New mess in creek

PETALUMA -- Members of the United Anglers of Casa Grande were feeling pretty good about last weekend's annual community cleanup that removed trash and other debris from Adobe Creek.

But just two days later, students in the unique environmental program at Casa Grande High School received discouraging news.

Found newly dumped along the creek that runs east of the school: a mattress, two box springs, a broken table, chairs, knives, used underwear – and bloody bags of maggot-infested animal parts.

"Somebody just dropped all this crap on us," a dejected Tom Furrer, teacher of the 25-year-old wildlife program, said Wednesday. "It's disgusting and it smells bad."

It is particularly frustrating, he said, because the volunteer group works hard at raising funds to run the creek restoration program for steelhead and the hatchery for rainbow trout and fall-run Chinook salmon.

Instead, Furrer spent another $40 on a second dump run Wednesday after United Anglers members cleared out all but the animal parts.

"You'd think after 25 years of this it would stop, but it just doesn't. This is insane," he said.

"I don't know what would inspire someone to do something like that," said Petaluma Mayor Pam Torliatt. "It is discouraging when some people don't respect our waterways as much as other members of the community."

She encouraged creek neighbors and other Petaluma residents to keep an eye out for illegal dumpers and report suspicious activity to police.

Casa senior Katie Hubacker, 17, a co-president of the United Anglers, said she'd rather think positively about the incident than to consider what kind of person would thoughtlessly dump trash in a sensitive waterway.

"I get very appreciative that I wasn't here back in the '80s when that stuff was everywhere," she said. "It must have been some people who are uneducated or don't think clearly about where this stuff is going to go. Or, they expected the Anglers to pick it up for them."

Twenty-five years ago Adobe Creek was a dead waterway, littered with junked cars and devoid of fish. But more than two decades of restoration work, primarily by Casa Grande students, has revived fish runs, including steelhead, which are listed as threatened by the federal government.

Furrer and his students aren't strangers to damage to the creek, which is a salmon and steelhead spawning ground.

At least twice since his students became stewards of the creek, named after the nearby Vallejo Adobe, the Sonoma County Water Agency has removed dozens of shade- and habitat-providing trees from the banks.

Furrer didn't let the latest dumping disappoint him for long. He's busy planning a daylong celebration to mark the group's silver anniversary Nov. 3.

You can reach Staff Writer Lori A. Carter at 568-5312 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com.