A great story from several perspectives, about keeping the rivers enjoyable for all of us and lifelong learning and working…good stuff.
An excerpt.
River work keeps senior rolling along
By Nancy Weaver Teichert -- Bee Staff Writer Published 12:01 am PDT Monday, July 3, 2006
Standing on the bank of the Sacramento River, Barney Flynn picked a handful of elderberries and popped them into his mouth as he walked through the native bushes and trees he helped plant. With a little boy's glee, he saw for the first time the oxbow lake the river had created since his last visit.
"One of America's living rivers," Flynn said, pointing with pride at the new inlet for fish and birds along the meandering Sacramento River. "Wow! What's going to happen next?"
Flynn, founder of River Partners, a nonprofit group that has planted 4,000 acres of river shoreline with a half-million native plants, is one of 15 national finalists honored recently for civic contributions after the age of 60.
Marc Freedman, president of Civic Ventures of San Francisco, which created the Purpose Prize, explained that today's retirees are healthy, experienced and caring citizens who can change the world.
"There's an undiscovered continent of entrepreneurship and innovation out there," said Freedman. "These people are at the vanguard of a new definition of success in the second half of life."
Flynn, of Campus Commons, is pleased with how the native plants have grown on the empty fields or unprofitable farmland, but he doesn't stand around looking at them as his legacy.
"I think about how much more we need to do," said Flynn, who was a prune and almond grower among other things during his career. At 71, he is physically fit enough to be planning a sailing trip to Mexico.
He's as proud of the innovations he created to replant the riparian forests along five rivers in the Central Valley as he is of the restored natural vegetation itself.
