Kate Wing's Blog
The ballad of the Delta smelt
May 28, 2008
Posted by Kate Wing in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Let me tell you a story
of a fish whose glory
might have just escaped your eye
were it not for the dams
and diversion plans
that stopped it swimming by
For fate had dealt
a cruel hand to the smelt
in the shape of levees and pumps.
Small silvery fishes
with migrating wishes
and numbers down in the dumps.
As a tiny prey,
smelt may lack the cachet
of their anadromous kin.
but their plight was a sign
of the rivers’ decline
and the state the State was in.
Then a judge named Wanger
saw the smelt were in danger
and shut the pumping down.
The little smelt went
(with its cucumber scent)
to become the talk of the town.
The cities and farms
are concerned about harm;
Irrigation canals grow dry.
California’s drought
is not in doubt,
no water falls from the sky.
Will water conservation
be the state’s salvation?
Will we build a big straw to LA?
Or will the Delta Vision
meet indecision
and inertia rule the day?
For the water of the west
Is scarce at best,
On this we can all agree.
How we can share
With the fish and the bears,
That’s the work for NRDC.*
* Note: this work is also being done by the CSPA, CalTrout, Bay Institute, CBD, PCFFA, and many others but I just couldn’t fit everyone into the rhyme.
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Comments
Suzanne Vyborney — Jun 2 2008 04:04 PM
Kate, this is AMAZING. Thank you for this!
Shane Lee — Jun 7 2008 03:53 PM
Its great to save the delta smelt. But we need to know what is the true problem. Could it be ammonia from the sewage from sacramento and stockton. Or other factors in the delta and ocean. The pumps could contribute but when agriculture dries up and we become dependent on other countries that will eventually starve us or make unregulated food unaffordable, think of the consequences. You think people of this nation will look favorable to the organizations involved in putting people out of work, taking food out of the mouths of our children, and breaking the economy of California. You need to tell your friends and family what you're behind, because unfortunately the outcome of destroying our food supply is not going to bode well for the environmentalist community. But keep up the good work I hope it is not all a waste of your energy.