ARTA guide and Friends of the River activist Carol Nelson at the oars

Carol was an incredible force in the saga of the Stanislaus River. Born in nearby Sonora in 1948, she became an ARTA river guide in 1977? check this.  In 1979, she prepared a ground-breaking, mile by mile study of the Stanislaus River, which was incorporated into the widely-selling Guide to Three Rivers book . She then plunged into campaigns to save the Stanislaus and became a prominent editor and contributor for the Stanislaus Campaign News from 1978-1980, a monthly update that was essential for the hundreds of activists working at that time to save the Stanislaus. Carol died in her home in 2014 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.