October 5, 2008 Sunday

Call It Home: Searching for Truth on Bolinas Lagoon

We in Marin are so lucky: we have a treasure in the Bolinas Lagoon, talented filmmakers and a concerned populous that protects and preserves the environment.

On Sunday October 5th Bill Chayes and Nancy Olin premiered their Bolinas Lagoon documentary, Call It Home, to a packed Sequoia Theater as part of the Mill Valley Film Festival. Local filmmakers Bill Chayes (on the left in the above photo) and Chuck Olin (on the right) spent five years researching and filming this must see piece for all Marinites. Chuck unfortunately is no longer with us, but his wife Nancy has carried on his work as executive producer. The above photo was taken at the Surfrider Foundation Marin County’s Ocean Migration Festival held at Stinson Beach in June 2004.

Call It Home astutely captures the beauty of the lagoon, establishes why the lagoon is an important ecological treasure, describes the critical silting issue and provides an in-depth account of the conflicts and struggles of local community groups attempt to preserve the lagoon. It begins with a panoramic view of the lagoon from the Bolinas Ridge and moves into those views all of us love: striking sunsets, harbor seals, egrets, pelicans, cormorants and mirror smooth water. It moves under water for shots of fish, plants, and mollusks. Famed oceanographer, Dr. Sylvia Earle, explains the importance of estuaries, and how Bolinas Lagoon is one of the last remaining saltwater wetlands in the northern hemisphere.

Today we are reaping the benefits of the persistent efforts of concerned citizens in the fifties and sixties who blocked a crass development effort of the lagoon. The movie pans in on a development map for the town of Bolinas with hundreds of lots, a yacht harbor, an extension of the freeway to the coast and a golf course. The Kent family, local politicians and hundreds of determined citizens out maneuvered the county’s development agency to block the development project and to revert ownership of the lagoon to the county. Due to their efforts, development of the lagoon will never happen.

In the 1980's local residents became alarmed by all the evidence that revealed the lagoon was filling up with silt. What to do? The movie skillfully frames the unique situation where everybody in Stinson Beach and Bolinas wants to preserve the lagoon, but how to do it? The various factions cannot agree upon what to do, how to do it and how to fund it. The issue boils down to one question: should we (humans) interfere with the natural processes of silting to prevent the mouth of the lagoon from sealing off the tidal action of the ocean, which is essential to the health of the plants and marine life within the lagoon.

One faction wants to dredge the mouth and around Kent Island to keep the tidal action flowing. The opposing group pushes for no action because silting is a natural process of the evolution of estuaries. Environments are far more complex than we realize and thus well-intended action could disrupt the delicate balance of an ecosystem, and intervention by humans to solve one problem could cause unintended side effects.

With federal funding, the Army Corps of Engineers studied the silting problem and proposed a $60 million plan to do extensive dredging of the lagoon and other projects. The community factions couldn’t agree and the plan died.

What does science say? The County of Marin contracted with consultants Phillip Williams Associates to study the problem, model the silting action and predict what would happen in fifty years. Their study concluded that the main cause of silting came from the erosion of the bluffs to the north of the mouth of the lagoon, due to wave action and tides, and that in fifty years the mouth would still be open but the average depth of the lagoon would be half of today’s depth.

The factions still couldn’t agree. Federal funding dried up because there was no consensus among the local groups. Environmentalists argued that the lagoon is experiencing a natural process: a seismic event followed by years of silting to another seismic event. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake dropped the average depth of the lagoon three feet and silt has been filling in this new hole caused by the earthquake for a hundred years. The opposing faction feels that environmentalists are sophisticated “do nothing types.” They use fancy data and technical jargon to justify inaction. The opposition feels that “we must do something to preserve the lagoon.”

The movie delivers clips, quotes and statements from local citizens who participated in the numerous meetings concerning the dying of the lagoon and makes them the stars of the movie: Josh, the fisherman, representing the dredging proposal; Gordon, head of the Sierra Club, opposing intervention; the head of the Audubon Society concerned about the delicate environmental balance; Maria, superintendent of the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, working to bring the groups together, and Scott, head of Surfrider Foundation of Marin County, commenting on the furor generated by the discussions.

The epilogue stressed that local factions have partnered with the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary to reach an agreement that targets mitigating the impact of humans on the lagoon. The new partnership is now searching for funding to implement the agreement. The movie ends with a stirring speech by Dr.Sylvia Earle, marine biologist, to study more and learn more. Our greatest problem is not knowing. With knowing comes caring.

Bill Chayes and Nancy Olin’s movie engaged and enthralled the audience. The packed house was filled with locals, who like myself, are very connected to the lagoon and who could not disengage from the issue when the movie ended. The first question for Bill Chayes from the audience was, “What’s the solution?” Poor Bill was the messenger here. He quickly turned the question over to the head of the Sierra Club who gave a very positive response about the agreement.

Congratulations to Bill and Nancy for skillfully documenting this treasure of Marin and articulating the lagoon’s evolutionary issues. All people of Marin would enjoy this movie. My rating: four stars.