Open Letter to MCWRA from Ron Ringen, Board Director, Tuolumne Utilities District
By: Ron W. Ringen, Board Director, Tuolumne Utilities District
An open letter to the Mountain Counties Water Resources Association…Education, Education, Education…
First, I want to heartily thank the Mountain Counties Water Resources Association and their Executive Director, John Kingsbury, for the foresight of thinking up, planning and putting on such a great educational program (Headwaters in Peril) that occurred recently at the Ridge Events Center in Auburn. I have to say that putting on educational event of this proportion takes a ‘ton’ of time, effort and planning! A big special thanks to Mr. Executive Director, John Kingsbury, but more so to his ‘better half’, Ginny, who did a bunch of the heavy lifting! However, I also really want to thank the people/entities that actually brought the program to fruition through their generous sponsorship/donations to make the program happen – thank you so much: PCWA, HDR, D & A Civil Engineering, Blackburn Consulting, EN2 Resources, Inc, AECOM, Churchwell White LLP and ECORP Consulting, INC. You folks are truly industry leaders and deserve our support.
Although I was unable to ask the question I wanted to ask the Panel during the Wednesday Panel discussion because there were time constraints, I was able to ask Congressman Tom McClintock the question the next day when Tuolumne Utilities District (TUD) was fortunate enough to have the Congressman take time out of his busy schedule to meet/visit with us (TUD) and participate in a Special Board Meeting to discuss various TUD issues.
My question to Congressman McClintock was: “I’m pretty sure that you are well aware of the incredible progress and positive projects that are being promoted and put in motion through the collaboration, co-operation and huge collective efforts of the large ‘array’ of stakeholders and organizations in Tuolumne County (and southern Calaveras County) – the T-Stan IRWMP, the Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions, the Lyons-South Fork Watershed Forestry Resiliency Project, and the just ‘inked’ agreement that will allow Tuolumne County and YSS to provide money/perform projects on US Forest Service lands to benefit all. My question to you Congressman McClintock, just what can we do as individuals and utilities to help promote this collaboration and forward-thinking process to help save our forests and water?”
The answer I got from Congressman McClintock was immediate and direct…EDUCATION – educate people on the real facts of what is occurring in and to our forests!
My request of the MCWRA members is, that if you have education ‘home runs’/successes, please share them with John so that he can share them with the rest of us. Hey, we are all in this together!
On the third page of the “BIOGRAPHIES” MCWRA handout we were given at the symposium, under the MCWRA logo, it is stated in bold letters: “Education, Advocacy, Leadership”
Mountain Counties Water Resource Association has truly lived up to and continues to live up to that pronouncement! Just my humble opinion…
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