A kayaker found a man’s body floating in Lake Natoma on Thursday, investigators at the scene told KCRA 3.
State parks workers went out and brought the body to shore.
It had been in the water for some time, investigators said.
More at KCRA.com >>>
Category Archives: safety
Bike trail closed near Watt Avenue
A project to repair levee erosion along the American River has closed a portion of the bike and walking path in the parkway near Watt Avenue.
The repairs, overseen by the U.S. Army Corps of engineers, are part of the previously authorized Sacramento River Bank Protection Project, which addresses levee erosion on the Sacramento River and its tributaries.
The latest phase involves placing large rock, called rip-rap, along the waterline of the south bank of the American River at two locations between Watt Avenue and Larchmont Park. A section of public path atop the levee about three-quarters of a mile long will be closed until the expected completion of the work on Nov. 30. Foot and bike traffic are being detoured through the neighborhood south of the levee.
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Parkway volunteers clean up trash at abandoned homeless camps
Volunteers for the American River Parkway Foundation are cleaning up trash left at abandoned homeless encampments along the parkway this morning.
About 150 volunteers hit the parkway shortly before 10 a.m., leaving from the Northgate parking lot of the recreation area.
“We want people to come enjoy the parkway,” said Dianna Poggetto, executive director of the foundation.
That’s hard to do when there’s a lot of trash, so the volunteers go out periodically to clean up what’s left behind by campers along the river.
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Levee Improvements Begin In Sacramento
The construction is taking place along the south bank of the American River between Watt Avenue and the Mayhew Drain. About two dozen trucks will be making up to 150 trips a day.
Dave Cook is the project manager. He says the levee is eroding because of abundant Sierra snowmelt.
“When that happens the water speeds up and actually starts to tear the banks away and the sediment starts to transport itself down the river and it causes problems in the fact that if we had a failure it would obviously flood businesses and homeowners in that area.”
More at CapRadio.org >>
Proposal to build flood control center along American River Parkway draws fire
A large new government office building, filled with 600 skilled wage earners, would seem to be a blessing for the economically depressed Sacramento region.
But some are treating a proposal to build one alongside the American River Parkway as a curse.
State and federal agencies want to build a high-security, 200,000-square-foot nerve center for California flood protection on a 25-acre parcel next to the state-operated Nimbus Fish Hatchery in Rancho Cordova.
Critics, who range from the area’s congressman to nearby homeowners, condemn the project as inappropriate for the American River Parkway, the region’s most treasured and scenic recreational asset.
There are looming questions about whether it makes sense to park a flood-control headquarters next to a flood-prone river downstream of Folsom Dam, the region’s largest.
More at SacBee.com >>
Game warden holds out hope for troublesome bear family
After calls poured into the Placer County Sheriff’s Office as a family of wayward bears wandered into Roseville over the weekend, Fish and Game officials now hope they’ll stay out of trouble.
“I’m not sure of the outcome,” Placer Game Warden Brian Moore told the Fish and Game Commission Wednesday night.
Moore said right now a trap has been set for the bears if they return to Granite Bay. If caught there, they would be put down.
“It was requested by the homeowner,” Moore said. “A landowner that has property damage due to wildlife can request the depredation (kill) permit and we can’t refuse them.”
The four bears were last spotted Wednesday near Horseshoe Bar Road and Auburn Folsom Road.
Moore said the bears have been known to frequent the unsecured garbage of a restaurant near the I-80 and Foresthill exit in Auburn and for some unknown reason started the trek to Roseville.
The unusual location for bears spurred about 40 calls into the Sheriff’s Office reporting the black bear sow and her triplet cubs as they made it down to Granite Bay through Loomis and back again.
Rocklin resident Greg Janda’s wife Julie discovered the suburban spectacle Saturday morning – bears going house to house off Scarborough Drive in Roseville.
“They followed the greenbelt into our neighborhoods,” Janda said.
He told the commission he supported the bears and didn’t want them killed.
“They are not interested in you, they are looking for food,” Janda said. “Don’t invite them by having food around for them.”
Moore believes bear-proof trash cans are a great deterrent but doesn’t believe Roseville residents need to go out and get one.
“No, this is isolated,” Moore said. “I think over the weekend the bears were scared pretty bad. People were seeing them and they were scattering. I hope they come back up here go back in that American River Canyon and start eating grubs, berries and grass and be bears.”
More at the Roseville Press Tribune >>
Officials Search American River For Body
Two fire department boats were searching in the waters of the American River on Friday, attempting to recover a body, said a spokesman for the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District.The boats were located near the ramp at Negro Bar State Park.No additional details were released about the investigation or the body.
From KCRA.com >>>
Parachute Problems Leave Base-Jumper Dangling 60 Feet Up
Placer County crews made a daring rescue when a base-jumper got caught in a tree after taking a late-night leap from California’s tallest bridge.
The jumper’s parachute caught on a tree, and he found himself hanging 60 feet above the ground, according to Cal Fire.The man hung there for about an hour and a half before calling 911 from his cellphone.
Rescue crews from the Placer County Sheriff’s Department used a helicopter to rescue the jumper. Those involved said this was one of the most difficult rescues they have ever pulled off, because the rotors from the helicopter create so much wind.
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Hundreds Voice Outrage Over Possible Plan For New Flood Operation Center
The building could be built on the American River next to the Nimbus Fish Hatchery.The federal and state government is studying three different locations for a new flood operation center that would house three state and federal agencies, the Department of Water Resources, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the National Weather Service.
The proposed site is the Nimbus Fish Hatchery and two alternative sites are Mather Airport and near the intersection of Sunrise and Killgore in Rancho Cordova.
The size of the proposed center is 200,000 square feet.
Hundreds of concerned residents are angry the government would even consider building such a large structure so close to the river and the bike trail.
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Officials ask for help in identifying parkway arsonist
Fire officials are asking the public to help identify the person responsible for a series of arson fires along the American River Parkway in recent days.
A total of 15 fires were deliberately set — nine on Sept. 10 and six on Wednesday, said Assistant Chief Scott Cockrum of the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District.
The arson occurred near River Bend Park, in an area of heavy vegetation that could fuel a major fire, Cockrum said.
“In this area there are no homes, but there is dense brush, with trees, shrubs and a lot of dead stuff,” he said.
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