About District 4

Fourth District, Calaveras County, CA

Altaville | Angels Camp | Douglas Flat | Murphys | Vallecito

Calaveras: From Gold to Green

Today's title is a recognition of our natural potentiality to produce, use and share natural resources. Harvesting the potential does not reduce its availability for the next generation. Stewarding those resources enhances their value while increasing the dividends of clean water, air and energy.

I was brought to this subject by my continuing conversations around District 4 with individuals concerned about our economic health during the current downturn. As I have mentioned before, I am developing an action plan to revitalize the Calaveras economy in a manner consistent with our rural life styles. Today, I'll share a bit of the historical foundation of the plan. Tomorrow, I'll cover the general thrust of the plan. Later, I'll address specific initiatives that would implement the plan.

District 4 is the golden heart of the Calaveras Mother Lode. The Gold Rush remains the defining event in our modern history. However, it is important to know that the 49ers primarily worked for placer gold, not the hard rock ores. Without the Utica, Lightner and other later mines, our landscape would be very different. Deep mining required lots of manpower and massive infrastructure. For good and bad, the pursuit of gold reshaped the Miwoks' environment and created ours.

The riches taken from Calaveras earth seldom stay here. Like a third world country, Calaveras exported its natural resource wealth in its least refined form, nuggets and metal bars. Ironically it is the infrastructure created by miners that now points the way to future sustainable, non-exploitive economic development. Our hydroelectric capabilities, our water storage and transports, and our civic structures all exist as by-products of the mining era. Nevertheless, they are available to us today as the foundation for a new "green" vitality.

Let's not get sidetracked by polarizers -- "green" means renewal, efficient, healthy, and clean. Green is the color of the concerned majority who want effective joint action by the private and public sectors, by the county and the city, and by all of us committed to preserving the quality of life in our communities.

Please share your views with me at "Write Lee".