National Parks hold key to Fresno’s prosperity
My playful wife Aletha peeking through the Chicago Stump, formerly known as The General Noble Tree in Kings Canyon National Park
One of our favorite activities living in Fresno has been to take the short drive up to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks and hike the many trails through the ancient mountain forests. In less than an hour’s drive east, we are at the park gate and have the freedom (and privilege!) to walk amongst giant 2000+ year-old trees and explore fern-carpeted, dogwood-studded habitats unlike any others on the planet.
In an article published in The Fresno Bee on Friday, reporter Mark Grossi quotes social scientist Jim Gramann, a Texas A&M University professor working temporarily with the park service as saying, “…many studies show that people save money by going to national parks in bad times.”
Well, even when times were booming and amid dreams about retiring early with all the equity we were accumulating in our home (ha!), we were season pass holders and visited the parks many times a year.
But facts are facts. Yosemite National Park, also close to Fresno at just over an hour and a half away, did enjoy a nearly 9% jump in attendance in 2009 when compared to 2008. At 3.86 million visitors, park spokeman Scott Gediman was quoted in The Bee article as saying, “I would not be surprised if we’re back up to 4 million visitors in 2010.” He was referring to Yosemite’s numbers from the 1990s, and the park’s record number of 4.19 million visitors in 1996.
Now here is the million-dollar question: Is Fresno capitalizing on what many have suggested before about linking its marketing to these national parks and promoting itself as a great place to spend an extra day or so? Well, yes and no.
Fresno's Airport Sequoia Grove
Travelers who arrive at our airport – strategically named “Fresno Yosemite International”- find themselves in the midst of a million-dollar collection of very well-done recreations of Giant Sequoia trees before they go to retrieve their bags or meet their ride at the terminal curb. This would seem to indicate that our City leaders understand the importance of that identity, but what are we doing once the visitor leaves the artificial forest?
Fresno must encourage areas of interest to tourists as hubs of activity. The Tower District immediately comes to mind as the closest thing we currently have to a trendy nightlife spot, with cozy dining and performance venues that could very easily provide a must-visit for the traveler with just a little more support and focus from City Hall. While street planting has recently been upgraded, adding other distinctive touches such as faux stone walkways, Olive Avenue cobblestone, water features and quaint lighting fixtures would go a long way to help solidify the identity of this unique Fresno neighborhood.
As our City contemplates other locations in which to concentrate tourist-attracting amenities, it would also be wise to emulate what so many great cities of the world have known for centuries: center such activities along, or overlooking, the local river. From the Seine in Paris, the Thames in London, the Mississippi in New Orleans and the Potomac in our nation’s capitol, people are drawn to flowing water. Arts, culture and science often rise along the banks of rivers and with millions of federal and state dollars being pumped into the restoration of the San Joaquin River through Fresno, it will make sense in the future to provide our regional tourists a place to connect with our Valley’s namesake waterway.
60 Minutes airs San Joaquin Valley water woes
California’s San Joaquin Valley has fed the world for decades. From almonds to raisins and figs to oranges, Fresno County consistently wins the title of #1 in agricultural production for all counties in the United States. But today this position is threatened by the one commodity upon which the entire planet depends: water. And the nation is beginning to take notice.
In a CBS 60 Minutes segment aired yesterday, December 27th, San Joaquin Valley west side farmers were interviewed in front of fallow fields and orchards being ripped out and sent to the chipper. This is occurring today because federal Judge Oliver Wanger in Fresno ruled that the massive pumps which draw water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta near Tracy were killing a threatened fish species, the Delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus), which is found nowhere else on earth. To put it simply, under the federal Endangered Species Act, the government may not allow, through its action or inaction, a species to become extinct, even when numerous other similar species exist in the U.S. and all over the world.
Here in the San Joaquin Valley, water is by far the biggest issue facing our citizens. The storage of hundreds of thousands of acre-feet of natural snow-melt behind massive dams built decades ago is not enough to satisfy the needs of California’s population today. Couple that with three years of below-average winter snowfall in the Sierra Nevada, and we do have a real problem. However, the farmers interviewed for the 60 Minutes story were not affected by the natural cycles of wet and dry years, but by the federal court’s restrictions on the Delta pumps during the first half of 2009 to protect the Delta smelt.
It is interesting that Governor Schwarzenegger took the CBS crew to San Luis Reservoir, which was designed and built on the west side of the Valley to exclusively store pumped Delta water as opposed to natural mountain run-off as are a multitude of other dams built on the east side of the Valley. San Luis Reservoir’s low level this past fall (when the reservoir segment was filmed) was entirely due to the pumps being off or operated at low capacity earlier in the year, not a “drought” as the report would have viewers believe. On a trip past the same reservoir just before Christmas, it was apparent to my wife, Aletha, and me that the lake was being refilled – it didn’t look nearly as empty as when CBS correspondent Lesley Stahl commented on it. According to the California Department of Water Resources website, more than 800,000 acre-feet of water is being stored in San Luis as of today’s date – up from 473,257 acre-feet at this same time last year.
Central California’s historic wild rivers, expansive wetlands, Tulare Lake – drained by the end of the nineteenth century in order to grow cotton – and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta today bear little resemblance to what they were prior to 1849. Every major tributary to the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers (respectively California’s first and second longest rivers) was dammed long ago. The San Joaquin Valley – once a grassy plain (not a desert!) teeming with herds of antelope and elk, dotted with wetlands so expansive that the numerous waterfowl would darken the sun and mighty rivers that supported both fall and spring-run salmon by the millions feeding tens of thousands of Grizzly bears – is long gone. One only has to fly over the San Joaquin Valley to see that nearly every acre is neatly squared-off and that mankind has forever altered the terrain. For better or worse, the human impact is mightily apparent here. The word “significant” pales in the light of present-day reality and shutting off the water supply to a few hundred west side farmers is not even a drop in the enormous bucket of what it would take to re-create what was once here.
As stewards of this planet, we must decide which parts we will preserve for nature and which parts we must sacrifice so that the human species (Homo sapiens) may also survive. When looking for places to grow our nation’s food on U.S. soil, it makes sense to choose a unique region like California’s San Joaquin Valley, which annually enjoys more than 300 days of sunshine allowing for multiple crop rotations and incredibly fertile soil deposited here from the very mountain run-off that is today so fought-over. The Valley’s location directly adjacent to the Sierra Nevada – a mountain range that naturally sequesters, then releases, millions of acre-feet of pristine freshwater each year – has not only made it a farming region unparalleled in the history of the world, but also a national focal point in the ongoing battle between human and environmental needs.
High-Speed Rail route could provide future train travelers a panoramic view of Aquarium property
OK – picture this… As California’s High-Speed train approaches the northern entrance to Fresno, passengers peer from the windows and are greeted by the modern architecture of the Arthur Dyson-designed Aquarium set into the restored bluff landscape overlooking the restored San Joaquin River just before the train banks over Highway 99. In the 5 minutes remaining before arriving at the glass-roofed downtown Fresno station, the commuters are already buzzing about their planned visits to the Aquarium and other activities in and around Fresno, which has become California’s Year-Round Playground.
A map just released at the Madera Fairgrounds (and photographed by the Madera Tribune) on Thursday depicts three possible routes – all of which rejoin the Union Pacific right-of-way just north of our future Aquarium property. According to the Madera Tribune, proposed Route A-3 caused the most angst for area farmers and water officials because it showed the trains cutting through prime farmland. However, the California High-Speed Rail Authority may ultimately choose this alternative because it is far less expensive than building through cities and denser existing development. From what we could determine from the map, it appears that Route A-3 arches over the corner of the Aquarium property before crossing Highway 99. (The nearly square Aquarium property, which was brought into the City of Fresno Sphere of Influence in April 2009, appears clearly on the right side of the map just below the letter “H” in Herndon.)
Fresno Metropolitan Museum to close?
The Met during its recent remodel
In their new business plan released in June 2009, the Fresno Metropolitan Museum had identified the 2010 Creatures of the Abyss exhibit from Ontario’s Science North as their biggest potential draw of the first year following the City of Fresno takeover of their historic building. Aletha and I had met with museum staff about the possibility of bringing our Teaching Tidepools animals to the Met as well as collaborating on a week-long Ocean Camp for children and a lecture on current ocean issues for adults.
But due to the downturn in our economy, the Creatures of the Abyss traveling exhibit was removed from the Met’s calendar in November. Would the expected attendance of 42,100 have made the sea creatures the hit of the season? We don’t know, but it is a shame a sister nonprofit organization is having such difficulty in Fresno and we sincerely wish the staff of the Met all the best as they work to save this gem for our community. All nonprofits need generous local and sponsor support to not only survive, but also expand what they are able to offer constituents. It seems to me that angels at this time of year are just what Fresno nonprofits need.
Penguin Window Arrives in Fresno
Photos: Aletha Lang
After trying to figure out how on earth we were going to unload and store the huge 15 x 8 foot acrylic aquarium window we had shipped from the Steinhart Aquarium courtesy of our donors Arnold and Dianne Gazarian, Steve Salcedo and the folks at San Joaquin Glass came to the rescue and used their crane, straps and professional expertise to lift the window from the transport truck and carry it into their facility for storage. There were some tense moments as the straps strained with the tremendous weight, but the operation went off without a hitch.
The penguin window is carried away to storage.
When we are ready to use this beautiful window in our new Aquarium, we are confident it will be in great shape and able to once again provide a glimpse into an exciting aquatic habitat to the delight of our visitors.
Thanks to the Salcedo family and all the people at San Joaquin Glass!
Steinhart exhibit tanks moved to Fresno
A team of volunteers from the Central Valley, headed up by Ken Hendrix, traveled to San Francisco to remove the 12 largest aquarium exhibits and tons of associated equipment from the Steinhart Aquarium’s 5-year temporary space on Howard Street for transport to Fresno.
Load of tank pieces behind Steinhart Aquarium's temporary Howard Street location ready for transport to Fresno. Photo: Peter Lang
The largest, about 20 feet in diameter, holds approximately 14,000 gallons of water and one, the Steinhart’s former penguin exhibit, has a 3-inch thick acrylic window measuring nearly 15 x 8 feet weighing in at approximately 2,000 lbs! Some of the other exhibit tanks relocated include a 7,800 gallon tank, a 3,600 gallon tank, three 2,000 gallon tanks, a 718 gallon acrylic tank, two 11 foot long triangular tanks and a 1,450 gallon former piranha tank.
These tanks will make great homes for the aquatic animals we will be acquiring for Fresno’s future Aquarium!
For more photos, click here.
Steinhart Aquarium donates tanks to Fresno
As founders of the Aquarius Aquarium Institute, my wife Aletha and I have been laying the groundwork over the last couple of years for the donation of a number of very large aquarium exhibits from one of the oldest and most prestigious Aquariums in the world – the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco, an important part of the California Academy of Sciences.
Beginning 5 years ago, Aletha and I visited the Steinhart and were given a behind-the-scenes tour of the former building in Golden Gate Park by then director John McCosker. He was very interested in our plans for Fresno’s Aquarium and pledged support in any way possible. In December 2007, the Steinhart’s new director, Chris Andrews, reinforced the Academy’s support of the Institute with a presentation of the Steinhart’s plans here in Fresno (Clovis, actually) as one of our Marine Life Presentation series.
Fast forward to 2008 and a brand-new Academy and Steinhart Aquarium have just opened in Golden Gate Park and the temporary exhibit for the fish collection on Howard Street has closed. The tanks that were housing the collection are now empty and rather than go to a landfill, a group of volunteers from the Institute will be loading them onto big-rig trucks generously donated by Wildwood Express and Cerutti & Sons which will transport them to Fresno.
Be sure to check back here to follow the exciting progress!