By Jim Hines
Greetings Friends,
Oh, water I seek ye . . . clouds no more gather.
The land where my father held my hand when I was a little boy while we walked together is visible once again . . . visible living history for me. Little kid me ... on my little pony ... the land was brave, and I was strong.
Land of my ancestors is alive again; its watery covering is no more.
This is Lake Casitas, drying up as I walk today. I was here, yes I was here before the land was covered with water...the dam was built and the lake created . . . I was here . . . I watched from atop my horse . . . I grew up and the waters rose. And now I walk as the lake shrinks ... on the land we farmed, on the land I rode my horse on. The land has returned, and I am there to witness history.
This little boy grew up and wandered far from the land over the years but now has returned to watch the land reclaim itself from its watery grave.
The dam (Casitas Dam) killed two creeks, Santa Ana Creek (the eastern boundary of our ranch) and Coyote Creek (the western boundary); wild creeks no more as their lower reaches made up Lake Casitas, now those lower reaches -- where I fished as a young boy -- are exposed to flow free again, but not entirely free for the dam still stands.
When I was a small boy, I watched a land disappear, now as an adult I watch a land appear ... what magic nature has. Man taketh away, nature brings back.
The impacts of climate change have taken water from the sky and in return given our land the dryness of a desert. Man needs to learn that a powerful dam is no match for Mother Nature.
We need to learn to live in harmony with nature, not expect nature to bow to our material whims.
That small boy watched with little understanding at the time the land was disappearing; now this grown man understands that you cannot take advantage of nature and not pay a price. It was false to think that Casitas Dam could sustain the population of the Ojai Valley and the city of Ventura.
Be still Jim and sit quietly by the dwindling lake and feel the land of your ancestors, the land of your childhood return.
~ For the wild, Jim