Streamkeeper’s Blog – March 2017
Streamkeeper’s Blog – March 2017
A call from across the pond
A word from CalTrout’s ED, Curtis Knight
So this happened the other day. I’m sitting in my office when I get a call from London. Not exactly a hot spot for CalTrout constituents so you could say it was an unusual start to the day. The gentleman on the line says he is from the Economist magazine, saw our video No Going Back about Central Valley water and wants to feature us in a video for their series Daily Watch. He says they want to look at the effects California’s drought has had on fish and farms to release on World Water Day. I say great, an opportunity to promote our work to a worldwide audience.
Arrangements are made for me to meet the film crew on a cold but sunny February day on the banks of the Upper Sacramento. They outfitted me with a small microphone, placed me on rock at the edge of the river and, from about 100 yards away, proceeded to ask me questions. They could hear my reply through the wireless mic, but I could barely hear their questions over the rapids of the river. They would shout, I would pick up enough to get the gist of their question and quietly answer. Shout. What? Quietly answer. And so it went, until it became apparent there were a lot of questions about almonds. Why so many almonds? They hadn’t told me they just interviewed an almond farmer earlier in the week.
After 30 minutes of questions and answers you never know what will get condensed into a short, three-minute video. Their goal was to present both sides of the story, the fisherman and the farmer. You can see the video below. I think it came out alright, as much as you can distill a very complex issue into three minutes. One exception is the title they gave me…Salmon Fisherman? Well…yes, but at least not that day.
Tight lines,
California's five-year drought is a divisive issue. We spoke to a fisherman and a farmer to see both sides
Posted by The Economist on Wednesday, March 22, 2017
