American River Wildlife News

Changes for the river ways are coming this holiday weekend as budget cuts are limiting the number of people who keep the American River safe.

The Labor Day weekend is notorious for rowdy revelers on the river, and now the rangers who usually do patrols, find themselves spread especially thin.

More spawning gravel will be restored in the American River starting Tuesday as part of a long-running effort to bolster the river's salmon and steelhead runs.

On Tuesday, crews will begin working at Sailor Bar Recreation Area off Olive Avenue to clean and sort gravel removed from the river during gold-dredging activity a century ago. The gravel will then be put back in the riverbed to restore fish spawning habitat destroyed by that mining.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced today an extension of the disaster for California salmon fishermen due to the low numbers of spawning Chinook salmon returning to the Sacramento River and the subsequent reduction in commercial fishery revenues. Today’s announcement continues the disaster declaration made in 2008 for the fishery.

“Low Chinook salmon returns to the Sacramento River predicted again this year are causing significant economic hardship to commercial fishermen and their families in California,” Locke said. “Many fishermen are finding it extremely difficult to make a living during the limited fishing season this year.”

Sacramento River fall-run Chinook are the backbone of commercial and recreational salmon fishing in California, and the return of adult fish every fall to spawn in the river system is essential for the population’s survival. This year, the fishing season for California Chinook salmon fishermen was again significantly restricted to allow for enough Sacramento River fall-run Chinook salmon to reach the spawning grounds. Commercial revenues this year are projected to be 81 percent lower than average revenues from 2003-2005, the period before the decline.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a $2.2 million contract to JAG Construction Inc. of Calistoga for levee improvements along the American River near California State University Sacramento.

Aerojet, the Carmichael Water District and Sacramento County Parks last week dedicated a water treatment facility in Ancil Hoffman Park that will remove trace levels of a toxic chemical from ground water by exposing it to ultra violet light.

Sacramento County's regional parks will impose a higher entrance fee for the Labor Day weekend, as the park system did for the July 4 and Memorial Day weekends.

On a sunny stretch of the Bear River near Colfax, the cool water carries a nasty surprise for swimmers and fishermen.

Look closely at the water flowing by. It carries clots of a feathery substance that looks like shredded toilet paper. Step into the gravelly shallows. Your feet will scream at you to get out of the sewage spill.

But this isn't sewage. About 10 miles of the Bear River below Rollins Reservoir is infested with a strange algae called "didymo," short for its scientific name, Didymosphenia geminata.

The algae's slang name describes the species better: "rock snot." Though it looks slippery, it feels more like a wet shag carpet.

The Placer County Sheriff's Department has found a gold miner reported missing since Sunday in the Sailor Flat area of Tahoe National Forest.

Gary Davis, 65, of Sacramento entered the mountainous region at the north fork of the American River on Aug. 20, looking for gold, said Sgt. Troy Minton-Sander, a Sheriff's Department spokesman.

The California deer population has plummeted over the past two decades - by 46 percent. (Ed Homich File)

The distinctive splayed antlers of black-tailed deer bucks have become an increasingly rare sight in California, particularly if you are accustomed to spotting the appendages through a rifle scope.

The California deer population has plummeted over the past two decades - by 46 percent - if the yearly count of bucks killed by hunters is a proper measure. A team of scientists led by the California Department of Fish and Game is fanning out across the rugged mountains of Mendocino, Glenn and Lake counties in an attempt to figure out just what is going on.

The same subterranean fissures that triggered the Auburn dam controversy a generation ago are about to cost taxpayers an estimated $44 million – the price of protecting the famous Foresthill Bridge from tumbling into the canyon during an earthquake.

Major reconstruction on the stilletto-thin span, California's tallest bridge, begins this winter. Work will last three years. An additional $27 million will pay for a new green paint job.

Crews will add 2 million pounds of reinforcing steel with 190,000 bolts and attach vibration dampeners at each end of the span.

It's all for a bridge whose main reason for existing never came to pass. And to prepare for a seismic event that may never happen.

James McGill has seen this movie before. The one where he loses a wedding ring in a Sacramento-area river, and has to go buy a new one. He did it the first time about two weeks after the day he and his wife Jessica wed, in September of 2008.

After that, he bought a new one. On Thursday, while swimming in the American River, he lost it again.

"I even thought to myself, I should take my wedding ring off, and I didn't," said McGill, recalling the moments before he went off a rope swing near River Bend Park, Thursday afternoon. "I jumped off the swing, and I came up without my wedding ring. I felt it come off."

You know it's going to be another hot summer weekend when, early on a Saturday morning, you head down the canyon from Auburn and already see a conga line of cars parked along the roadside leading to the American River confluence.

Feeling the heat of the summer? Luckily in this area we are surrounded by rivers. What better way to cool off than by taking a dip (or a dunk) in them. Rafting can be a leisurely activity or a five star thrill ride, depending on what you enjoy most. Whatever side of the scale, there are nearby places that offer a great way to beat the heat.

A Sherrif's helicopter patrols the American River near River Bend Park. (Ed Homich File)

Sac Metro Fire District says too many people out along the American River have been calling 911 for the wrong reasons and that's taxed rescue crews and tied up critical resources. Authorities say this past weekend, it happened four times.

Sac Metro says they received four 911 calls for help along the river.  None of them were in need of real water rescues.

Many Sacramento residents are unaware that they live just around the corner from a world-renown hotbed of whitewater rafting. Whether you are rafting the South Fork of the American River in El Dorado County, the Middle or North Forks, Cache Creek or one of the many other rivers flowing in the Sacramento area, here's a great article on how to go about planning your trip.

As a first-time rafter, many questions are likely running through your mind if you are considering a trip. Maybe you’re nervous. Perhaps you can’t swim. Are you going off of waterfalls? Are you fit enough? Are you old enough? Are you young enough? What do you wear? How do you wear it? Do you need special shoes?

Not to worry – everyone has these questions. You will be fine. On the South Fork of the American River alone, upwards of 65,000 people go rafting each and every year. California whitewater rafting is an excellent vacation option, and so close for Sacramento residents!. If you have been invited or are considering planning a trip on your own, it is great to be cautious, but you shouldn’t let any fear or trepidation stop you.