that, right at Springfield, we take the water out, pure and potable with minimal treatment. While there are some serious differences between the Green and the McKenzie, my point is people use does not have to equal pollution and watershed degradation, and a healthy streamflow is amazingly, continually, self cleaning. The beauty of a totally owned and managed watershed is that it can be totally controlled. If the Green River watershed were allowed to re-forest, it, in combination with the contiguous Cedar river watershed would make it’s ecological value priceless. AND would maximize it’s value in terms of water production and protection. At the same time, that would not have to mean peopleless. It is possible to imagine many easy scenarios in which small numbers of people could be allowed access on a limited basis for controlled periods of time and for specified recreational purposes. People could be identified, charged a use fee, monitored, and held responsible for negative activities. There is only one road. Everyone has to stop at the kiosk The people of Seattle have gotten two things from their Cedar River watershed above and beyond water. They DO have controlled access at a number of sites now. And they got what they paid for, a protected watershed producing maximal continuous flow of maximally useful water, and a primal forest reserve who’s best use can forever be weighed and debated. The people of Tacoma have gotten stumptown, a highly degraded watershed with low ecological value, poorly functioning in terms of water production, and no recreational or other access whatsoever. And the degraded Green River below the watershed is someone else’s problem. It is the problem of Tanasket, Black Diamond Issaguah, Auburn, and south Seattle as the renamed Duwamish River. It never approaches the city of Tacoma itself at all. The only thing that can be said in favor of logging the watershed is that the timber provided jobs, many of which are now gone anyway, and it theoretically helped balance the books and reduce water costs for the people of Tacoma. Wouldn’t it be interesting to look at those books and contracts and see how that flow of money actually occurred? On a practical level, the TWD recognizes that it must appear to be “people friendly”. Look at it’s website. There are words. And then there are deeds. The TWD IS a public utility with publicly elected board of directors. Change will only come through either organized pressure that must include groups
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