For every one of the nearly two dozen people who spoke at a public hearing Wednesday in Arcata, removing the dams is both necessary and overdue. Fishing populations have been depleted and stretches of the river have become toxic because it doesn’t flow freely, attendees said at the D Neighborhood Center public hearing. Members of various state agencies, including the state Division of Water Rights and the state Water Resources Control Board, listened and took notes. The agencies’ draft EIR is the latest step in a process spanning many years.
Imagine Lake Tahoe with no snow year round. Every winter storm that reaches the basin brings only rain. No skiing. No snowboarding. No winter sports of any kind. … A dramatic decline in the Sierra Nevada snowpack will be felt the most in Northern California by mid century, according to a study published in December 2018 by the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Several areas of the Oroville Dam and lake are undergoing extensive renovations and improvements, and the Oroville Recreation Advisory Committee met Friday to hear reports from the various member organizations overseeing them. … Aaron Wright of the California Department of Parks and Recreation said that several of the recently reopened areas near the dam have received a good amount of traffic.
The American River Parkway is the crown jewel of Sacramento … It is also bone dry, and causing unprecedented headaches for area firefighters this year.
From the San Francisco Chronicle, in a commentary by Jerry Cadagan and Mondy Lariz:
San Francisco taxpayers and water ratepayers once again have been fleeced of millions of dollars as a result of mismanagement at the city’s once highly regarded Lake Merced.
Some California State Parks and Forest Service campgrounds have begun shutting off toilets and showers because of the drought, but most local facilities remain in the clear for water usage as of right now.
From the San Francisco Chronicle, in Tom Stienstra’s Outdoors column:
Every week this summer in California, drought has brought new recreation shutdowns and deviations in nature rarely seen before. But there’s a place that seems untouched.
California’s drought is taking a toll on recreation, disrupting boating, rafting, swimming and camping in some places as the third dry year in a row erodes water supplies in creeks, rivers and lakes.
The panoply of eagles, ospreys, beavers, otters and other critters that paraded before our gaze over our nine hours (including 30 minutes for breaks) on the Sacramento River between Hamilton City and Butte City far exceeded our hopes.
U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced Tuesday that more than $43 million will be distributed from a federal fund for recreation and conservation projects nationwide, kicking off a weeklong campaign around the nation to support the fund’s permanent renewal as Congress resumes.
The long-closed Francisco Reservoir on Russian Hill is a step closer to becoming a city park after the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission approved a land transfer Tuesday.
Seventy-plus years later, [Whitey] Rasmussen is still tying his own feathered flies and crafting his own lures, still using them to catch his own trophy fish, and still telling some great stories in a way that only an ex-Navy man can. But Rasmussen is more than a storyteller.
From the San Francisco Chronicle, in C.W. Nevius’ column:
Gleneagles, the quirky, challenging, everyman’s golf course in one of San Francisco’s roughest neighborhoods, is having trouble making ends meet. … However, the latest blow, a major increase in water rates, has course operator Tom Hsieh wondering if the effort is worth it.
Yosemite National Park, in California’s Sierra Nevada, is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the law that preserved it — and planted the seeds for the National Park system. At the same time, the park faces the challenge of protecting the natural wonders from their own popularity.
From the Las Vegas Review-Journal Outdoors, in a post by C. Douglas Nielsen:
If you have not yet done so, and should you have the chance, get a firsthand look at the Colorado River between Hoover Dam and Willow Beach. While it is impressive to look down upon the river from atop the dam, experiencing the river at surface level is even more remarkable.
The lone state agency to oppose Gov. Jerry Brown’s twin tunnels plan warns that the project could force marinas out of business and take a big bite out of Delta agriculture.
From the San Francisco Chronicle, in Tom Stienstra’s Outdoors column:
In the Crystal Basin, high on the flank of the Sierra Nevada west of Tahoe, three gorgeous lakes — Loon, Union Valley and Ice House — are full or close to it as the summer recreation season enters full swing.
This was among many highlights this past week in a personal survey of 125 recreation lakes across the Bay Area, Sacramento and central and northern California.
A Ghost Ships exhibit at the Tahoe Maritime Museum highlights some of the many underwater stories and secrets Lake Tahoe has harbored, and offers some hints about may what yet be found in her famously clear, cold depths. The exhibit runs through April 2015.
