Stanislaus – a poem written during pilgrimage to Capitol in August 1978

In August, 1978, as the reservoir began flooding the Stanislaus River, more than a dozen river lovers and supporters spent a week walking from the River to the State Capital, pulling a red wagon carrying a Toyon tree that had been dug up from the soon-to-be-drowned canyon below Parrots Ferry. Each walker wrote a one line Stanislaus tribute to create the poem above. Diane Poslosky calligraphed the poem, made copies, and attached wildflowers from the Canyon to each, as example above. The marchers were met by a rally of over 200 river activists in Capital Park, where State Senator Peter Behr and a child planted the Toyon outside the Governor Brown’s office window. Afterwards, many talked to their state legislators, and many poems were handed out.  (One-third of the State Senate and Assembly members had co-sponsored Sen. Behr’s 1976 SB 1482—the bill to protect the river as Wild & Scenic —in response to the vast grassroots expressions of love for the River.)