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servation groups, ihc idea look hold and j meeting was sci 

 for February. 1993. The initial planning meeting brought 

 together urban restoration groups, national conservation or- 

 ganizations. Rep. George Miller (D-CA). and national and 

 local conservation corps and agencies — the Environmental 

 Protection Agency (EPA). National Park Service (NPS) and 

 Soil Conservation Service (SCS) —to establish a mission, 

 agenda, and action plan lor CRUW. a naiional Coalition to 

 Restore Urban Waters. CRUW's mission is to form: 

 a national network ol diverse grassrixits groups which 

 protect and restore Urban watersheds, waterways and 

 wetlands. The coalition represents all peoples and 

 groups, including ethically diverse and disenfranchised 

 interests, conservation corps, educational institutions, 

 nonprofit creeks councils, conservation groups and citi- 

 zens committed to restoration of urban waters. While the 

 coalition focuses on urban ecosystems, it recognizes the 

 connection among urban environments and rural, subur- 

 ban and wildlands watersheds. 



CRUW will build on existing programs to achieve its 

 mission. Karen Firehock. Director of the Izaak Walton 

 League's Save Our Streams program, will lake a lead role in 

 organizing CRUW's activities through the national offices 

 in Arlington. Virginia. CRUW's informal, regional offices 

 in Vermont, Alabama. Illinois. Oregon, and California, serve 

 as communication centers within their regions. 

 CRUW — Bringing the Grassroots Together 



One of the first recommendations of CRUW's ad hoc steer- 

 ing committee was to convene a national conference to bring 

 grassroots activists from throughout the United Slates to share 

 information regarding their individual restoration efforts and 

 to help develop an agenda for CRUW. The conference, which 

 was sponsored by the EPAs Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and 

 Watersheds, the Bureau of Reclamation, the NPS's Rivers & 

 Trails Conservation Assistance Program, and the SCS. at- 

 tracted over 300 representatives of grassroots restoration 

 groups, conservation corps, and non-profit organizations from 

 around the country. 



There is no way to truly capture the spirit of camaraderie 

 and high level of energy that was present throughout the 

 conference. The case studies presented of both literal resto- 

 rations and symbolic community restoration were repre- 

 sentative of the numerous, creative, and dedicated stream 

 restoration groups around the country. 



For example, Reggie Archie of the East Bay Conservation 

 Corps described, with considerable pride and humor, his 

 wort; with inner city youth and African-American men in 

 building crib walls to restore a section of Courtland Creek 

 in one of Oakland's poorer neighborhoods. Coalitions 

 among resloralionists and conservation corps help ensure 

 that CRUW will address social justice as well as environ- 

 mental issues. 



No speaker showed more creativity and wit than Lewis 

 MacAdams, poet and community leader from Los Angeles 

 and co-founder of the Friends of the Los Angeles River. This 

 group has taken on the challenge of restoring this chan- 

 nelized waterway that sees the light of day for only six of its 

 forty-six miles. The Friends of the Los Angeles River use 

 high school marching bands, large sculptures, and other 

 off-beat, but highly successful techniques to garner sup- 

 port — and more importantly action, from the community 

 that lives along this urban river. 



Pursuing CRUW's Legislative Agenda 



A special Political Action Committee. CRUW-PAC pur- 

 sues legislation to work with federal agencies, to establish 

 funding for restoration and monitoring, and to support local 

 initiatives. The bulk of this legislation wascrafted with input 

 from national and local conservation groups as well as stale, 

 regional, and federal agencies 



Patterned after California's Urban Stream Restoration 

 grants program, CRUW's legislative package focuses on 

 creating a small watershed grant program that will be 

 "user friendly" (or small, non-profit restoration groups. 

 Many federal grants programs arc unwieldy for small 

 non-profits and some federal programs either preclude or 

 do not specifically target restoration ol urban watersheds. 

 CRUW's proposed Watershed Restoration Act of 1993 

 would do several things lo promote urban waterway res- 

 toration 

 National and I .oca I Conservation Corps 



Non-structural, mulli-objcclive urban stream restoration 

 projects require hands-on human labor. These projects stand 

 in sharp contrast to classic hard-engineering structural pro- 

 jects traditionally promoted by the Corps. Soil bioengineer- 

 ing. for example, is labor intensive and requires skilled or 

 semi-skilled labor. In order to provide labor for these pro- 

 jects and promote community revitalization. CRUW pro- 

 poses to amend the National Community Services Act to 

 expand funding to local and stale conservation corps. 

 Soil Conscrvalion Service 



CRUW is working with traditionally rural-oriented fed- 

 eral agencies lo redirect funds lo urban stream restoration 

 efforts. SCS has expressed interest in working with a new 

 constituency in metropolitan centers. CRUW's legislation 

 would amend two public laws (566 and 46). These changes 

 would promote two distinct goals: creating a partnership to 

 channel moneys lo urban areas, and encouraging SCS lo 

 explore multi-objective approaches for all water projects. 

 Partnering with the Corps 



Urban stream restoration makes for strange bedfellows 

 and seemingly unholy alliances. CRUW's philosophy is that 

 to be successful we must work with any agency that has the 

 authority to work with us. When an agency does not. we will 

 work to change the agency's authority. Changes in the flood- 

 plain management authority of the Corps and in the Water 

 Resources Development Act to allow the Corps to undertake 

 multi-objective flood reduction projects are part of CRUW's 

 legislative strategy. 

 Multiagency Coalitions 



In addition to SCS and Corps programs. CRUW intends 

 to continue working with its more traditional allies EPA and 

 the NPS. CRUW's legislation would require that §305 of the 

 Clean Water Act direct all states to institute a citizen water 

 quality and watershed monitoring program, under the aus- 

 pices of EPA. CRUW proposes to work with the NPS's 

 Rivers & Trai Is Conservation Assistance program to encour- 

 age multi-objective urban river and stream projects. CRUW 

 will also work on non-traditional urban restoration efforts 

 with the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Reclamation. 



There is more than enough work and precious few re- 

 sources. CRUW will continue to seek additional resources, 

 build a national network of grassroots urban stream reslora- 

 tionists, partner with federal, state, regional, or local agen- 

 cies, and continue to promote funding and technical assis- 

 tance for grassroots organizations. 



continued on page 7 



NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1993 9 



