Griffin, 101, continues to fight for Marin County

A quote by author and environmentalist Mark Reisner from Dr. Marty Griffin’s book, “Saving the Marin-Sonoma Coast” says it all:

“When you add a couple of freeway lanes, cars come out of nowhere to fill them,” Griffin quoted Reisner. “It was the same with water; the more you develop, the more growth occured, and the faster demand grew. California was now hitched to a runaway locomotive.”

In the 1960s, when Marin County was being carefully planned with a “design for nature” in mind, the amount of rain that fell on Mount Tamalpais watershed, plus 25% of the county’s supply from the Russian River, was enough. Then came the drought of 1973-1976. I remember buckets in the shower and dead lawns. Water rationing was forced on everyone.

The county had about 200,000 residents then and the population stabilized for several years as a result of a controversial Marin Municipal Water District moratorium on new hookups in 1973. Griffin was the swing vote.

If you want to know how to solve the water situation, read Chapter 11 of Griffin’s book. Marin was once targeted to have 1.5 million people. Because of Griffin and others, the current population is around 258,000.

In 1961, he created Audubon Canyon Ranch, which bought dozens of properties to thwart freeway sprawl throughout West Marin. In 1973, he had the foresight to help stop the Russian River water pipeline from supplying developments that would have put 190,000 people in the east shore of Tomales Bay and Bolinas basins. He continues the fight for water in West Marin where overgrazing of cattle in Point Reyes adds to the severe water shortage.

Griffin turned 101 years old on July 23. We should thank him for saving Tomales Bay and Bolinas Lagoon from development and for his devotion to keep Marin County as originally planned — for nature.

— Jocelyn Knight,

Corte Madera