A slough of scenes
Artists want to spread appreciation for wetlands site

By Dave Nordstrand, The Californian, Salinas, California
September 2, 2000
ELKHORN SLOUGH – Fueled by gas station coffee and driven by the light, Salinas' Andy Williams sets up his easel and paints the scene.
The sun is red and low, and egrets feed in the mirrored waters spread before him.
Elkhorn Slough has become an inspiration, but also a cause, for Williams and 13 other artists.
"We want to show the public how beautiful the slough is," Williams said.
"We want them to realize what we put in jeopardy when we allow development along its edges."
To that end, the Elkhorn Artists' Alliance has hung its slough paintings at the Monterey County Courthouse. The exhibit, Endangered Landscapes of North Monterey County, is on display through Oct. 26.
Elkhorn Slough begins at Moss Landing Harbor and hooks, horn-like, seven miles inland.
The waterway and its marshes cover 4,128 acres.
Scientists regard it as a natural percolator and sustainer of life, and it is a center for biological research.
Birds feast on churning schools of small fish. Shark fins zipper across the silvery surface. Harbor seals haul out on muddy spits.
Karen Lynn Ingalls paints the slough. She totes her brushes in a red coffee can and her tubes of paint in a tray.
From under the wide brim of her straw hat, Ingalls surveys her subject.
"North county has been a stepchild, a place for a dump or a power plant," she said. "We want people to recognize that this slough is a national treasure."
Among the alliance's concerns is the impact on the slough of a planned expansion and housing development proposed by the Pajaro Valley Golf Club, Ingalls said.
But concern reaches way beyond.
California has paved over most of its wetlands. That gives added value to protecting Elkhorn Slough, the artists said.
Human activity has already disrupted the slough, they said.
An engine pulling a train of freight cars rattles along the tracks that cut through the waterway. Strawberry fields carpet nearby slopes, posing runoff threats.
Housing prices in Silicon Valley exert pressure to build on surrounding lands.
"We'd like to see the Board of Supervisors put a moratorium on development around the slough," Williams said.
In the 1960s, Williams surfed the breakers off Moss Landing Beach. He began painting the dunes and, little by little, moved inland. Since 1983, he's painted the slough.
It can be so peaceful, it makes you feel serene," he said.
Alliance members are from north county, Salinas, Marina, the Monterey Peninsula and from Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties. The group may do other shows, painting landscapes of valuable areas that are threatened.
The Elkhorn Slough exhibit will go on the road to heighten awareness of wetlands and their value.
Ingalls, 43, has painted the slough when the air was a blizzard of birds.
"It's as though you were back in time," she said. "It's just you, the fog, the water and the noises of the birds.
Development will affect the wildlife. We hope our paintings won't end up as just historical documentation."

Photos by Dave Nordstrand and Richard Green, The Californian.
Article © 2000 The Californian. Reproduced with permission.
Other members of the Elkhorn Artists' Alliance, listed alphabetically:
Karen Bailey
Starr Davis
Bill Fenwick
Bob Freimark
Kyle Dawn Hills
Pilar Marien
John "Mac" McWilliams
Barbara Norton
Barbara Edell Poole
Gloria Shaw
Andy Williams