A boating flow study will be conducted on Saturday, February 23, 2008 on the Cresta reach of the North Fork Feather River, Northern California. The study will have flows at 400 cfs beginning at 8:00 am. At noon flows will be increased to 600 cfs and held there until 3:00 pm.   Boaters will be asked to fill out a survey at the end of each run and rate the acceptability of each flow level.  PG&E staff will be at the Shady Rest Area parking lot distributing and collecting surveys.  This study, which is being conducted in cooperation with PG&E, is designed to help determine the minimum boatable flow for the Cresta Reach.   

Summer recreation flows have been canceled for the past two years on the Cresta reach due to concerns surrounding potential impacts to foothill yellow legged frogs.  American Whitewater has been working with the resource agencies, their amphibian biologist, and PG&E, to develop a flow schedule that is more protective of frogs.  American Whitewater has developed a flow proposal that we believe mimics and restores critical components of the natural hydrograph.   This flows schedule consists of a single pulse that would begin in May and gradually taper off to base flow in mid to late summer.  Our proposal is that peak flows in May will be comparable to recreation release flow of 1000 to 1600 cfs. August base flows would be 350 to 250 cfs in normal and dry years respectively.  The question, and reason for our flow study, is to determine what the boating opportunity would be available under this new flow schedule.

American Whitewater recognizes that the flow schedule that we have proposed will not provide the same level of boating opportunity that exists under the current agreement, however, we feel that this new flow schedule will be far more protective of frogs and have significant benefits to the entire river ecosystem.  The major benefits to frogs will be during the critical breeding season.   During this period, beginning of May through the end of June, frog egg masses can be either scoured (washed away) or stranded (dried up) by large unnatural flow fluctuation.  American Whitewater supported the canceling of June recreation releases back in 2003 because of this concern.  Unfortunately, canceling recreation rleases was not enough to protect frogs, flow fluctuations have continued during the frog-breeding season.  In 2006 half of the egg mass population was wiped out due to a precipitous decline in flow that happened during the middle of the frog-breeding season.   Similar flow fluctuations occurred in 2003 and 2005 from project operations.   It is clear to us that eliminating these types of flow fluctuations will be critical if foothill yellow legged frogs are to be protected on the Cresta reach.  

The flow study will be canceled and rescheduled if weather makes it impossible for PG&E to control flows in the reach.  For the most up to date flow information on this flow event, or any other flow events in California or across the country, please visit the new American Whitewater release information calendar.   These monthly calendars can be sorted by type of release, by State or by Region.  Be sure to click on the event for additional information.