Friends of the River Foundation records, 1960-1996, bulk 1974-1981

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Summary

Creators:
Friends of the River Foundation
Abstract:
This collection contains documentation collected during the campaigns to preserve the Stanislaus River, stop construction of the New Melones Dam and protect other creeks and rivers through grassroots public awareness campaigns and water policy legislation.
Extent:
38 linear feet (24 cartons, 3 oversize boxes, 9 oversize folders, 2 tubes)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Friends of the River Foundation records, BANC MSS 88/25, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains documentation collected during the campaigns to preserve the Stanislaus River, stop construction of the New Melones Dam and protect other creeks and rivers through grassroots public awareness campaigns and water policy legislation. Materials include correspondence, notes, administrative files, grassroots, organizing and outreach materials, testimony and statements, lobbying, legal cases, studies, research, reports, maps, news articles and clippings. Researchers should note that this collection contains many reused documents such as hand written notes penned onto the verso of printed materials and letters, as well as many small and irregular sized scraps of paper and envelopes with hand written notes.

Biographical / historical:

Friends of the River (F.O.R.) was founded as a grassroots conservation organization in 1973 and their headquarters are located in Sacramento, California. F.O.R.'s founders are Gerald "Jerry" H. Meral, Rob Caughlan, David Oke and David Kay, who established F.O.R. as an outgrowth of the signature gathering campaign to stop the construction of the New Melones Dam on the Stanislaus River near Jamestown, California. In 1975, under the leadership of Mark Dubois and Jennifer Jennings, the Friends of the River Foundation was incorporated as a non-profit membership based organization dedicated to river protection. The group's primary activities are grassroots organizing, public outreach and education and working on behalf of water policy legislation throughout California.

The New Melones Dam was authorized in 1944 as a component of the Central Valley Project. In 1966, the work commenced to replace the existing, much smaller, Melones Dam with the new, much larger earth and rock embankment structure. Although the citizen effort to halt the New Melones Dam project had launched by the late 1960s, major ballot campaigns to stop the construction to protect a 13 mile unimpeded stretch of the river from Camp Nine to the town of New Melones commenced with 1974's Proposition 17. This 13 mile stretch of the Stanislaus was considered particularly valuable to conservationists and outdoor enthusiasts in part due to its historic cultural resources and accessibility for white water rafters and kayakers. Opposition to the New Melones Dam also alleged "pork barrel" spending of taxpayer money for an unnecessary government project. Supporters of the dam argued that the dam construction by the United States Department of the Army, Corp of Engineers would create jobs, help with flood control, hydroelectric power generation and increase the state's water supply.

The campaign to save the Stanislaus River was fueled by the momentum of the environmental movement which was picking up steam in the early 1970s and remains one of the greatest examples of citizen involvement in American history to stop a dam from being built. One of its most illustrious moments came on May 22, 1979, when Mark Dubois alerted authorities of the project to his plan to hide out in the river’s canyon and then chained himself to a rock for nearly a week to prevent the filling of the New Melones Reservoir.

Following the failure of the Proposition 17 initiative to pass in 1974, F.O.R. backed a number of other policy proposals to protect the river, including Senate Bill 1482 (1976), House Resolution 4223 (1979) and Proposition 13 (1982), or the Stanislaus Campaign Initiative. Although the New Melones Dam was eventually built and the lake filled in 1982, one of the campaign's most influential achievements was to crack open the debate about the cost effectiveness and benefits to society of large dam projects around the globe. No other dams of this magnitude have been built in the United States since the completion of the New Melones Dam.

Acquisition information:
The Friends of the River Foundation records were donated to the Bancroft Library by Mark Dubois.
Processing information:

Arranged to the folder level.

Processed by Lisa Marie Monhoff in 2019.

Physical location:
Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Physical description:
Contains evidence of termite infestation throughout the papers which includes minor damage to some documents. While care was taken to remove as much of the animal detritus as possible, there is a small amount of remaining debris in some folders.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For additional information about the University of California, Berkeley Library's permissions policy please see: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/about/permissions-policies

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Friends of the River Foundation records, BANC MSS 88/25, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Location of this collection:
University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft Library
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000, US
Contact:
510-642-6481
bancref-library@berkeley.edu
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