safety

Woman Plummets From California’s Highest Bridge During Ill-Advised Selfie Effort

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A California woman was airlifted from beneath the state’s highest bridge this week, after she fell from the structure while attempting to take a poorly thought out selfie.

According to a Facebook post from the Placer County Sheriff’s Office, on Tuesday the woman and “a group of her friends,” all of whom were from the Sacramento area, “were walking on the girders underneath the Foresthill Bridge in violation of Placer County Code 12.04.190 and Penal Code 602.”

The Foresthill Bridge, which is known by some as the Auburn-Foresthill Bridge or the Auburn Bridge, crosses the North Fork American River near the Sierra Nevada foothills. According to Highestbridges.com, at 730 feet high, it was the second highest bridge in the world when it opened in 1973, and remains the highest bridge in California and the fourth-highest bridge in the US.

During her alleged illegal jaunt across the bridge’s girders, police say that the woman “attempted to take a selfie and fell from the girders landing on the trail approximately 60 feet below.”

Remarkably, she didn’t die on impact, and was “life-flighted to Sutter Roseville Medical Center and is expected to survive.” According to the SF Chronicle, it helped that she “landed on a path that was still close enough to the top of the bridge” as “no one would likely survive the fall to the bottom of the American River Canyon.”

More at SFist.com >>>

Bike Trail, safety, Water, Wildlife

Crews Work to Clear American River Parkway Trail Following Stormy Winter

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Weeks of unrelenting rain this winter damaged much of the dirt trail along the American River between Discovery Park and the Nimbus Fish Hatchery.

Maintenance crews have spent weeks clearing the area to give runners and horses their trail back, but it’s a lot of work.

Debris hangs on trees, branches block a dirt trail by the American River — a once clear path now a mess.

“I’ve been on a lot of trails, and I’ve never seen something as bad as this,” said Sabrina Lemar with AmeriCorps.

Storms slammed Sacramento for weeks this winter. As the rain fell, the American River rose. High water levels damaged the 30-mile stretch of equestrian and hiking trail between Discovery Park and the Nimbus Fish Hatchery.

More at FOX40.com >>>

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Pile of driftwood around Folsom Lake catches fire

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A pile of driftwood caught fire Sunday morning at Folsom Lake, the South Placer Fire District said.

Firefighters responded to the lake in Granite Bay during the early-morning hours and were able to extinguish the flames.

The cause of the fire is unknown.

Large piles of driftwood and debris have collected along the lake’s shore, the Folsom Lake State Park officials said.

“Pretty much is a ring completely around the lake,” park superintendent Richard Preston said Thursday. “Came down from the reservoirs up above and some of the debris that’s been in the river systems for a number of years through the droughts, and it pretty much all just flushed down this year with large storms in January and February.”

More at KCRA.com >>>

Bike Trail, safety, Water

Body recovered from American River in Sacramento

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What started out for Sacramento fire search and rescue as a call for a water rescue in the American River, would turn into a recovery operation Sunday morning.

Calls started coming just after 9 a.m. Sunday. Sacramento police received calls of reports of a possible body in the river north of the terminal end of North 10th Street.

Police and fire crews arrived at the scene when they found the body. A death investigation has just begun, and it is unknown exactly how the person died, police said.

Police report nothing suspicious at this point.

From ABC10.com >>>

Boating, Fish, safety, Water, Wildlife

Folsom Lake surrounded by piles of debris

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As boating season returns to Folsom Lake, those ready to set sail will have to get around an obstacle lining the lake shore and boat ramps.

That obstacle is a lakewide pileup of debris.

“Pretty much is a ring completely around the lake,” Folsom Lake State Park superintendent Richard Preston said. “Came down from the reservoirs up above and some of the debris that’s been in the river systems for a number of years through the droughts, and it pretty much all just flushed down this year with large storms in January and February.”

Some of the debris extends hundreds of yards from the lake shore, providing a reminder of just how much rain the area’s received this year and how much debris has come with it.

To clean it up, park officials plan to coordinate with the Bureau of Reclamation on a summertime plan to remove the debris. The process would likely be initiated around June after the lake level has peaked.

Part of that plan includes allowing the lake level to rise high enough for the dried out, dead driftwood to be pulled back into the lake.

More at KCRA.com >>>

Bike Trail, Events, History, safety, Wildlife

Folsom’s Johnny Cash Trail to be completed in early fall

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Construction of the second phase of Folsom’s Johnny Cash Trail begins this week at East Natoma Street and Folsom Prison Road and is scheduled for completion by early fall.

The current portion of the project includes 1.25 miles of Class I paved trail, an undercrossing beneath Folsom Prison Road allowing trail users to avoid motor vehicle traffic, and a 190-foot wooden arched bridge providing views of the American River and Lake Natoma, according to a city news release.

The project also includes a paved trail spur for Folsom prison employees between Natoma Street and the prison employee parking lot. Two-way traffic will be maintained on Folsom Prison Road during construction, although minor delays can be expected, according to the news release.

When this phase is completed, the Johnny Cash Trail will connect to an existing trail at Rodeo Park, providing runners, walkers and bicyclists a route to Folsom’s historic district and the American Parkway Trail.

Funding for the $3.23 million project comes from various federal grants and local transportation funds, according to the news release.

Like the first section of the trail, completed in 2014, this phase will be built by Westcon Construction Inc. The firm also built the Johnny Cash Bridge. Designed to resemble Folsom State Prison’s East Gate guard tower, which is featured in a photo of Cash taken before his 1968 Folsom prison concert, the bridge spans Folsom Lake Crossing Road.

More at SacBee.com >>>

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

Thanks to abundant snow, the West can expect a long, rollicking river rafting season

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Chris Moore watched in awe this winter as the snow piled up on his multiple trips to Bear Valley Mountain Resort in the central Sierra.

“I’ve never seen a winter quite like this,” said Moore, California regional manager for O.A.R.S. rafting company.

“What all this snow means is it’s going to be a long and exciting whitewater season, so I’m stoked.

“We’re going to have big flows in the late spring and early summer and a more drawn-out whitewater season on rivers here in California.”

Moore’s enthusiasm is widespread among rafting outfitters up and down the state, some of whom are still recovering from the drought, which just two years ago saw April 1 snowpack measurements of 5% of normal throughout much of the Sierra.

This year, however, the snowpack is 140% of normal for the Northern Sierra and 169% of normal for the Central Sierra, according to the California Data Exchange Center.

Here’s how the season is shaping up.

The Middle, North and South forks of the American River, as well as the North Fork of the Stanislaus River will have high flows in May and June, moderating as the summer progresses.

“The South Fork of the American, which is normally a fun Class III river that’s great for even young kids, is not going to be the kind of stream you’d want to take your 6-year-old on around the start of the season” Moore said. “But it will mellow out, too, as the season unfolds.”

Because the water on the South Fork will be roaring early, O.A.R.S. will offer its one-day, “21-Miler” trips seven days a week from April through June.

These wild rides combine the upper Chili Bar section with the lower Gorge section. At lower flows, covering all 21 miles of the South Fork would make for a long day, but not this spring and early summer.

More at LATimes.com >>>

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Most of American River Parkway Trail expected to reopen this weekend

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Sacramento County park rangers have been able to clean up enough of the American River Parkway Trail that they expect to have at least 20 of the park’s 23 miles open this weekend.

The trail runs from Discovery Park, where the American River meets the Sacramento River, to the Nimbus Dam in Folsom.

The area that will remains closed will be the three mile stretch that runs through Discovery Park, which still remains under water. This stretch isn’t expected to reopen until late April or early May.

the Sunrise Recreation Area, the pedestrian bridge remains closed after water rose up and over the bridge in February damaging the railings. This was the highest it has been in 20 years.

“We decided to walk across the river and now we can’t, it’s honestly really annoying,” Andrew Lloyd said. Lloyd and a friend were forced to take the long way around on Sunrise Boulevard to reach Folsom.

Repairs aren’t expected to be finished on the bridge until late May.

More at KCRA.com >>>

Fish, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

Nimbus Hatchery Releases 420,000 American River Steelhead

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Nearly a half million young steelhead recently started their journey to the ocean, thanks to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). Staff at Nimbus Fish Hatchery nursed the young steelhead through several potentially devastating conditions, including drought-induced high water temperatures in the hatchery last summer and winter flood conditions that nearly cut off usable water supplies and carried dangerous levels of silt into the hatchery’s normally clean water distribution system.

“The fish we released will be returning to the American River over the next two to four years, and we are proud and relieved to have brought them this far,” said Gary Novak, the Nimbus Hatchery manager. “Steelhead are hardy, but considering their size and the number of environmental obstacles cropping up in rapid succession, they still needed human intervention in the hatchery to ensure a better chance of survival in the wild.”

All 420,000 young steelhead were released into the American River just upstream of the I Street Bridge in Sacramento. Due to the high water conditions, the juvenile fish are expected to make excellent time traveling down the Sacramento River to the Bay and eventually on to the Pacific Ocean. Losses to predators are believed to be lower during turbid water and high flow conditions.

During January and February 2017, water releases from Nimbus Dam reached 80,000 cubic feet per second (cfs), which is well above the normal 6,000 to 10,000 cfs. The high flows created conditions that dislodged exceptional amounts of debris, clogging the intake structure at Nimbus Fish Hatchery and creating near-lethal levels of nitrogen in the water. Hatchery staff worked around the clock over a month-long period to keep the water intake open, clear water distribution points, tanks and raceways of silt, and install aerators to lower nitrogen levels.

More at CDFGNews>>>

Bike Trail, Fish, safety, Salmon, Video, Water, Wildlife

American River Parkway floodwater recedes, leaving trail of trash for agencies to clear

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As floodwater recedes from the American River Parkway, plastic bags, bottles, bike parts and shopping carts remain on banks and tree branches, sparking a new partnership between county departments to hasten the clean up.

Director of Regional Parks Jeff Leatherman said this week that his department is coordinating with waste management and recycling staff to cart garbage and plant remains out of the parkway, which stretches 23 miles from Discovery Park to Lake Natoma.

The popular greenbelt was closed due to heavy flooding last month as the American River reached its highest level since 1997. Discovery Park remains underwater and is not expected to open until May, but other sections have slowly dried out under clear skies. The county announced Thursday that the Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail is open from miles 6 to 23 with one detour.

More at SacBee.com>>>