Running a river business

<p>Shollenberger Park visitors have surely noticed tugboats and barges plying their way up and down the Petaluma River tidal slough. What they may not know is that a Petaluma firm, Jerico Products Inc., is responsible for running most of those barges and has been quietly shifting tons of sand, aggregate and oyster shell products up and down the Petaluma River for many years.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>“We move over 20 tons of oyster shell product from the beds lining the San Francisco Bay to our plant in Petaluma every day,” said Christian Lind, vice president of Jerico Products in Petaluma. “These carpenter oysters (Ostrea lurida) have been in the bay for hundreds of years, well before the Gold Rush and Silver Rush, and are the only oyster shells that meet Proposition 65 lead-content regulations.” </p><p>Lind said that the oyster shells are ground into calcium carbonate and are used in nutritional supplements.</p><p>“They started adding them (ground oyster shells) to chicken feed back when Petaluma became the Egg Basket of the World, to add to the chickens’ bone strength and enhance their egg shells.”</p><p>How did Lind get into such a fascinating business? “My parents bought Jerico when there was only one tugboat and one barge,” said Lind. “By the time I was 10, I was out digging in the oyster beds with my dad. My brother and I have expanded the business. We have the largest fleet of aggregate barges on San Francisco Bay.”</p><p>Jerico’s fleet is comprised of 20 barges and 10 boats. Jerico also boasts one of the largest bulk materials barges on the West Coast.</p><p>Lind says, “Shollenberger (Park) is a great place to watch the barges load and unload,” and he emphasizes the green aspects of their business. </p><p>“We are moving over 1 million tons of aggregate per year without using trucks or trains,” he said, citing savings of 900,200 gallons of diesel fuel per year. “Also, commercial tonnage is what triggers the Army Corps of Engineers to dredge the river up to the D Street drawbridge, thus saving the taxpayers a lot of money.” </p><p>Jerico is also a partner in the Bay Bridge retrofit, which Lind said is “the largest construction project in the history of California.” </p><p>He looks forward to beginning work next year on a contract with the Navy to do remediate renovation work after they finish the dredging around Alameda.</p><p>In addition to being a busy businessman, Lind is also a beekeeper. He said that people might be surprised to know that he tends his bees without any protective gear. </p><p>“I wear shorts, a shirt and sunglasses,” he said. “I go in and tend them with no gear. It makes me feel more tender toward them. I wanted to get to know my bees, and I have walked in front of their hives.” </p><p>The Linds have 60,000 Russian bees.</p><p>“They’re hardier than Italian bees, and can withstand the cold better,” said Lind. “They are also not as susceptible to disease.”</p><p>Family is hugely important to Lind. He considers his greatest accomplishment to be “Cultivation and maintenance of relationships with my family, my wife and her family,” he said. “We all live in the same town, and we all get along and work at keeping this family together and operating at a high level.” </p><p>Lind added that he and his wife, Denise, “are very excited to be pregnant with our first baby.”</p><p>(Contact Lynn Schnitzer at argus@arguscourier.com)</p>