From the Sacramento Bee

Ranch owner: Reservoir is full of promise

By Mary Wells
Special to The Bee
Published: Sunday, May 31, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 5E

When my family purchased our ranch 35 years ago in the small foothill community of Sites, we knew there were discussions to flood our land and make it a reservoir. Even so, we hoped we could continue to ranch here for generations to come.

We could not predict back then that California would grow so fast and our state's needs would be so great that a reservoir would become an essential part of solving California's current water crisis.

It would be sad to see our land and our neighbors' land flooded, but I understand that Californians would benefit from storing this water.

For years, California's leaders talked about solving our state's water crisis. In drought years they focused on this issue, but public attention faded with the next rainfall. That short-term thinking has created a long-term problem for everyone.

Mary Wells, a 62-year- old, fifth-generation Californian, owns ranchland in the area that would be part of the proposed Sites Reservoir.

For more see: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/story/1903373.html