The Sacramento Fire Department responded to a five-acre fire along the American River Parkway around 2 a.m. Thursday.
Public information officer firefighter Roberto Padilla said the fire, along mile marker five of the parkway near Cal Expo and Bushy Lake, spread quickly due to relatively high wind speeds and thick vegetation. Though fast-moving, the two-alarm fire threatened no structures.
California is mired in a drought, but Sacramento State is getting ready for rain.
The city has received a grant to reduce pollutants in stormwater runoff that flows into the adjacent American River. The $3.5 million grant is one of the largest of 27 stormwater grants awarded last month under Proposition 84, a 2006 bond measure that funded water quality projects.
The funds will pay for projects such as landscaping that absorbs and filters stormwater on the California State University, Sacramento, campus. The city hopes that the demonstration projects will serve as models that local businesses and developers can incorporate on their own.
Rainwater that falls on urban areas can’t be absorbed by rooftops and asphalt. The same applies to other urban sources of water – like runoff from overwatered lawns, industrial discharge and even condensation on air-conditioning units.
Sacramento has a system of storm drains to collect this water and send it into the nearby rivers. But along the way, the runoff collects pollutants such as fertilizers, fluids from cars and animal waste. Heavy runoff also contributes to flooding and erosion. To combat those problems, CSU Sacramento will build several new landscaping features.
Rain gardens have a specific mix of soils and often use native plants. The gardens are placed in low areas where runoff occurs, typically near a large building, parking lot or street. The soil and plants filter out sediments and other pollutants. Some of the water evaporates. The rest returns to the storm drain system, cleaner than it was before entering the rain garden.
The project will also have a “green street,” whose porous pavement will let water filter through to soil underneath.
Once complete, the new features at Sacramento State are expected to reduce the volume of stormwater runoff from their respective drainage areas by 50 to 88 percent.
The biggest challenge for the project at Sacramento State will be dealing with what’s already there.
The updated standards recommended by the Sacramento Stormwater Quality Partnership focus on new developments rather than retrofitting old buildings, said Maureen Kerner, a research engineer at the Sacramento State Office of Water Programs and a leader on the grant application. The stormwater partnership is run by multiple local agencies, including the city and county of Sacramento, with the goal of reducing erosion and pollution.
Adding the new facilities will be tricky, since it requires checking for incorrectly recorded utilities, finding enough space and managing local traffic on a campus founded in 1947. Sacramento State civil engineering professor John Johnston, who works with the Sacramento State Office of Water Programs, said they will have to “shoehorn these (changes) in, into a system that’s already there.”
Plants used in rain gardens need to be able to tolerate the varying amount of water, and are likely to include plants native to the local area, such as deergrass. According to Sherill Huun, supervising engineer for Sacramento’s stormwater program, landscape changes like rain gardens are “things that you don’t even notice.”
When physical construction finishes in the early part of 2017, signs describing the facilities, a website and walking tour information will be available to the public. Kerner expects the “campus to be a unique location as an educational facility to promote stormwater management.” $290,000 of the project’s funding is reserved for education and outreach efforts.
Stephen Green, president of the Save the American River Association, was cautious about the project. “The thing about the rain gardens is if they’re neglected, the water just goes through. If they maintain them, (the rain gardens) should continue to work.”
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Mountain lions, perhaps California’s most efficient and stealthy four-legged predators, have long been rumored to move quietly through Sacramento’s open spaces. Sightings pop up regularly, particularly along the American River Parkway, but are often unreliable.
Now there can be no doubt.
On Saturday, a young male mountain lion was tranquilized and captured in a residential backyard in the capital city’s Oak Park neighborhood, one of the least likely places one would expect to encounter a cougar. Oak Park is busy, densely developed and gridded by major freeways and boulevards.
Yet there it was: a 70-pound superpredator resting in the landscaped backyard at 32nd and X streets. Walk two blocks east and stroll through the front door at Sacramento Charter High School. Or go two blocks south to the Bonfare Market on Broadway to fill up your gas tank and buy a frozen burrito.
“The urban blights of drug dealing and prostitution are kind of a daily thing around here. Or at least within a few blocks, you can see it all going on,” said David Sketchley, who lives next door to the home where the mountain lion was captured. “But this is a first.”
This cougar’s visit was a tale of remarkable sightings that occurred at various hours on Saturday. It began, so far as anyone knows, at 1:35 a.m. Saturday near 58th and M streets, when the first call came into the Sacramento Police Department: A mountain lion was roaming the streets of east Sacramento. That location is a full three miles from Sketchley’s neighborhood, but less than a half-mile from the American River and the Sacramento State campus. Police officers checked the area but were unable to locate anything.
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After three days of 100-plus weather, the Delta breeze came rushing in overnight to lower temperatures in the Sacramento region.
High temperatures in the mid-80s are expected to reign through Friday as the cooling trend provides welcome relief to Sacramento Valley residents. Temperatures throughout the valley were cooler early Wednesday morning, while the foothills and the mountains are about the same as on Tuesday.
The high pressure ridge is shifting farther east and the marine layer along the Pacific coast is gradually deepening, according to the National Weather Service. Gusty westerly winds are likely through the Carquinez Strait and into the valley over the next 24 hours.
The detailed, 7-day forecast for the Sacramento region from the NWS:
Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 86. South southwest wind 9 to 11 mph.
Tonight: Clear, with a low around 56. South wind 10 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 84. South southwest wind around 10 mph.
Thursday night: Clear, with a low around 55. South wind 10 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 86. Southwest wind 6 to 9 mph.
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The calendar says it’s still spring, but Sacramento’s summer furnace flipped on this week.
Monday’s high temperature of 106 in downtown Sacramento broke the previous record of 103 degrees for June 9, which was set in 1883. Sunday’s 104-degree heat was followed by a stifling night in which the region’s famed Delta breeze failed to arrive, leaving the nighttime low at a relatively high 69 degrees.
The heat is expected to ease starting today. “Certainly this is the hottest period we’ve had this year, but we are going to be trending downwards,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Eric Kurth. “We’re going to be closer to that normal level by Thursday, and then by the weekend we’ll be back above normal.”
People who were not ensconced in offices and classrooms Monday were looking to cool off. The American River, Sacramento’s aquatic playground, was as usual a favored spot. They found a river with a surprising amount of cool water despite the lack of rain and skimpy snowpack.
That’s because the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is letting water flow out of Folsom Dam this month about twice as fast as it is flowing in from the American River watershed upstream. The agency isn’t doing this to benefit swimmers or boaters, or the communities that depend on the river for their water supply. The higher flows are designed to satisfy state rules about how salty the water can be downstream in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
The water level in Folsom Lake is dropping about four inches a day as a result. Reclamation spokeswoman Janet Sierzputowski said she expects the higher water releases to continue until the end of June. About that same time, the water in Folsom Lake will become too shallow to launch boats, a month earlier than it did last year.
So enjoy it while you can, Sacramento.
‘Turn that sun down’
A sparse crowd spread along the American River at Discovery Park Monday around noon. Some people were taking advantage of a day off. Nicole Corona of Sacramento brought her whole family, including her father’s Chihuahua, Harley. “We don’t have a pool, so this was our last attempt to escape the heat,” she said.
Her father, Fred Williams, and Harley were looking to cool off after driving from their home in Arizona to visit the family. “After driving 1,000 miles, I want to see some water,” Williams said.
Even with the extra releases from Folsom Dam, Evan Caldwell, 17, complained that the low water level was making it harder for him to catch fish. “I honestly haven’t seen a single striper,” said Caldwell, who arrived in the early morning. “You usually see large schools of them around here.”
Still, Caldwell, who just graduated from Sacramento’s School of Engineering & Sciences, plans to return three to four times a week. “It’s nice that there’s a beach,” Caldwell said. “It makes it a great place to swim and fish.”
Discovery Park is also a destination for families with antsy children now that school’s out. Joseph Bettencourt of West Sacramento brought his two children Monday for the first time. “They don’t want to leave now,” he said.
Bettencourt likes that the water at Discovery Park is shallow and open. Boat riders also seem to have respect for swimmers, he said.
Some people just came to sit. Steve Larsen, who works downtown, eats his lunch in the shade three to four times a week.
“I like the scenery,” he said Monday. “I like the quiet and the fresh air. It’s a great place to get away from work.”
Across the American River in West Sacramento, Al Goodman had a request. “Do me favor,” said Goodman, who was docked on his friend’s boat at the Broderick launching ramp. “Reach up and turn that sun down.”
Secluded beach
Pushed to the water by the heat, persistent families wound their way to Paradise Beach on the American River through a maze of sandy pathways and shrubbery.
The beach is about a 10-minute walk from Glenn Hall Park in the River Park neighborhood, but the winding sand pathways obscure it from people who don’t know it’s there.
Kandice Davis, who moved to Sacramento in January, had never been to Paradise Beach but read about it on a website and decided to bring her niece and nephew-in-law, who were visiting from Georgia. “The site didn’t mention how far the walk was, we were like ‘Oh God, it doesn’t exist,’ ” Davis said. “We’re still afraid we’re never going to find the car again.”
On Monday afternoon, the group had the secluded beach almost to themselves. Canada geese were the sole inhabitants when they arrived, and only one other family came to share the gravelly strip along the water.
Jesse Beltran, 45, of Elk Grove took his family to spend the afternoon cooling off. “It’s a traditional spot, back from high school and my childhood days,” Beltran said.
His daughter, Kira, 13, said the chance to swim in the river was worth the trek across the sandy hills.
“I thought we were there after the first hill, and then the second one,” Kira said. She and her siblings complained about the walk as they carried chairs and towels to the water, but Kira said she hopes to come back often now that it is summer break.
John Havicon, Sacramento County’s new chief park ranger, was responding to a call about marijuana use in Rio Linda Central Park in 1996 when a suspect shot him in the chest. Thanks to a bulletproof vest, the ranger survived.
It was a dramatic moment in a 30-year career that culminated May 18 in Havicon’s appointment as the county’s chief park ranger. In his new job, Havicon oversees 17 rangers covering 15,000 acres of land across 32 recreation areas. The rangers hold the rank of deputy county sheriff and are responsible not only for maintaining the parks, but also for enforcing state laws. One of three candidates interviewed for the position, Havicon served as a park ranger supervisor for 10 years and a ranger for 17 before that.
“I love working with the community and being able to get not only our rangers involved in the parks, but the rest of the community,” Havicon said. “I think it’s an exciting time for us.”
One of the park service’s most important tasks is protecting the 23-mile-long American River Parkway. Homeless encampments along the heavily used bike and running path have caused controversy for the regional parks department in recent years, with critics saying the county needs to do more to address the problem. Illegal campers lack access to bathrooms and trash disposal facilities, so waste accumulates in the areas where they congregate, creating health hazards and threatening wildlife. Recreational parkway users and nearby property owners have raised concerns about safety.
Havicon said he plans to continue the county’s strategy of issuing citations to illegal campers as rangers encounter them during their patrols. He acknowledged that this practice does not deter campers from returning to their sites, or simply moving to another area of the parkway.
“We’re not going to solve the problem no matter what we do,” Havicon said. “The problem’s always going to be there. The best we can do is manage what we have.”
He estimated the department issued 2,000 illegal camping citations last year, and thinks 100 to 200 people are camping in the woods adjacent to the parkway on any given night.
Sacramento County Supervisor Phil Serna, who represents the part of the parkway where people camp illegally, said he will be pleased if Havicon doubles down on the “successful protocol” of teaming with law enforcement to issue citations to people who remain in the park overnight, while offering information about shelters and health resources.
“Legitimate users of the parkway deserve a clean and safe place to recreate, and homeless folks, for their own safety and health, should not feel forced to camp by the edge of the river,” Serna said.
John Foley, executive director of Sacramento Self-Help Housing, a nonprofit that works with homeless people to identify affordable housing options, said he thinks the rangers should reconsider their citation and eviction-based approach.
Many of the American River Parkway campers have no readily available alternative; area shelters have long waiting lists. Some campers, Foley said, have made homes along the river for years, and evicting them “doesn’t seem very neighborly.” Foley thinks the city needs to allocate more resources to help homeless people find homes.
“I think to expect the people who are policing the river to fix this is totally unfair,” Foley said. “It’s not their fault, and it’s not their responsibility, really.”
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A free 5-mile run along the American River is scheduled for Wednesday evening to mark National Running Day.
The event, part of a coast-to-coast celebration of running, is sponsored by the Sacramento Running Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging people to run.
The run, a 5-mile loop, begins at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Guy West Bridge and University Avenue in Sacramento. Runners of all abilities are invited to participate.
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Everything around the Guy West Bridge is pleasing to look at. Everything but the bridge itself.
The slim and shaky footbridge crossing the American River at Sacramento State needs some love. Paint is fading and chipping on the towers, and the handrails need to be fixed. The city says it’s planning to spend more than $3 million on a makeover this summer, and crews are already out there getting ready.
“It’s worth it,” Pam Sechrist said. “It’s one of our landmarks and we need to keep it in shape.”
It was a cloudless, warm morning last week as Sechrist finished her daily walk over the bridge with Tess, her lively Jack Russell Terrier/Chihuahua mix. Waves of college students joined her, hurrying across the span to their 9 a.m. classes. Cyclists and joggers weaved through the traffic.
No one was looking at the bridge.
That’s too bad. When it was built in 1966, it was thought to be the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in the country. And it was designed to look like the Golden Gate Bridge.
The Golden Gate Bridge’s official color is “International Orange.” It is an unmistakable color, designed to create a connection between the striking bridge and the landscape around it.
The Guy West Bridge is supposed to be that same color. Instead, after years of fading, its coat looks more like the skin of an old Barbie doll.
Some have suggested painting the Guy West a brilliant yellow, like the city’s true landmark crossing, the Tower Bridge. Others have mentioned throwing in a touch of Hornet green to salute Sac State.
The city is sticking with the original shade of orange. If all goes well, the new paint job will be done by the fall, along with a touched-up deck and a revamped electrical system.
It’s a sizable investment as other projects around the city are slowly receiving attention. Nearby, the city has found the cash to pave a bike trail on the south shore of the American River between Sac State and Sutter’s Landing Park in midtown.
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It’s going to be a beautiful weekend, and you can get out and enjoy the weather while helping the American River Parkway Foundation with its “Spring Clean Up.”
Sacramento County Supervisor Susan Peters says the clean-up is an important activity.
“The annual effort helps maintain the American River Parkway as a sustainable, natural resource for everyone to enjoy,” she said.
It’s not too late to join in tomorrow morning.
“It’s very easy to sign up if you go to the website of the American River Parkway Foundation, it’s ARPF.org,” she said.
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A ceramist by profession, and by passion, Eric Peach often leaves his home studio in Auburn to venture down into the American River Canyon, looking for inspiration in the rushing white water, the winding trails, the abundant wildlife and bountiful flora of a thriving ecosystem.
You can see the result in his works, ranging from playful river otters to fish sculptures to those psychedelically hued fire belly newts.
But you can also see Peach’s love for the American River and its foothills in bookstores and at outdoor retailers. The third edition of “The American River: Insider’s Guide to Recreation, Ecology and Cultural History of the North, Middle and South Forks” ($24.95, Protect American River Canyons, 416 pages) recently was released, all proceeds going to the nonprofit Protect American River Canyons, the organization that sponsors the American River Confluence Festival and other fundraising events.
Peach, 64, and wife Paula enlisted no fewer than 44 writers and editors, and 30 photo and graphics contributors, to completely revamp the second edition, published a decade ago. This time around, 15 trails were added, as were scores of new and updated rafting routes, including a new stretch from the confluence down to Rattlesnake Bar. There’s also a complete digest of plants and trees, birds, reptiles and mammals, as well as an exhaustive history of the area, from the Indian settlements up to the now-revived attempts to dam the river.