Our Mission

To restore, protect, and enhance the environmental and historical qualities of Jackson Creek, the various forks and tributaries of Jackson Creek, the Jackson Creek Watershed, and the Amador Canal.

Overheard

"The environment in the watershed has come to depend upon year-round flow in Jackson Creek. We should do all we can to maintain those flows."
- Bill Condrashoff, PHAW member

"Both PHAW and AWA desire to find the means to implement agreed-upon conservation strategies, which requires working with other potential partners in this effort."
- Russell Evitt, Founding Member, PHAW

About Us

The Protect the Historic Amador Waterways (PHAW - pronounced "paw") group formed in May 2001 to protect our county's historic waterways. When the Amador Water Agency announced its proposal to put in a cross-country pipeline, local residents became more involved in the environmental process and vowed to work on mitigation of the negative impacts the pipeline project and the dewatering of the Amador Canal.

Our members represent a wide cross-section of the population, including teachers, doctors, engineers, attorneys, ranchers and lots of other concerned citizens throughout the county and beyond. As well as Amador County supporters, we have been joined by a Valley land-use organization known as LUA (Land Utilization Alliance), which has been very dedicated in their support. PHAW's members are decidedly NOT just property owners with canal or creek frontage.

From the beginning, PHAW voiced a myriad of issues related to the construction of the pipeline and the impact of this project on the Jackson Creek watershed.

At every turn of the environmental process, we met with resistance from the AWA over our concerns that this was an ecological and historical catastrophe in the making. Despite having dozens of residents, two state agencies (California Department of Fish and Game and Department of Health Services) as well as two environmental law firms on our side, the Amador Water Agency voted to move ahead with the project. Because of that action, and having exhausted our administrative options, PHAW decided to organize and file a CEQA lawsuit against the AWA.

In March 2007, PHAW and AWA announced their successful resolution of a year-long collaborative process to resolve legal and policy differences over the Agency’s decision to build the Amador Transmission Project and to install a small diameter pipeline in the Amador Canal. AWA and PHAW have finalized an agreement to fund, prepare and implement a watershed management and conservation program for the South Fork of Jackson Creek and New York Ranch Gulch, as well as other areas within the Jackson Creek Watershed. Later in 2007, PHAW incorporated as a 501(c)3 non-profit under the fiscal auspices of the Amador Community Foundation. Today, we continue to work on studying and mitigating the effects of the pipeline on the Jackson Creek watershed.

Membership in PHAW is free to anyone who is cares about our local watershed and wants to help. To learn more about PHAW or become a member, please email us or call 296-4463.