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.