We are working on a proposal to the CA Fish & Game Commission to rename the Casino Point MPA (officially known as "Casino Point State Marine Conservation Area") the "Dr. Bill Bushing State Marine Conservation Area at Casino Point." Our hope is not only to get this approved by June 12, which would have been Dr. Bill's 75th birthday.

To be clear, this would cover the water area we call the underwater park. The land area is controlled by the City of Avalon and the Island Company and getting that part renamed for Bill does not appear to be practical. But their jurisdiction ends where the water begins. And given Bill's love of diving the Park as well as his dedication to marine conservation, we thought this would be quite appropriate. His family (Bill's son and Bill's sisters) is 100% behind this effort.

The application to F&G allows for supporting documentation which, in this case, can include letters of support from the diving community. (We are also hoping to get an Avalon City Council resolution of support as well.) If you as an individual, dive club, dive shop, or any other diving community entity would like to submit a short note - a paragraph or two - in support of this effort, we've set up a special e-mail account for that: DrBillMPA@aol.com .

The general theme of your note should be Bill's contribution to the overall diving community through his sharing of his knowledge and expertise as well as his specific love for and devotion to diving the Casino Point SMCA MPA. Your note can be the body of an e-mail or an attachment to an e-mail if you want to put it on letterhead. In all cases, please make sure to note your name, affiliation (if any), address, and phone number.

Our hope is to then assemble all of the responses and submit them with our application. Because this is a slow-moving process overall, to get this all done before June, if you intend to submit a response, we'd like to have those no later than March 1 (which is a little over two weeks away).

We hope you'll agree that this is a worthwhile endeavor and that you'll support these efforts to help create a lasting legacy for Dr. Bill.