And in June, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army Paul W. Johnson directed the district office to proceed with the deal. Cooley's argument for the trade is that the Corps agreed in 1971 to fence out CRC's grazing land, part of a land acquisition agreement for Warm Springs Dam and Lake Sonoma. Cooley maintains that the Corps would save money by accepting the trade, which would place the property boundary along an existing fence line. There's much more to this issue than we can go into here. In any case, he says, the Corps could convert some of the remaining 9,000 acres to wildlife management.
Environmental groups opposing the trade agree.
The Corps now is also planning to auction off Kelly Road, which extends from the Annapolis Road, north and east of Sea Ranch to Lake Sonoma. Many local residents feel the County should take it over, while environmentalists believe the auction could have environmental effects and should be considered together with the land-swap in a single EIS, as their impact would be cumulative. Local, state, and national Audubon groups hope that with the aid of our elected officials the Lake Sonoma deal can be stopped. If it goes through it will be a windfall for one at the expense of the public. If you would like notification of scheduled public hearings regarding this deal, call Martha Bentley at 545-5501.