This Land is Our Land

You know, I only have a few years left in
life, maybe twenty years; fifteen maybe.

So I thought about what's the most
important thing that I could do

in the time that I have here.
And, uh, taking care of my grandkids,

and making sure that they have a place
to enjoy: that they have streams to enjoy;

that they have wildlife to enjoy.

That's, probably, one of the
most important things I can do.

Nestlé is drawing water from a
spring or a well,

within the National forests,
within public lands that are owned

by the people of the United States.

It's drawing that water and then it's
diverting it, in a pipe,

down several miles outside of the forest.

Nestlé has an expired special use permit,
issued 1978 that expired in 1988.

Uh, that permit alone allowed them occupy
National forest land, with the

infrastructure necessary to remove water.
And they take anywhere from

50 to 150 million gallons a year,
depending on certain conditions.

The Forest Service's maybe is getting
a pittance of what this water's worth.

We're subsidising the business that
depletes that public land resource,

and that then creates cost on down
the line in its lifecycle,

as well in the waste management cost.

The drought drags on but the watershed,
you know, grows drier.

Why is a foreign corporation like Nestlé
being allowed to withdraw millions

and millions of gallons out of our
watershed, making a huge, huge profit?

(interviewer) Do you have any intention of
ceasing bottling operations in California?

(Tim Brown) Uh, absolutely not, uh,
in fact, um, if I could increase it, I would.

We feel good about what we're doing.

Strawberry Creek is just barely hanging on
because there's so much water removed.

And then when we saw the drought
that's currently going on,

that's the worst drought
in recorded history here.

Um, so all of that together made me
really worry about Strawberry Creek,

I thought that there's a good chance we
could completely dry Strawberry Creek up.

Ah, the Strawberry drainage is, uh, is a
critical drainage for, uh,

our plant and animal communities, and it
becomes more and more critical every year.

Because as the urban population in
Southern California grows, uh,

the National forests down in Southern
California are becoming more and more

isolated islands, of plant and
animal communities.

This is a dry habitat that means that those
riparian areas, those areas that are wet,

are essential. Especially in dry years,
like this year, to wildlife.

And it's at 0.18 now, 0.18 cubic feet per
second, which is nothing,

I mean, it's almost no water.

Species that have lived there,
over eons of time, could be lost;

it's just a, it's a terrible thing.

The Forest Service hasn't looked at this
in a number of years and so they can't say

"yes we're protecting those public
resources, yes we're making sure

that there's sufficient water for all the
species, yes we're making sure,

that, we're holding this in trust
for the people of the United States,

we're using it in a sustainable way."
And they're obligated by law

to use the resources on the National
forest in a sustainable way.

A year ago, I started begging the Forest
Service and Nestlé to start meeting

together to start talking about Strawberry
Creek, to work together on their permit

and on the, uh, and on protecting the
National forests, and I was begging

them to do that, and, um, and still
nothing's happened;

there's no meetings, there's just talk.

Everybody in California is effected by the
drought, but not Nestlé,

or any other water bottling company.
I mean, this is our water!

The water in the, in those mountains
belong to every California(n),

and every tax payer in America.

Personally, I invested 40+ years of my
life being a professional forester.

And I care a great deal that public land
in our country is properly managed,

especially, in a manner that makes sure
that the goods and services it provides

are there for future generations,

and that's not how it's being managed
right now.