Yvon Chouinard Q&A on Matilija Dam - American Express Members Project

Outtakes from the American Express commercial featuring Yvon Chouinard, owner/founder of Patagonia. In this piece, Yvon talks more about the Matilija Dam (featured in the commercial) and why it should be removed.

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Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• river
• dam
• fish
• steelhead
• spawn
• habitat
• ecosystem
• removal
• american
• express
• patagonia
• yvon
• chouinard

[OneKewpie]

My husband was a cement finisher building the Matilija Dam when we were married in 1947. He laid the Cornerstone and hung off the side in a bo'sun's chair patching the seams. The black onyx ring I gave him for Christmas is in that dam, it fell off and he couldn't find it. I can see why the dam should go now, but it will be like erasing the past. My husband passed away almost 25 years ago, I am now 82. I'll never see that beautiful canyon again, but it will be a sweet memory. ~OneKewpie~

[patagoniavideo]

@OneKewpie Wonderful story. Thank you for sharing OneKewpie.

[MelindaWestern]

holy shit, i have hiked across, and around that dam, many times; as well as soaked in the hot springs upstream. if that dam were removed it would drastically change the environment in a negative way.

[125bigmack]

What most people dont understand is that, that dam has so much wildlife in it. if the dam was to be taken down you would lose so many more fish than if it stayed,

recently i saw something up there that i still dont know was

[Alpuche2]

@qwerty09877654321

Before you make ludicrous assumptions....DO your HOMEWORK FIRST, thats the educated skeptic thing to do. Ventura County plans on using the water to preserve and save the ocean for life and people. We, the world is nearing the end of water reserves. The removal of the Matilija Dam with pervious roads,& other eco-friendly construction is to save water, create jobs by 10thousands, and save money. In the Camarillo area, they are building solar panals for the county.

[therealfab]

human people are not the priority, we are just one specie , no right to think we are superior....

[qwerty09877654321]

I'm not liking AMEX because of this commercial. Maybe there's a good reason to take out or upgrade dams, I don't know. But, there's lots of great reasons to have a dam where human people are the priority for drinking water reserves, clean hydroelectric power generation, etc. Which far outweighs concerns over minimal wildlife impact. This dam looks like it was old and pointless, and his products look good. But to generically say you want to bust down dams is just plain irresponsible.

[TripleDubFishing]

That is so great, I just read about that about a week ago. You do what you can for it all, don't just use the resource but instead make the resource better.

[waylonhLewis]

posting on ele!

[dameeks3]

@Garett0439

Mighty Boosh - Eels Song