Bike Trail, Fire, safety, Wildlife

No permit, no barbecuing along American River Parkway

Sacramento County supervisors have approved an ordinance that will make it a misdemeanor to start and use a fire in any regional park without a permit.

The goal of the new ordinance is to prevent fires sparked by barbecues from occurring in regional parks, including along the American River Parkway.

People will still be able to barbecue in designated picnic areas.

More than 50 wildfires have broken out in Sacramento County Regional Parks since May, most of them along the American River Parkway.

“Fires in the American River Parkway are an immediate threat to public safety,” said Sacramento County Supervisor Phil Serna. “The goal of this ordinance is to protect everyone who uses the Parkway, the neighborhoods surrounding it, and the public safety personnel who respond to the fires.”

The ordinance will go into effect immediately.

More at KCRA.com >>>

Fish, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

Cooling Systems At American River Hatchery Providing Adequate Temperatures For Fish Kill Survivors

eagle_lake_trout_california_department_of_fish_and_wildlife
California Department of Fish and Wildlife / Courtesy

After the death of 155,000 fingerlings of the Eagle Lake Trout species this week, three of the four cooling units required to keep baby trout alive at the American River Fish Hatchery are working again.

The units shut down when sediment from a Bureau of Reclamation pipe at Lake Natoma clogged the hatchery’s filtration system Tuesday.

Andrew Hughan with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife says the system is working well enough to keep the surviving 40,000 alive.

“Both of the chilling plants are back up on line and one of the water circulation plants is back up on line. The water is running  consistently at 65 degrees from a high of 71, which is pretty dramatic for fish. We are hoping to have the second heat exchange plant back up and we’re trying to get the water down to 55.”

Hughan says the department will re-stock lakes and rivers in California with this species of trout, but in smaller numbers than previously planned.

More at CapRadio.org >>>

Bike Trail, Fire, safety, Water, Wildlife

Sacramento County takes aim at illegal camping, homelessness

The recent rash of brush fires raging across the American River Parkway triggered a strong response Thursday from the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors.

The county is spending about $700,000 to tackle the duel problems of illegal camping and homelessness along the parkway, long considered to be Sacramento’s urban jewel.

“To me, given the tinder-dry conditions on the parkway, the fuel loads out there — combined with the ignition sources or illegal camps — it’s a recipe for disaster,” said Phil Serna, chair of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors.

As KCRA 3 reported, the American River Parkway has been the site of 34 fires since Memorial Day — many of them very near homeless camps.

Serna championed the relief package today that includes $216,850 for three additional park rangers, along with $101,237 for additional patrol resources at the Mather Regional Park/Dry Creek Parkway Patrol. The county will also spend $121,412 for Mather Regional Park Preserve Fencing and $55,000 for a homeless navigator.

“The navigator is the front-line person that brings them in to our system and ultimately into that housing,” said Ryan Loofbourrow, executive director for Sacramento Steps Forward.

The new funding also includes $160,000 for winter sanctuary housing for the homeless — money to help religious organizations find shelter for those in need. But the long-term goal is permanent housing.

“It does in fact keep people off the street and help them start to rebuild their lives,” said Maya Wallace, external affairs director for Sacramento Steps Forward.

On any given night there are between 200 and 300 people illegally camping on the American River Parkway, officials said.

One of them is Angel Tejeda, who is four-months pregnant.

More at KCRA.com >>>

News from Other Watersheds, safety, Video, Water

Gold Miners Rescued via Helicopter near Lake Tahoe

Two gold miners were rescued via helicopter from the rugged wilderness near Lake Tahoe Wednesday, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Three friends had gone panning for gold Tuesday in the Sawtooth Ridge area, near the north fork of the American River, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said. One man returned to camp early, leaving the other two at the river.

The next day, investigators say the man was unable to contact his friends, Denny McCloud and Denny Jr.

More at Fox40.com >>>

Bike Trail, Fire, safety, Water, Wildlife

34 fires on American River Parkway since late May

Thirty-four fires have burned along the American River Parkway in Sacramento County since Memorial Day weekend during a severe statewide drought.

The drought typically prompts public officials to tell California residents to be fire-safe, but many people whose homes are near the parkway say officials should be doing much more to alleviate fire danger here.

“We need to do something differently,” said J.T. Marcell, who lives near downtown Sacramento. “We need to work smarter, not harder.”

More at KCRA.com >>>

Fish, safety, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

More than 200,000 trout die at American River Hatchery

More than 200,000 rainbow trout suffocated in a matter of minutes Tuesday at the American River Hatchery near Rancho Cordova due to an unexpected release of gunk from Folsom Dam that clogged water intakes.

The unexpected die-off could mean anglers have a tougher time finding fish to catch next year, since the 4-inch Eagle Lake subspecies of rainbow trout were to be released when they grew larger, said Bill Cox, hatchery system manager at the Department of Fish and Wildlife, which also operates the adjacent Nimbus Hatchery for salmon.

State hatchery managers already were struggling amid a disease outbreak and California’s historic four-year drought to keep enough fish in lakes and rivers to satisfy their legal obligations to supply fish for the state’s nearly 2 million recreational anglers.

“We already had less inventory than we wanted for this hatchery,” Cox said. “Now, if we lose those fish, that’s a big hit. Now, we’re going to have to figure out what we’re going to do about it.”

Cox said the die-off at the American River Hatchery occurred without warning Tuesday afternoon. He said he’s not exactly sure what happened, but he knows that the Bureau of Reclamation, which manages Folsom Dam, “changed to a pipe they hadn’t use in several years” as part of a dredging operation.

“And when they did that, a slug of stuff … came down and came into the hatchery,” he said.

More at SacBee.com >>>
Bike Trail, Fire, safety, Water, Wildlife

Fire burns into trees along bike trail near Discovery Park

Sacramento Fire Department crews were called Tuesday morning to put out a fire along the American River bike trail near Discovery Park.

The fire was reported about 6 a.m. burning in grass about a half-mile east of Discovery Park on the north side of the American River. The blaze spread into underbrush and trees, eventually consuming at least 1 acre.

More at SacBee.com >>>

Boating, Fish, History, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

Mormon Island ruins re-emerge from shrinking Folsom Lake

The ruins of a California town built during the California Gold Rush have re-emerged above the water at Folsom Lake.

The stone walls and foundations that made up part of the town of Mormon Island were visible on Monday.

Mark White, of Sacramento, hiked to the site near Brown’s Ravine and used his camera to capture some of the most striking images so far of the California drought.

“You don’t get to see this very often. Thank God!” White said.
Scattered among the ruins are rusty nails, pieces of pottery and other artifacts that belonged to the 2,500 people who lived in the Mormon Island in the mid-1850s.

“Some of the pottery we found you could tell was like a vase or like a clay pot, just be the shape of it,” said Janet Dyer, of Citrus Heights.
Signs warn visitors not to disturb the site and not to take anything.

However, Dyer said she noticed that a license plate she had seen at the site the last time the water was this low was missing.
“Hopefully, it’s in a history museum somewhere and not on somebody’s shelf,” she said.

The surface of the lake was at 364 feet above level on Monday.
That is 7 feet above last year’s low point of 357 feet and 17 feet higher than the all-time record low of 347 set in 1977.

More at KCRA.com >>>

Bike Trail, Rafting, safety

Man rescued after falling 40 feet in Rancho Cordova

A man was seriously injured Monday after falling from a tree and landing some 40 feet onto the shore of the American River in Rancho Cordova.

When rescuers arrived, they found the man badly injured near the Clay Banks, said Michelle Eidam, a captain with Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District, which patrols the river in the Rancho Cordova, Sunrise and Watt Avenue areas.

As they considered a so-called “vertical rescue,” either via a rope system or helicopter, Eidam said ground rescuers secured the man to a backboard and flagged down a passing raft. Commandeering the raft, the fire officials then paddled the man about 200 feet down the river.

He was taken to UC Davis Medical Center with unknown injuries, Eidam said.

More at  SacBee.com >>>

Bike Trail, Boating, Events, Fish, History, Rafting, safety, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

PRESERVE THE PARKWAY

Saturday, September 19, is the date for the annual “Great American River Clean Up.”  During the hours of 9 a.m. to noon, please consider donating some time to help clean the American River Parkway.

The American River Parkway Foundation sponsors the annual event as one way to maintain the natural habitat that comprises this 23 mile stretch along the American River.

Volunteers can register online and many students use the event as a way to earn community service credits for school.  Staging sites where you can check-in include Alumni Grove at CSUS, Ancil Hoffman Park, and William Pond Park.   More information can be obtained online at the American River Parkway Foundation website.