(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Kitchen Table Kibitzing July 24, 2022 [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']
Date: 2022-07-24
KTK
Feather River
Before our kids moved to Quincy, Ca years ago, we had never heard of the town. Now we visit, and we drive through the Feather River Canyon. It has always been one of our favorite drives; rushing river at the bottom, fed by beautiful waterfalls on either side, past small PG&E dams for power generation. I’ve written about the drive several times. I found this one, with some photos.
Sadly, massive fires have transformed the canyon. Last year's Dixie fire was the worst. From Besame:
I’ve not been in the canyon since the 2018 and 2021 fires, but I expect the Dixie is much more visible as it extended the whole way almost to Quincy from Pulga.
From Quincy to Pulga is 50 miles.
We were advised to avoid the canyon and take an alternate route on this visit, Highway 80 to Truckee, then 89 to Quincy. So much heavy traffic, backups, crashes, police busts, plus a confusing roundabout. Never again. So we returned via the canyon. Sad...horrible devastation, burned trees on both sides for mile after mile. But the river was flowing…...to where?
I have been reading Cadillac Desert as my bedtime reading. Cadillac Desert (1986), is a history by American Marc Reisner about land development and water policy in the western United States. Virtually every river that could be dammed, and many that should never have been, were dammed.
The Feather River flows into the Oroville Dam, the highest in the U.S. You might remember that In February 2017, the main and emergency spillways threatened to fail, leading to the evacuation of 188,000 people living near the dam. The dam holds 900 feet of water. Now due to drought it’s at 731 feet.
We see this section as we drive back. This is from 2018. It’s much worse now, with a this line of houseboats concentrated in the center. Since its completion in 1968, the Oroville Dam has allocated the flow of the Feather River from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta into the SWP's California Aqueduct, which provides a major supply of water for irrigation in the San Joaquin Valley, as well as municipal and industrial water supplies to coastal Southern California. From here in Northern California, we say “you’re welcome.”
Well, that’s what it is.
Please close your eyes and listen.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/24/2112363/-Kitchen-Table-Kibitzing-July-24-2022
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
