Art for Our Sake

AS ONE OF the curators of the Art of Democracy "War and Empire" show at San Francisco's Meridian Gallery, I was delighted to read Maureen Davidson's article ("A Call to Arms," Arts, Oct. 8). Her description of the various Bay Area AOD shows and her explanation of the art/politics context were comprehensive and gracefully written.With the recent economic meltdown finally having gotten the attention of heretofore info-averse, market-fundamentalist conservatives, it is time for Americans to take back their liberties--and their responsibilities as citizens.

We artists and activists who have criticized the Bush administration's misguided follies for nearly a decade take pride in our loyal opposition and hope that rationality and community can bloom again after the slimy rubble of the Dubya Debacle has been removed.

 DeWitt Cheng,
San Francisco

They're Not Gone Yet!

TRACI HUKILL'S article ("Going, Going, Gone," Cover Story, Oct. 1) on the plight of the Central Coast coho paints a clear and accurate picture of the risks and challenges in coho restoration. She even points out that "the Central California coho exist in such low numbers south of San Francisco that without a hatchery program they might not be here at all." The Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project (MBS&TP) started that hatchery program back in 1976 and has been operating it ever since, having developed a safe and effective supplementation program. Their heroic efforts have been keeping the local native coho population from extinction. They have proven that they can rebuild missing runs, but now they need your help. Hands-on salmon rearing is exciting rewarding work in a beautiful setting. The MBS&TP is a small member-supported nonprofit organization that relies on regular folks like you to achieve its mission. The Project's work is supported and mandated in the coho recovery plans developed by teams of fisheries scientists over many years. Help keep the Project's 30-year effort strong. Save the coho, support the MBS&TP!

Matt Rowley,
Davenport

Lend the Fish A Helping Hand

THANKS TO Traci Hukill for exposing the tragic decline of our local coho salmon. Santa Cruz County's San Lorenzo River Salmonid Enhancement Plan proposed solutions back in 2004. The Plan recommended increasing "the width of no-impact riparian buffers where appropriate to protect aquatic habitat from excessive sedimentation. There is a growing body of evidence that buffers that limit all land use activities from the riparian corridor protect aquatic ecosystems from potential disruption and degradation. All of these recommendations state that management activities such as logging, road building, clearing and construction are to be avoided within riparian zones with a horizontal width on both sides of the stream of one to two tree height lengths for the maximum expected tree height."

We should take heed, lend the fish a helping hand and curtail our damaging actions.

Jodi Frediani,
Forestry Task Force Chair,
Sierra Club Ventana Chapter

No Wimpy Careerist Politician

JIM FITZGERALD has the background and temperament to improve our dysfunctional legislation. While Abel Maldonado is a nice guy, he's now perceived as a wimpy careerist politician, which is why party stalwarts like George Bush and Schwarzenegger will always run roughshod over him. Consider this: Abel made a big deal of reaching across the aisle and working very hard to bring us a deeply flawed and overdue budget that barely survived for three weeks after it was passed. Abel devotes all of his time and energy to the process, when the product is a load of garbage. He is too anxious to please and he's been burned more than once. We need a smart, thinking senator for these tough times, and that's why I'm voting for Jim Fitzgerald.

Kurt Rightmyer,
Los Osos

Send letters to the editor here.