Pescadero

We went to an amazing beach call Bean Hollow, and we ate lunch in Pescadero --

MORE FROM GINNY BATES: MYRA THE WRITER Maggie Jochild 2007

Here, just a few miles south of town, beside a hamlet called Pescadero, was Cerritos.

Kook Peter Heller 2010

Eric Larson, the environmental program manager with the California Department of Fish and Game who oversees the Pescadero Marsh, says his agency is studying the marsh and hopes to take action in the coming year to address some of the habitat problems.

Tiny Town Is Awash in Water Woes Justin Scheck 2012

Jim Porter, San Mateo County's director of public works, says the rate increase is necessary because Pescadero's water system operates at a loss.

Tiny Town Is Awash in Water Woes Justin Scheck 2012

"To some extent we're tripping over each other," says Don Horsley, the San Mateo County supervisor who represents Pescadero.

Tiny Town Is Awash in Water Woes Justin Scheck 2012

In addition, farmers cleared brush, and levees deepened stream channels, sweeping silt downstream and clogging up floodplains and estuaries like the Pescadero Marsh.

Tiny Town Is Awash in Water Woes Justin Scheck 2012

The latest flash point among the numerous water issues is a proposed increase in drinking-water rates of 25% or more for Pescadero residents.

Tiny Town Is Awash in Water Woes Justin Scheck 2012

Mike Napolitano, an official with the San Francisco Bay Water Quality Board, one of the agencies responsible for protecting water quality in the Pescadero Marsh, says the town's problems mirror those of coastal watersheds from Malibu to the Oregon border.

Tiny Town Is Awash in Water Woes Justin Scheck 2012

And my daughter and I took a slow walk along the Pacific, from Pescadero to Año Nuevo, California.

Wallace J Nichols: Why Do We Love To Stare At the Sea? Wallace J Nichols 2011

Like other Pescadero residents, willow-tree farmer Neil Curry lives in a low-lying area adjacent to the marsh, land diked generations ago to hold back the wetlands.

Tiny Town Is Awash in Water Woes Justin Scheck 2012