River in Ruin: The Story of the Carmel River

Acknowledgments

165 This is not an inflated metaphor: researching and writing this book has been like shooting the rapids of a wild river. One minute it’s calm, serene, floating dreamlike, the next moment anxious , the roar of unseen rapids in the ear followed by certain fear, and then exhilaration, survival, and safety until it is repeated all over again until finally, exhausted, we beach. I have not been the captain on this voyage, not even the necessary pilot. I’ve only been a passenger at the observation deck, making notes. The captain has been my wife, Barbara, a poet, publisher, and keen editor with credits far exceeding mine. I acknowledge her as the one person who guided me over the years it took to research and write this book. Of course, even two people cannot possibly accomplish the necessary labor that goes into a project such as this. There have been many who were always there when I needed them. Namely, the highly regarded Dennis Copeland, Monterey Public Library archivist and overseer of the California History Room and Archives, who scoured the depths of his files whenever called upon; Nikki Nedeff who sat beside me that sunny day at the lagoon on February 21, 2002, and told me the river’s history and then read draft after draft of the book making corrections, suggestions, and giving encouragement; as did Keith Vandevere , who knows the political side of the Carmel River better than anyone; and Stephen Davis of the U.S. Forest Service for his review of the Kirk Complex Fire account. Special thanks to Jane Hohfeld Galante, who opened her Caracknowledgments 166 Acknowledgments mel Valley home and personal files of the Carmel Development Company to me and let me draw whatever I needed from them. And to Allene Fremier, now departed, who graciously and with her usual sense of good humor, shared the diary of Anne Nash. And, of course, there are my high school classmates who looked back those many years with great fondness for the Carmel River: Cherie Staples, Alice Barr, Del Meyer, and the late Les Doolittle. My particular thanks goes to Matt Bokovoy of the University of Nebraska Press, who appeared out of nowhere, to guide me through the process of giving the book more depth, credibility, and substance. It was Bokovoy who saw the early promise in a rough draft and shepherded the book through the peer review maze. His editing skills are the trench work that too often goes unnoticed, but not by this writer. Belle Yang, Steve Turner, John Walton, Gerald Haslam, and Malcolm Margolin read and commented on parts or all of various early drafts. My appreciation goes out to them all. Of course, I am responsible for the final version. There are so many others who gave their time, knowledge, and patience, including Jack Galante, Robert R. Curry, Thomas Christensen, Mark Stromberg, Graham Matthews, Fred Nason, Sandy Lyon, Kevan Urquhart and many expert staffers at the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District. If I omitted someone, I apologize, hoping they know how much I appreciate their support, both moral and material. There are also the unknown contributors, those journalists, many times without by-lines, who over the years wrote unsparingly about the river for their respective newspapers. I am the beneficiary of your work. Thank you all for your insights, your diligence, and your courage in reporting a story as it was being unveiled. A work of this kind is never the work of one person. ...