Category Archives: Boating

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

Folsom Lake rises 12+ feet in 2 days

The wet weather this week in northern California left many Christmas travelers worried, and water experts smiling. Folsom Lake has gone up nearly 13 feet in just two days.

According to measurements from the California Bureau of Reclamation, the lake, which serves as a water source for many Sacramento-area neighborhoods, rose 12.6 feet.

There is similar good news from the Department of Water Resources, whose graph shows a sharp spike from this week’s storm. According to their measurements, Folsom Lake’s storage went from 16 percent of capacity on Monday to 19 percent capacity Wednesday.

More at ABC10.com >>>

Boating, safety, Water

Elderly man survives hypothermia, hours in Folsom Lake

An elderly man who spent hours in the frigid waters of Folsom Lake survived after his younger friend and emergency crews came to his aid last week.

The 88-year-old man, identified in a California Highway Patrol news release only as Jim, was boating Friday with a 59-year-old companion, while trolling for the wreckage of a plane that had crashed in the 1960s. Their 12-foot aluminum boat ended up overturning around noon, the release said.

The younger man was wearing a dry suit in case he had to dive for wreckage. The older man was wearing street clothes and a life vest, the release said.

The two attempted to swim for shore while towing their boat, but the older man fell unconscious with hypothermia. His friend got him to shore but couldn’t haul him up a steep, muddy bank and left him lying in shallow water, officials said.

More at SacBee.com >>>
Boating, Fish, History, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

Folsom Lake Water Level Shrinks To New Historic Low

The water level of Folsom Lake has dipped to a new historic low.

On Sunday the lake level was measured at 140,410 acre feet. The previous record was set in November 1977 when the lake decreased to 140,600 acre feet.

Recent rain has provided a little help, but there’s still a long way to go.

“We may have a very wet winter, but if we don’t have dramatic snowfall and so forth we’ve got to still be conscious we’re still living through this drought,” he Rep. Ami Bera during a recent tour of the lake.

As has been long discussed, Bera says the state must find better ways to store water and he’s pushing the proposed Sites Reservoir, a potential water storage option west of Colusa. The planned reservoir would hold twice the water of Folsom Lake.

More at CBSLocal.com >>>

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

Appeals court says Folsom can go ahead with improvements for Lake Natoma

A state appeals court has cleared the way for Folsom to add and enhance facilities on the shore of Lake Natoma.

The city plans a project that it says will make the shore more accessible to the disabled.

On Thursday, Folsom won a court victory over the Save the American River Association, a citizens’ group dedicated to safeguarding the natural environment of the American River Parkway. The group argued that the city was using the improvements to attract more people to the Folsom Historic District, a zone of shops, bars, restaurants and some historic locations adjacent to the lake.

The city’s true intent is “to increase access and intensity of use … so that Folsom can realize an economic benefit to the Folsom Historic District,” the association argued in a lawsuit to force an environmental impact review by the city in accord with the California Environmental Quality Act.

The association also argued that Folsom’s intent is inconsistent with land-use plans that cover the area.

A three-justice panel of the 3rd District Court of Appeal said in Thursday’s unanimous opinion that the project was not inconsistent with adopted plans covering management of the parkway.

The Save the American River Association “has not shown the existence of any substantial evidence giving rise to a fair argument that the project is inconsistent with either plan,” the justices concluded, affirming Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny’s earlier rejection of the association’s plea for an environmental study.

The association pressed its argument that the project will destroy the “natural” quality of the area, changing it “from one appropriately assigned to the low-intensity recreation/conservation designation” to one with a higher-intensity designation that has no conservation element.

More at SacBee.com >>>

Boating, Fish, History, Rafting, safety, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

Folsom Lake hits lowest depths in 20-plus years

Even as Sacramento waits for the soaking El Niño forecast to hit this fall, Folsom Lake continues to lose water and will almost certainly fall Thursday to its lowest level in more than 20 years, government data show.

Folsom Lake provides drinking water to hundreds of thousands of residents in the Sacramento region. Releases from the federal reservoir also serve as a bulwark against Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta saltwater intrusion, and are critical to maintaining the delicate ecosystem of the lower American River.

Folsom Lake became the face of California’s drought early last year when aerial photos of its moonscape lake bed were broadcast nationwide. At its lowest point last year, the lake level was the same as what the reservoir contained Wednesday. By Thursday, the reservoir is expected to fall to levels last seen in 1992, at the tail end of a five-year drought. And by month’s end, the depth likely will approach levels not seen since the great drought of 1977.

Area water officials said they are concerned about the dwindling supply but expressed relief that lake depths are not even lower. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the reservoir, initially warned that the lake could fall to 120,000 acre-feet by the end of September.

“The situation has been so rough,” said bureau spokesman Shane Hunt. “We are doing everything we can to make sure we maintain water supplies to homes.”

Still, he added, “We are better than a worst-case scenario.”

More at SacBee.com>>>
Boating, Fish, Rafting, Salmon, Water, Wildlife

Emergency drought measures move forward at Folsom Lake

Plastic pipes that will go over Folsom Dam and connect to pump barges were rolled out Thursday as the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation continues to work on a temporary emergency floating pump system.

The floating pump system will be used if water levels at Folsom Lake drop below the city’s regular intake. The bureau said this system is an insurance policy.

The barges would pump water through 10 18-inch diameter pipes, each a quarter of a mile long, to a pipeline that provides water to the city of Folsom. The barges, which were built on site, will be rolled out within the week.

More at KCRA.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, 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. 

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

Flows cut at Folsom Lake to conserve Sacramento water supply

Federal officials plan to make a significant cut to flows from Folsom Lake, which is a primary water source for Sacramento suburbs, as water levels at the reservoir near historic lows.

The Sacramento Bee reports (http://bit.ly/1O4XUGy ) the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will cut flows out of Folsom Lake in half by the end of the week.

As of Monday, the lake held about 20 percent of its capacity at 196,000 acre-feet of water. Reclamation officials have pledged not to let Folsom Lake drop below 120,000 acre-feet.

More at ktvn.com >>>

Boating, Rafting, safety, Water

Drowned man recovered from south fork of American River identified as Colorado man

A swimmer who drowned in the south fork of the American River last week has been identified as a Colorado man.

The body of Luke Matson, 33, of Vail, Colo., was recovered in the river on Tuesday, the day after he went missing.

The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office said that Matson was swimming Aug. 24 in the area of the Marshall gold discovery site. His friends last saw him floating downstream from Sutter’s Mill.

More at SacBee.com >>>