Will Parrish: Anderson Valley, Tentacle of the Winegrape Octopus

Help Support Important Local Reporting, Subscribe Today http://theava.com/ From WILL PARRISH Laytonville “When at last the land, worn out, would refuse to yield, they would invest their money in something else; by then they would have all made fortunes.” — Frank Norris, The Octopus, 1901 One of California agribusiness’ oldest traditions is clearing huge swaths of … Read more

2011: The Year of the River

Posted on January 5, 2011 | Filed Under: Dams & Dam Removal , Restoring Rivers Amy Souers Kober Senior Director of Communications Hold on to your paddles, because 2011 is going to be a thrilling year. From Maine to Washington, we will be celebrating a river renaissance as waters long-dammed come back to life. 2011 will see the nation’s … Read more

Will Parrish: On Memory & Forgetting in Wine Country

Help Support Important Local Reporting, Subscribe Today http://theava.com/ From WILL PARRISH Laytonville Soon after I became outspoken in my criticism of the regional wine industry, I began having conversations with local people for whom this issue is deeply personal. Across recent decades, the sprawling North Coast booze sector has recklessly reconfigured landbases, sucked waterways dry, killed off … Read more

2010 River Warrior Awards Announced

Friends of the Eel River is proud to share that Nadananda was selected as a River Warrior for 2010.
Water Heritage Trust, a project of the Resource Renewal Institute, Recognizing individuals and organizations that protect and improve water quality, fish, wildlife, and riparian ecosystems and acknowledging the sacrifice and dedication required to meet the challenge of climate change impacts on our land, water, and wildlife.

Will Parrish: The North Coast Wine Industry’s Latest Coup De Grace — Draining Our Rivers Dry

Help Support Important Local Reporting, Subscribe Today http://theava.com/ From WILL PARRISH Laytonville The latest in the North Coast wine oligarchy’s long series of legislative coups de grace occurs on December 14th. In what will surely be a 5-0 vote, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors will rubber-stamp new regulations on frost protection in the Russian River … Read more

Largest salmon run on Eel River in 77 years arrives after Tribal ceremonies

by Dan Bacher via http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/12/20/18667140.php Over 2,300 fall run Chinook salmon, the largest number of fish counted at the Van Arsdale Fisheries Station on the Eel River below Cape Horn Dam since the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) began keeping records, arrived just a few months after members of the Round Valley Indian Tribes … Read more

Feather Dancers of the Round Valley Tribes

Thank you all for such a powerful year! In July of 2010 the Feather Dancers of the Round Valley Tribes joined Friends of the Eel River at a magnificent swimming hole in the Hearst area, a few miles downstream of the PG&E Potter Valley diversion (PVP). Prayers and dances began just before dusk and continued … Read more

Will Parrish: Sonoma County, Banana Republic of Wine-Grapes

Help Support Important Local Reporting, Subscribe Today http://theava.com/ From WILL PARRISH Laytonville In 1993, American wine industry goliath E&J Gallo (annual revenue: $2 billion) founded its first subsidiary dedicated solely to producing high-end, “premium” vintages: Gallo of Sonoma. The move reflected a dramatic shift for the Gallo empire, which accounts for one in four bottles sold … Read more

Booze, a Banker, & The Bailout: The Murder of Mark West Creek

Help Support Important Local Reporting, Subscribe Today http://theava.com/

by Will Parrish on Nov 25th, 2010

As the Director of Merchant Banking at America’s most politically well-connected investment firm, Goldman Sachs, Henry L. Cornell is accustomed to reaping the benefits of political oligarchy. (Webster definition: “a government in which a small group exercises control, especially for corrupt and selfish purposes.”) His company exerts a profound influence in the corridors of both national and global power, not only by shaping legislation to the benefit of the interlocking financial, real estate, and investment industries, but by helping set the rules under which policy battles are waged in the first place. The multi-trillion dollar 2008 bailout of the banking industry, authored by then-Treasury Secretary and former Goldman CEO Henry Paulson, is only the most famous example.

Read more

Wolf Cries – Howling About Drought – All Wet

No More Doubts Officials Exaggerated Severity of Drought

By Patrick Porgans and Lloyd G. Carter

Despite the fact that the federal and state officials are seemingly still at odds as to whether the drought is over, a review of the government’s data indicates that contrary to the wolf cries of Fox, CBS, the Governor and water officials, the recent California “drought” was very mild at best in comparison to historical droughts. This finding is prefaced on extrapolating data from the four-year period, 2006 through 2009 – within which a three-year “drought” purportedly occurred – with the drought which occurred from 1987 through 1992, using the last four years of that drought.

Read more