Latitude 38 Feb 2020

We here at Latitude 38 would like to think that we're about more than just the sailboats and the ensuing adventures they may bring. To be sure, we love talking about provisioning, passagemaking, equipment and technique. But more than the methods, we believe in the dream. It is the simple idea of throwing off the docklines and pointing the bow toward the horizon that excites us most. The dream sustains us through the realities of financial trouble and old, troublesome engines and mile-long lists of boat projects. For this reason, we think that lots of people, whether they sail or not, have dreamt of an iridescent blue lagoon surrounded by a white-sand beach in the South Pacific.

The vision of a tropical getaway is easy; it's almost wired into our DNA. The dream that's harder to imagine — perhaps because, on the surface, it seems plain, even boring — is what shape our local communities will take in the next five, 10 and 50 years. This dream is not sexy; there's no blue lagoon as a reward at its end. There are only long hours spent at city council meetings. There's only persistence and diligence, and the sole prize is that we simply try to maintain a lifestyle that we grew up with, rather than seeing an old boatyard or chandlery or marina bulldozed, or seeing a once-thriving waterway silted in. As a case study, consider dredging in the San Rafael Canal. Designated as a federal waterway 100 years ago, the Canal was last dredged in 2011; some areas haven't been dug since 2002. Dredging San Rafael Canal is not just a matter of preserving a lifestyle or providing access for sailboats; there are also very real public safety concerns. We reached out to Congressman Jared Huffman's office, which told us that, "[The Congressman] believes the Canal will have public safety benefits, including not only flood and sea-level rise mitigation, but also the use of the Canal by first responders, using the Canal as a base, as well as a location for refilling helicopters during wildfires."

The Canal is technically on a seven- and four-year cycle to dredge its outer and inner sections, respectively, but the money for these projects has not been consistently allocated by Congress. The net result is that municipalities must lobby the US Army Corps of Engineers. In spring 2018, San Rafael Public Works Director Bill Guerin and Nadine Urciuoli, the CEO of the newly formed San Rafael Channel Association and general manager of Helmut's Marine Service, went to Washington, DC, to meet with Corps of Engineers officials for that fiscal year. The Marin Independent Journal described that year's multi-faceted effort as a "full-court press." Also involved in the lobbying were two Marin County Supervisors, who received pledges of support from Senator Dianne Feinstein and Congressman Huffman.

Despite these efforts, San Rafael Canal has still not been dredged. No one is at fault; this is simply the protracted nature of the process. It is fair to say that stronger environmental regulations have made dredging more expensive. One local harbormaster told us that pesticides used in residential landscaping drain into the Canal, creating toxic soil that, when dug up, must be hauled by barge to a designated site where it can be safely dumped, thus dramatically increasing the cost of the project. We think that strong environmental laws are a good thing, but recognize that they come with a trade-off.

We asked Congressman Huffman's office if they could pinpoint a date for dredging. "The timeline is dependent on when the Army Corps provides the funding, so as of now there is no estimate," a spokesperson told us. When we asked if the congressman has to "lobby" the Army Corps of Engineers, his office said that the process was more like "advocating."

Publicly, Congressman Huffman said, "I'm pushing the Army Corps of Engineers to include dredging the San Rafael Channel, along with the Petaluma River, in the upcoming agency work plan that's due later this spring." The Congressman described the many meetings and repeated pleas for action: "At a Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing earlier this month, I pressed Assistant Secretarycontinued on outside column of next sightings page

James and Lieutenant General Semonite of the Army Corps about this significant regional dredging backlog, and the federal appropriations bills for 2020 directed the Army Corps to prioritize both dredging projects. I hope we'll see good results in the agency work plan due later this spring so that we can finally address the recreational, commercial, and public safety problems that come from delayed dredging."

Tireless work is involved to protect and realize our vision for the kind of community we dream of having. If you're wondering what you might do, please consider writing a letter to Congressman Huffman's office urging the Army Corps of Engineers to dredge. Letters can be sent to either 999 Fifth Ave. Suite 290, San Rafael, CA 94901, or 1527 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20515.