SARA annual meeting will honor Felix Smith and other parkway pioneers

The 2008 annual meeting of the Save the American River Association (SARA) will honor SARA and Parkway pioneers including Felix "Public Trust" Smith, retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist, Elmer Aldrich and Howard Leach. The meeting will take place at the Effie Yeah Nature Center in Ancil Hoffman Park, Carmichael, on Saturday, December 6, at 10 a.m.

Smith on Monday joined the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) and California Water Impact Network (C-WIN) in filing an historic lawsuit against the State Water Resources Control Board, California Department of Water Resources and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in Sacramento Superior Court. The seven-count lawsuit alleges violations of the public trust, California Constitution, Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan, Fish and Game Code 5937 and State Board Decision 1641 and asks the court to curtail water exports from the Delta. Specifically, the lawsuit charges that the huge export pumps near Tracy in the south Delta kill thousands upon thousands of smelt and small salmon fry every year, at different times of year, and are the main threats to public trust resources in the Delta. Here is the meeting announcement:

Photo: Nisenan Maidu Summer Village Replica at the Effie Yeaw Nature Center.