AGENDA 21 RADIO

BY PAUL PRESTON

O.C. REGISTER

Marines deep in Orange County canyon country hoisted heavy military-grade containers from trucks and pulled out shovels, axes, crowbars — equipment to dig holes for C4-grade explosives.

The mission Tuesday was unusual, if not a first. The plan was to blow up three small dams on Silverado Creek. Boulders would fly, concrete would crumble, rock shrapnel would tear into anything soft.

Just before sunset Tuesday night after a long day of preparation, an explosion demolished the first dam.

“It came apart easier than expected,” said Darrell Vance, district ranger for the National Forest Service.

Two more dams in Silverado were expected to be blown up Wednesday.

In the days to come, five dams in the Holy Jim Canyon are scheduled for blasting. No human is allowed within 1,000 feet when the C4 goes off.

Tuesday was thick with tension, perhaps not unexpected when explosives are to be used in an area designated as protected wildland. Yet this mission is especially complicated.

Officials who consider themselves environmentalists split with civilian environmentalists over the fate of the dams, some of which are believed to date as far back as the 1930s.

While the Marines worked in Silverado Creek, National Forest Service officials stood by. Nearly three years of planning, meetings and public notices led to this day.

Rangers hope the explosions will return the land and the creeks to the way nature was before the rock and concrete dams were built. But a mile down the dirt road that parallels the creek, a gathering of environmentalists and concerned residents worried some of the very things that draw them to Silverado Canyon will vanish forever.

In the early morning, civilians talked about locking arms to block the Marines. One protester was stopped by a Forest Service official’s hand to the chest. Still, cool heads prevailed and the demonstration turned into a discussion.

For naturalist and activist Joel Robinson, it’s about leaving alone what he says has transformed from human imprint to become a natural habitat for plants and animals.

“The aquatic life we all love might be erased,” Robinson warned. “If they have to do this, can’t they do it in a more sensitive way?”

For Robinson and others, it’s also about being immersed in nature — literally.

Water flowing through these U-shaped dams has scooped out a series of crystal-clear pools.

“It’s our swimming hole,” said Deanne McKibben, a canyon resident of five years who often spends Saturdays at one of the pools with her 25-year-old son and 24-year-old daughter. “It’s pretty special.”

As McKibben talked, Forest Service biologists near the three dams scheduled for leveling Tuesday carefully explored the stream. They searched for California newts to relocate the 6-inch-long brown creatures to safer areas along the stream.

Biologists Kristen Winter and Julie Donnell carried buckets separating males and females. They reported the newts have yet to mate, but they soon will. By mid-morning, they had five males and six females.

Lance Cpl. Adam Dublinske, a 20-year-old from Milford, Iowa, and other Marines joined the biologists’ efforts to watch for newts.

Vance is a district ranger for the Cleveland National Forest and heads up the effort. He spent nearly two hours Tuesday morning chatting with protesters. While the two sides didn’t reach agreement, Vance left open the possibility of more dialogue before more dams are demolished.

“We’re not trying to shove this down anybody’s throat,” Vance assured the protesters.

Later, Vance climbed in a Forest Service vehicle, hiked a bit and checked out one of the larger dams. Its U-shaped walls rise some 10 feet and span about 20 feet. He looked into a deep blue and turquoise pool and the surroundings. Yet where some residents see a swimming hole, the ranger sees man-made scars.

An old wood chair and table sit on rocks mid-stream. Red graffiti covers a boulder the size of a washing machine. Nearby, there are styrofoam containers and human waste.

The ranger explains that the County of Orange is spending about $70,000 for the restoration project and utilizing Marine resources is a way to reduce costs. He calls explosives an economy of effort with a total of 10 dams scheduled for removal.

Demolishing the dams should actually increase steelhead trout recovery, Vance says.

But some anglers disagree. Kevin Taylor, a Cerritos College professor, learned to stream fish in Trabuco Creek, which also is scheduled for blasting. He passed along the skill to his son, driving just an hour from his Tustin home.

“This is a terrible thing to do to the forest,” Taylor said. “Trabuco is the only place in Orange County you can stream fish. The stream has been stocked with trout for at least 60 years.”

Documents argue what will happen to fishing once dams disappear.

Some say fish need the deep pools. Other contend the dams trap fish. Still others argue fish can’t survive the creeks during drought anyway and stocking is the only thing keeping fish in local creeks.