Where Have All the Fishes Gone?

Steelhead Trout

A visit to Healdsburg, California and its surrounding wine country is an opportunity to visit Warm

Dry Creek Valley is wine country

Springs Dam, Lake Sonoma, its recreation area and the Don Clausen Fish Hatchery.  It’s an opportunity to visit nature and experience a bit of Dry Creek Valley’s history.

The story told by the US Army Corps of Engineers on all the facility’s displays is relatively simple.  The dam, finished in 1983, was built to control the annual flooding of Dry Creek Valley which

Dry Creek, home to endangered Coho salmon,
threatened Chinook salmon and steelhead

displaced farmers, residents and businesses at great annual cost.  The dam eliminated the ability of Coho salmon and Steelhead trout to return home to spawn, so Congressman Don Clausen spearheaded the effort to build a state-of-the-art fish hatchery.

The recreation area resulting from the effort includes “wildlife areas”, water skiing, hiking/biking/equestrian trails, an archery range, picnic areas, camping, swimming, boating and a marina.  On its face, these are all great justifications for building the dam and funding the US Army Corps of Engineers’ management of the area.

There is more to the story.  The struggle and controversy over the dam is mostly suppressed by the beauty of the surrounding wineries, olive groves, magnificent vistas and quaint farm houses—and forgotten in the march of time and progress.

Another side to the story...

The ranger on duty explained the necessity of building the hatchery as a way of recovering the lost fish resource and then opined that the dam was probably not strictly an environmental solution. 

Male Coho Salmon

That is not to say that the hatchery is not a marvel of technology and science accomplishing its mission.  The hatchery is educational and inspiring beyond expectation and the dedication of the people working there is contagious.

Further inquiry, however, indicates there was great controversy back in the ‘70s and 80’s over the dam’s financing and environmental impacts.  A flood control request from only 25% of the valley’s property owners was sufficient to trigger tax assessments for all.  Water from Warm Springs Dam covers many prehistoric Pomo Indian sites of archeological value.  Some botanical materials like

Pomo Indian basket

sedge, willow, lobatium and angelica used by the Pomos to make some of the world’s finest indigenous basketry were replanted in unaffected areas, but many of the 65 prehistoric and 45 historical sites important to Pomo culture were covered with water.

The loss of natural fish habitat and spawning grounds along with everything else submerged under the dam’s 381,000 acre-feet of water was of little concern to the special interests intent upon developing the valley by providing more water to the region.

Old-timers in the area acknowledge that there was almost annual flooding, but they scoff at the damage control justification for building the dam.  The flooding was an expected seasonal, nutrient-rich blessing to farmers and no one of sound mind built significant permanent structures in flood-prone plains.  Even worse, the earth dam sits precariously between the Healdsburg and Porter Creek geological faults.

Birthing at a hatchery...

Mix it all up

Harvesting eggs from female
salmon

Collecting milt from male salmon

Time will tell whether the dam and its hatchery were a successful solution providing water, a fish recovery scheme and flood control in a sustainable manner.  The consequences of unsustainable development and mismanagement of our natural resources can deliver attractive valleys like Dry Creek and its superb wineries, but it results in loss of fish habitat.  It’s troubling, though, that the same pattern is repeated all across California, and the rest of the country for that matter.  Is it any wonder the salmon have dwindled off our coasts?

Captain Kidd, Pirate Hunter or Pirate—our modern dilemma

Many of us harbor a negative image of the press for inadequate, inaccurate or outright biased reporting, but these earnest professionals are beset by obstacles themselves.  It is not the first time in American history our major media are owned by private commercial interests with agendas to either hide or embellish.

When the press fails its constituents as spectacularly as it did prior to the Iraq war, we cannot trust that they are unbiased, independent reporters of the facts.  Clearly improvement is necessary to repair that trust, but even the facts are not all they are cracked up to be, in most stories—so we bear a responsibility to be educated, discerning processors of the “facts” available to us.

The story of the notorious Captain Kidd illustrates the fallibility of truth and the arbitrary nature of facts. William Kidd was a tough, successful New York merchant sea captain of the 17^th century.  He was married to a very attractive, wealthy woman, owned a beautiful a posh riverside home and

Captain William Kidd

traveled in prominent New York merchant and political circles.  His own prominence and clout gained him access to a commission from King William III, backed by some of London’s most powerful lords and some of America’s wealthiest merchants.

Captain Kidd was hired to track down and capture pirates.  He was to be paid out of the booty seized from his prey.  This is where the story becomes more of an exercise in interpretation than a spell-binding chronology—despite the exotic locales and all the adventure.

First, there is the ambiguity over who was considered a pirate and which ships were fair game.  The British Admiralty considered the ships of any government currently at war with the crown fair game—and, also, any ships flying the colors of allied countries.  This was true of the French, Spanish and anyone else with ships on the high seas, so any ship on the water was in peril basically.  Alliances were so shallow they could shift virtually overnight, forcing ships of the day to carry an extensive and rather colorful array of national flags so a captain could guess at which flag would discourage a pursuer spotted on the horizon.  With no witnesses in sight, however…

Second, Captain Kidd’s commission designated him a privateer, a seaborne mercenary commissioned by the government to aid the Royal Navy to attack ships of enemy nations in exchange for a piece of the spoils.  The terms did not afford him the latitude to offer his crew wages, just a share of the captured profits.  Of course, to a sailor, this means “no prey, no pay.”  When there were spoils to be divided, only a quarter of them were available to the crew after the

Where is Kidd's treasure?

lords and the shareholders received their share and the expenses were paid.  Pirates, everyone knew, shared in 100% of the treasure.  Despite Kidd’s enormous strength of character and charismatic leadership, he suffers several mutinies as the story unfolds.

A further complication was the extraordinarily slow delivery of mail and snail-like exchange of information.  Months would elapse before news crossed the oceans by ship.  A man could be condemned and rehabilitated before the news of his forgiveness and good grace could prevent his apprehension for the very same offense in a different port.  Once labeled a pirate, Captain Kidd’s reputation either trailed him or preceded him, but was never quite in synch.  He sometimes found himself hiding when unnecessary, calling further suspicion to himself and his crew or taking his good reputation and his welcome in certain ports for granted to his and his crew’s great peril.

His piracy trial is a fascinating read.  He was branded a pirate by jealous captains of the East India Company and the Royal Navy.  Although Scottish by allegiance, he was deemed American and

The hanging of Captain Kidd

arrogant to boot.  Robert Culliford, a little-known pirate once on Kidd’s ship, the Adventure imperiled the crown’s trade by capturing a ship on the Indian Ocean.  He divvied up the gold and daughters of the local Moslem nobility.  Rumors and retelling robbed Captain Kidd of the King’s support for fear he and his lords would be tainted by the privateer. There were few reliable sources of information then.

For great storytelling, read Richard Zach’s book, The Pirate Hunter.  It reads like an adventure novel, but his research is extensive and his description of the foibles and mores of the time are educational and delivered in a very entertaining way.  Many aspects of Zach’s story are collaborated in various online resources including Wikepedia.

William Kidd was hanged in London May 23, 1701.  His body was stuffed into an iron cage and hung in full view of the public to rot at Tilbury Point along the river Thames as a civic lesson and a message to would-be pirates that Admiralty law was not only undeniable, but infallible.

Today we share the same responsibilities as the citizenry of the 1700s.  We must gather and interpret information and “facts” with which to make informed decisions about the issues that affect us.  We would like our major media and its reporters to be accountable for telling truth, and they are, as long as it fits the editorial slant of its corporate owner.  Our task is to gather our “facts” from enough sources to make our judgments more informed.  Who knows?  With enough practice we may even learn to judge who our most reliable sources are.

David and Goliath Updated

 We grew up with the story of David and Goliath, the skinny kid with the slingshot who humbled the fiercely armored Philistine giant, Goliath.  The behemoth’s taunting, the contempt and the certainty that little Davy would be creamed contributed immense drama to the story, and his surprise victory was instructional to all of us.  The story strikes a resonant chord with anyone who has been victimized by city hall, a big company or any other entity capable of bullying its neighbors.  This story has endured from biblical times because of its timeless relevance.

Osmar Schindler lithograph, c. 1888

The modern equivalent to this story is the ongoing conflict between people and corporations who have the legal rights of individuals in the United States and most of the world.  Short sighted and nasty as your neighbor might be, he/she probably can’t draw upon the almost unlimited money, legal talent, publicity and access to the levers of government that a corporation can.

Corporations make Goliath look a little like David.  Before the giant could draw his sword, the corporation would have outlawed the use of swords by bearded men who scowl, slapped an injunction against him and deployed their private security force (in-house or contractors—does it matter?) between themselves and the unsavory, anti-social ingrate created by the company’s PR department.

In other countries, corporations have tried to bully their way to wealth by advocating for access to local natural resources claimed by indigenous peoples, by intimidation and by co-opting local jurisdictions with the help of national governments supported by the US government and the World Bank.  A few examples worth reading about are:

·         the Canadian mining company, Copper Mesa Mining Corporation versus the people of Ecuador  http://www.visionofearth.org/news/mining-corporation-vs-el-salvador/ ;

·         Bechtel’s attempted takeover of the public water system of Cochabamba, Bolivia http://www.countercurrents.org/gl-dc210106.htm

The story in the United States is similar and fraught with even more complexity as corporations buy up and control almost all media outlets—and tighten their strangleholds on politicians who rely upon their campaign donations and the kindness of the aforementioned media outlets. 

The biblical story ended with Goliath’s beheading and the rout of the invading Philistines, but that isn’t an option in the modern story because the influence and power of these new giants of commerce has spread through every strand of our consumer culture.  We are often our own worst enemy as we support these unsavory corporate tactics by ignorance and by looking the other way because we’re too darned comfortable.

What is a Brand Story?

My first post referenced brand stories obliquely—“Madison Avenue’s attempts to brand everything they would have us cherish.”  To be clear, brands are not stories because they do not retell a chain of events or a step-by-step narrative, but successful brands connect with their customer audience in a compelling or memorable way.  An effective brand practitioner will manage their brands in a disciplined fashion --through advertising, promotions and publicity or sponsorship events of all sorts—all of which become part of the unfolding brand story.

With almost $280 billion spent on all types of advertising in 2007, in the United States alone, it can be assumed that a great deal of art and skill has been applied towards creating brand stories, and that the techniques employed by the artists, copywriters, producers and marketers are sophisticated enough to confound and confuse the unaware consumer.  The level of proficiency required to get the most out of a brand story and to understand its relevance to our needs may be much higher than our attention spans will support.

On the other hand, with so many branded messages bombarding an individual on a daily basis, only

A cornucopia of branded messages...

the most shrill, clever or well-placed actually get through.  Even then, the advertisement may be effective at compelling us to buy or try a product, but it may not contribute to the overall brand story in a meaningful way.  A talented marketer (storyteller) understands that the brand’s narrative builds suspense —first this happened, and then that happened which caused this to happen…  If the suspense (the buying experience, the logo, the merchant, the site… ) is enough of a hook to keep the customer loyal, it will be that much easier to establish the brand’s relevance.  A vibrant, trusted brand has more success with brand loyalty and trial of new products and services.

So to simplify, a good brand story must have a narrative and must connect the story to its audience in some way.  As with other types of stories, the consumer must grasp how the layers or brand touch points are relevant to their needs, their lives.

A simple example: 

FDX, a relatively modest corporation accelerated its upward spiral by purchasing Caliber System Inc. which also had freight forwarding and logistics subsidiaries. In 2002, they changed their name to FedEx Corporation, not Federal Express, to cater to the fast-paced business environment where it took too long to utter the extra syllables. 

Find the white arrow...

The logo itself addresses speed with the almost hidden arrow embedded in the negative space between the “E” and “x”.  Every arm of the company is rebranded FedEx no matter what service they deliver and acquisitions are always designed for speed of use; Kinko’s became FedEx Kinko’s, and is now simply FedEx Office.

The FedEx narrative is all about advances in delivering speed to businesses worldwide as their tagline proudly proclaimed in 2002, “Don’t worry, there’s a FedEx for that.”

Poison and Storytelling

Kavala, Greece where it was believed Zeus controlled lightning

Humans shared stories before they understood what caused lightning, earthquakes and floods—even before the advent of Democrats and Republicans or Madison Avenue’s attempts to brand everything they would have us cherish.  In other words, there are many purposes to telling a story.  The more altruistic style of storytelling hands down a people’s history, an understanding of their world and how to live in it; then there are stories intended to sell something like a particular flavor of politics or of toothpaste.

There is an art to storytelling, and there is a level of proficiency required to get the most out of a story.  First we must understand the fundamental elements of a story and then we must identify the story’s relevance to us.  That is not to say, however, that the listener’s proficiency is at fault.  More often than not, the storyteller has failed.

A talented storyteller understands that a narrative builds suspense through chronology—first this happened, and then that happened which caused this to happen…  Often the suspense is enough of a hook to keep the audience enthralled, but if they also understand the tale’s relevance to their own lives, they are compelled to take the story to heart, to retell it themselves, to attach a higher meaning or moral to the telling.

So to simplify, a good story must have a narrative and must connect the story to its audience in some way.  As listeners, our task is to grasp the events, steps or layers in the chronology and to seek the answer to the question, “So what?  What does that have to do with me?”

A simple example: 

There was a guy in a bar, holding his head and staring at his drink for a long time.  A tough looking dude strolls over and, in a mischievous instant, snatches the glass and drains it.  The man at the bar begins to cry.  The tough says, “Come on man, I was just fooling with you.  I’ll buy you another drink.  Just stop crying.”

“No, it’s not that,” laments the man.  “This is the worst day in my life.  First, I ran over my cat on the way to work.  That made me late and my boss fired me.  While I was inside the office, my car was stolen so I called a cab where I left my wallet.  At home I found my wife in bed with our dentist and ran out of the house to this bar.  And just when I had screwed up the courage to put an end to my life, you show up and drink all my poison.”

Here we have an example of a story, really a popular bar joke, but a story nevertheless—with a narrative and events that could befall any of us plus the power of humor to connect the storyteller to the audience.

I hope you enjoy this blog as it unfolds.  I intend to explore storytelling in all its glory-- the good, bad and ugly.  I would like to understand how stories help us and how to avoid the hurt they can inflict. With any luck, I’ll learn to tell good stories.