DROWNED VAN NORDEN MEADOW

Googling "Van Norden Lake" dredges up old pictures taken when the now breached PG &E  dam still usurped and restrained  the headwaters of the South Yuba.  These pictures are creepy, in their own chilling way.  Many of the larger manmade  reservoirs in California fill canyons in areas where oaks are the dominant tree.  Now, oaks live on California's hills in their own oak-like manner; solemn, majestic, in wide groves, but not exactly crowding together with their fellow oaks.  When canyons are filled with water, the spread of the oaks, aside from the submerged ones, still looks at least somewhat natural.  The various conifers around Van Norden Meadow, on the other hand, are clustered more closely.  When the dam on the meadow was still up, these trees looked like noble, stalwart soldiers, obeying orders, suicidally marching into their watery fate, in serried ranks. One can almost imagine the Maginot line, Northern France, and legions of the doomed. 

Doomed is the operative phrase here. Van Norden Meadow, quite possibly the largest meadow of its sort you'll find outside of Yosemite Park, is a dynamic piece of land, supporting amazing varieties of wildlife. In biological terms, it's descibed as an ecotone. An ecotone is a zone where different environments meet. Here, we have the woods, the meadow, and the wetlands that succor the South Yuba River, all working together. Ecotones are characterized by their ability to support  biologically diverse wildlife;  Van Norden Meadow is literally at the summit in this regards.  This is not hyperbole, as this particular summit area is where many, many species, in addition to foraging, make their seasonal migrations.  Threaten their route of passage, and you threaten their very survival. 

Environmentalists, biologists, and people who just happen to think wildlife is better off alive than dead- wildlife ranging from wiggly bugs and butterflies up through larger animals like deer, and the bears who are constantly trying to figure out the latest trash receptacles, understand the importance of  Van Norden Meadow.  Misters Foster and Syme, and the head of their Public Access Committee, Peter Mayfield, initially impressed our community with their seeming devotion to Van Norden Meadow, and all its denizens. Heavens, they were going to run educational programs to teach us how to appreciate all we had up here! And maybe even have an interpretive center, in case we didn't already understand what a jewel in the crown of the Sierra Van Norden Meadow has been, summering ground for thousands of years of Indian tribes, and resting place for emigrants on the trail to the west- and now a lifeline for so many species.

Unfortunately, developers's whims change as rapidly as Paris fashion, and preserving a meadow that is the lifeblood of diverse wildlife... well, that is so 4 months ago. Now Misters Foster and Syme have discovered, after they purchased Royal Gorge Cross Country Ski Resort, that maybe that was all they purchased.  Their big plans for over a thousand time-shares, hotels, and restaurants depended on non-existent water. Usually, when sophisticated buyers make a purchase of this magnitude, they follow a process called "due diligence", where they make sure the t's are crossed, the i's are dotted, the moon and the stars are properly aligned, and the resources, whether parking lots, water, or sewage disposal, are in place to support their development goals.   Apparently these particular developers failed to exercise their due diligence in a comprehensive manner, and now feel they are justified in turning their backs on their promises to be sensitive, "green" builders, who would preserve Van Norden Meadow, and respect the delicate ecosystem of Donner Summit. In other words, Van Norden Meadow can pay for their mistakes,  and be dammed by developers and drowned once again, this time in order to support a warren of timeshares, and condominiums.