Christopher Quock has a Master’s Degree in Entomology from San Francisco State University. His job history there includes work in research and as a teaching assistant. He’s a volunteer defender of Del Puerto Canyon, where a remarkable variety of wildlife and geologic history come together in a natural classroom and science lab. Ed
Earlier this year, the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors provisionally approved a proposed reroute of county-owned Del Puerto Canyon Road to make way for the proposed Del Puerto Canyon Reservoir in Del Puerto Canyon at the request of Del Puerto Water District General Manager Anthea Hansen. Afterwards, she sent a letter to the California Water Commission asking for additional state funding for the project from the Water Quality, Supply and Infrastructure Improvement (WSIP) Act referencing their support.
Save Mount Diablo launched a campaign in September allowing people who oppose the reservoir and support the pre-existing plans for a park in Del Puerto Canyon to send letters to 32 officials in Stanislaus County. As of November 6th, 8,096 letters have been sent out through the English and Spanish versions of the petition.
However, some letter writers have mentioned getting responses from Stanislaus County Supervisor Channce Condit claiming the board is not involved and that the project is an arrangement between “private” entities. These statements contradict the Supervisors’ recent actions and documented authority, and it puts them at odds with the growing network of other government entities and NGOs calling for increased land conservation efforts.
What can this network do to ensure that the concerns by these letter writers are acted on and encourage these decision makers to be more accountable to them?
For some background, Del Puerto Water District introduced plans in 2020 for a reservoir in the canyon out of more than 10 possible alternatives they explored. It would store canal water to sell to its southern agribusiness customers for non-potable uses, along with legally required environmental offsets near Merced. It would cover 800 acres but only store up to 82,000 acre feet, a fraction of the 2 billion acre foot and 160,000 acre foot capacities of the San Luis and Los Vaqueros reservoirs…