Save Del Puerto Canyon

"A series of proposed dams threatens Del Puerto Canyon, a beautiful natural area surrounding Del Puerto Creek in the foothills west of I-5 in Stanislaus County, California. The Green Incubator is raising funds for Save Del Puerto Canyon (SDPC), a group that is committed to opposing these dams to protect the history, culture, biology, and geology of this Stanislaus County treasure, and most importantly to safeguard the people in the community, from this project.

SDPC is opposed to the proposal by two water districts to construct two enormous dams, two saddle dams, and a pumping facility that would create a reservoir to hover above the city of Patterson, California. It is designed primarily for exporting water to large-scale agribusinesses outside of the immediate area, with some minimal environmental offsets also outside of the immediate project area as a "compromise" for the natural areas that would be destroyed. Should this go through, home sales might require a "hazardous dam flood inundation zone" warning. During construction tons of debris will be pumped into the atmosphere to further impact the breathing capacity of individuals living in our disadvantaged community. Should either dam break, the majority of the city of 25,000 would be engulfed in up to ten feet of water - lives would be lost. The reservoir also conflicts with pre-existing plans for a community park at the Gateway Rocks, a cultural feature the project would also destroy.

When backers of this project introduced it to the public several years ago, they failed to provide adequate announcements and opportunities for public comment also in Spanish, despite Patterson being a majority Hispanic community. They also held most of those public comment periods during normal working hours when most people could not take off time from work to attend. In spite of decades of educational and recreational use of the roadsides, which have a publicly accessible right-of-way, they did very little outreach to the networks of people who regularly visit the lower canyon. If it weren't for the lawsuit that tossed out their initial EIR, backers were originally hoping to be well under way with construction by 2022. Had they stuck to this plan, some people who have regularly used the canyon for recreational and educational purposes, including school groups, who SDPC volunteers have reached out to might have remained unaware and showed up at a construction zone. In summer 2024, water district leadership proceeded with planning for the realignment of the public roadway by sending a public survey on traffic and access impacts to some rural landowners and residents of the Diablo Grande country club, bypassing input from residents of much more populated areas like Patterson. Back in 2014, the main district pushing this project was behind a deal to transfer groundwater from Merced, which was also surrounded in controversy because it enriched two private landowners, also involved accusations of fast-tracking regulatory review, and issues with public transparency. If this current project goes through, it would continue to set a bad example for small circles of wealthier and business-backed interests being able to decide when and where to rearrange public and natural resources without providing opportunities for all the taxpayers who pay for them and the people who rely on them to have meaningful decision-making power.

Donate to this cause to help SDPC to proceed with community outreach such as signs, advertisements, special events, and legal representation as necessary. SDPC helped to cover some expenses associated with the earlier fight against the project's initial Environmental Impact Report. That fight succeeded in getting the initial EIR voided in court in 2022, but SDPC is preparing for round two over the revised EIR which could come out as soon as later this year.

Please support this cause and give what you can. Any amount helps this effort!

Your support is vital to the protection of the rare geology that professors have delighted students with for decades, the place where the first dinosaur fossils were found and identified from California, Native American artifacts such as grinding rocks and the native pathway through the Gateway, historic narrow-gauge railway corridor, the scenic creek that meanders along the roadway, endangered species habitat, and protecting the people of Patterson.