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TIDINGS
NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES

July, 2000
VOLUME V
ISSUE VII

C'mon Guys: Finish The Job
As observed by the Oakland Women's Rowing Club, the contractor hired to empty the Boating Center dumpster (and many others in Oakland) doesn't always finish the job. After emptying the dumpster, they just drove all off and left a huge mound of trash that had been piled around it! Now I know its extra work to get out of the truck and take five minutes to pick it up, but why do half the job and leave the rest for Park employees to pick up? If this contractor can't do that much to keep the City clean, lets find one that can. To help solve the problem, perhaps the Office of Public Works could please get us a larger dumpster, one with a lid on it to keep seagulls out.

Return of the Fountains
Finally. After waiting more than two months for new salt water motors, the bandstand fountain (and soon the Glen Echo unit) are operating again. Thanks to the Lake Merritt Breakfast Club for agreeing to contribute $1,000 for one of the motors. We are still awaiting word on a grant proposal to pay for an additional $3,000 in parts and labor. The three fountains provide valuable oxygen to our Lake, which EPA listed as impaired due to occasional low oxygen levels.

Fishing is legal here
Unfortunately, esteemed Tribune editor Peggy Stinnett was given the wrong information. She was incorrectly told that the City Parks Department had banned fishing at Lake Merritt. Not so. First of all, only the state Fish and Game Commission can do that and they are not about to pull that silly string. Second, the recently departed Parks director did not cancel, but only suspended several fishing programs, including the free stocking of steelhead trout, stocking from the proposed hatchery, free use of rods and reels and the state "Fishing In The City" events. The suspension was supposed to be lifted after four long studies, but there is no money or staff for these. To provide background information for city officials, the Institute is considering paying for an independent, professional study of past, present and potential fishery resources in the creeks, Lake and channel. Meanwhile, people around Lake Merritt will have to go up to the hills to find a managed fishing program.Unfortunately, esteemed Tribune editor Peggy Stinnett was given the wrong information. She was incorrectly told that the City Parks Department had banned fishing at Lake Merritt. Not so. First of all, only the state Fish and Game Commission can do that and they are not about to pull that silly string. Second, the recently departed Parks director did not cancel, but only suspended several fishing programs, including the free stocking of steelhead trout, stocking from the proposed hatchery, free use of rods and reels and the state "Fishing In The City" events. The suspension was supposed to be lifted after four long studies, but there is no money or staff for these. To provide background information for city officials, the Institute is considering paying for an independent, professional study of past, present and potential fishery resources in the creeks, Lake and channel. Meanwhile, people around Lake Merritt will have to go up to the hills to find a managed fishing program.

Wall Restoration
Could it be? Yes it could. Something's coming. Something good: (no not at West Side Story; at Lake Merritt). X's now mark the spots where (we assume) repairs to the ancient, crumbling bulkhead walls will soon take place. Funded by the half million dollars obtained by Audie Bock, this is the first step in a long overdue effort to shore up the shoreline. These sites are the worst. As more funds can be found, other areas will be fixed.

County Proposes to Keep Bars Across the Channel
The Alameda County Flood District recently informed us that their re-design of the tide gate structure along the channel at 7th Street would include eight inch openings in the bars that continually block access from the Bay to the Lake. The presumed reason is to protect the pumps from trash when they are operating. But the pumps only operate about 1% of the time! What we don't understand is why interior screens, parallel to the flow, could not be used in combination with bars that would only be lowered only when the pumps were operating. Then boats, and fish such as the federally listed steelhead trout, could pass by un-impeded. Perhaps our proposed fish study will shed some light on this issue, which is not going to go away.

Beneath Lake Merritt
On June 3rd the Institute hosted scuba and snorkel divers to explore and clean up the Lake. Although visibility was 8 ? 20 feet (and, yes, it is safe to swim here) the extensive forests of widgeon grass prevented seeing much of the bottom except around the inlet where tidal currents scour a shell channel. Divers reported seeing an underwater world of algal towers, fish and greenery. We hope to repeat the study in September, after the widgeon grass season has passed and before winter rains stimulate plankton blooms.

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