations of conservationists, and he will be dearly missed. Stan will be
buried at Mount Tamalpais Cemetery next to his wife Florence on March 28th
at 3 PM (2500 5th Ave., San Rafael, CA). A memorial will be held in April.
The public is welcome at both the burial and memorial.
