But the Stockton East Water District says it will support another symposium only if its concerns are addressed.
The district wasn’t thrilled with the subjective nature of the “river report cards” which members of the audience were asked to fill out after listening to speakers at the May event.
The report card results did paint a somewhat pessimistic picture of the state of our streams. That concerns Stockton East, which diverts flows off the Calaveras and Stanislaus rivers for farms and city folk.
“If creating a river report card is the objective, then a more quantitative, data-driven approach is necessary,” Stockton East wrote in a recent letterto the group that organized the symposium, the Friends of the Lower Calaveras River.
“However, if the objective is education, then the symposium, as it was originally designed, meets that objective and the concept of ‘report cards’ should be removed,” Stockton East wrote.
Incidentally, Jeremy Terhune — head of Friends of the Lower Calaveras River — announced this week that he is leaving Defenders of Wildlife, the environmental organization whose grant funding laid the foundation for the Calaveras advocacy group.
Terhune said FLCR will continue to meet and host its monthly river walks and other events, even though he will no longer be paid by Defenders.
