KCCD: John Arum Dedication

We took a break from the flood recovery and project implementation on Friday to honor our friend John Arum. It was a great opportunity to reflect on the work that has been completed in the last decade on Manastash Creek. We were so pleased that John's family joined us, including his wife, mother, father, stepmother, sister, brother and sister-in-law, as well as many of his friends. We had the opportunity to share with them the details of the project and it's importance to everyone involved.

The Dedication Event began at the Washington Cattlemen's office in Ellensburg. This was not just a convenient location, but the location of the very first meeting between the parties involved in the project. Many members of the Steering Committee (past and present) shared their memories of John and how he worked with everyone involved. John came into the Manastash prepared to pursue litigation on behalf of the Washington Environmental Council, but at the same time asking for collaboration. Over the years, John became so familiar with the watershed and the issues and built such a level of trust, one of the irrigators stated that if he couldn't be at a meeting, John could speak for him. Another Steering Committee member said that after working for so long on the project, it became difficult to tell who's side John was on, the fish or the irrigators. Yet another Steering Committee member said, "whoever taught John to fight, did it well and whoever taught him to be a peacemaker did it equally well."

After a light lunch, we took the more than 30 attendees out to the MWDA site so that they could see the on-the-ground impacts of all of the meetings and discussions over the last 10 years.

Three of these plaques were installed, one at each of the fish screen sites. The plaques were provided by the Manastash Creek Irrigators, Ecology, BPA, HDR Engineering, the KCCD, and the American Water Resources Association.

Dale Bambrick (third from left), National Marine Fisheries Services, explains the MWDA fish screen facility to John's family.

HDR's Mike Garello (right), explains the MWDA facility as (right to left) Jeff Tayer (WDFW), Dale Bamrick (NMFS) and Bob Arum (John's father), listen.