The Bakersfield Californian from Bakersfield, California • Page 41

At first glance Prop. 17 looks tine words about protection of "wild rivers." BUT LOOK CLOSER What Prop. 17 actually boils down to is a determined campaign by a small special interest group to stop the New Melones Dam now under construction on the Stanislaus River in Tuolumne and Stanislaus Counties. The project will bring immense benefits for recreation, for the environment, for agriculture, for flood control. That's why the New Melones has won nearly unanimous support from the communities directly affected, from citizens who know what's at stake, from such environmental leaders as three past presidents of the Sierra Club.

Let's look at the recreational benefits of the New Melones project: Right now the Stanislaus is largely closed off from the public. If you would like a ride down the Whitewater rapids that flow from Camp Nine, you have to hire a tour from a rafting company at $60 per person. The rest of the river is too dry and too polluted too much of the and too little provided with camping facilities. Except for the rafting enthusiasts, few people get much recreational enjoyment from the river. The New Melones will change all that.

It will: Provide 4 million recreation days of public use a times present boating, fishing and camping. Create camp grounds along the lower 55 miles of the thanks to the New Melones there will be plenty of water for canoeing. Reestablish spawning grounds for salmon, restock other make sure fishermen have access to the fish. Why is Prop. 17 trying to stop all this? Because of those $60-per-person raft excursions we mentioned.

Twelve raft companies maintain a virtual monopoly on the present Whitewater section of the Stanislaus. It's worth $500,000 a year to them. So determined are these companies to keep their hold on the river, they recently went to court to keep a high school from running its own raft trips! And these forces are behind Prop. 17 for the same motives. Behind the fine words about "wild rivers" you find special interests trying to keep a privileged position.

Don't let special interests block your chances at outdoor recreation along the Stanislaus. Vote NO on Prop. 17. HERE'S WHAT PROP. 17 WOULD TAKE AWAY FROM CALIFORNIA SPORTSMEN If Prop.

17 goes through, it will block the New Melones project including all of these recreational benefits: First of all, a year-round supply of fresh cold water for the Stanislaus River, which now suffers from drought and pollution during the dry months, floods during the spring runoff. That means the Stanislaus will at last be usable by sportsmen the year round. New Melones Lake with a 100-mile shoreline for camping and all forms of water recreation. 3000 acres of new park sites, chosen for recreational and scenic value. 23.9 miles of new access to a revived river for fishing and boating.

Preservation and replenishment of the gravel spawning beds for salmon and steelhead protection and recovery for depleted river-bank vegetation a new 12-mile trout fishery. 21 acres for fishing access where the Stanislaus joins the San Joaquin River expansion at Caswell State Park. New park lands in the riverside communities of Ripon, Riverbank and Oakdale. A new four-mile Whitewater run from Goodwin Dam to Knights Ferry open to the public. All in all, 50 times the recreational capacity of the Stanislaus River in its present condition.

50 times the recreational opportunities for California sportsmen for decades to come. These are only some of the public benefits Prop. 17 and its promoters are trying to stop. In addition, the New Melones project will end the annual floods that now plague the Stanislaus, bring new environmental protection and enhance water quality, and strengthen the region's and the state's economy. CAUFORWANS AGAINST PP.OP.

17 John Herlle. chairman 6404 Wilshire Boulevard. Suile 1201. Los Angeles, Ca. 90048 625 Market Street, Suite 1101, San Francisco, Ca.

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