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shasta lake update


m&m

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They don't need to raise the dam, they just need to cut down all those stupid trees in the pit arm!!!! Mad.gif

true dat!!!!

double true!

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Once they cut down the trees they need to open up the rest of the pit arm. I don't know if anyone has been all the way up it but its amazing!!! I took my jet ski up it one time and all there was was glass (with the occasional tree) The no ski zone area would be a sweet riding spot if those trees weren't cluttering it up! I bet there is at least 5 miles of untouched butter up there.

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They don't need to raise the dam, they just need to cut down all those stupid trees in the pit arm!!!! Mad.gif

The trees are the best part of the Pit. Keeps more folks away.

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They don't need to raise the dam, they just need to cut down all those stupid trees in the pit arm!!!! Mad.gif

The trees are the best part of the Pit. Keeps more folks away.

Anyone up for showing a fellow crew member around the Pit? We're pretty good on the McCloud and Sacto, but would like to learn more about the good stuff up Pit-way...

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.... I know they decided that 7' would be the most feasible for Folsom, but I don't think a decision has been made yet.

Wow, when I lived in Folsom in the early 90's (outside of the bars by-the-way) they were afraid that dike 8 was going to burst and wipe out all the new houses they had just built below the dike. Back then they were going to drain the lake...so now you say they want to raise it 7 feet... Crazy.gif

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.... I know they decided that 7' would be the most feasible for Folsom, but I don't think a decision has been made yet.

Wow, when I lived in Folsom in the early 90's (outside of the bars by-the-way) they were afraid that dike 8 was going to burst and wipe out all the new houses they had just built below the dike. Back then they were going to drain the lake...so now you say they want to raise it 7 feet... Crazy.gif

Ya, but they re-inforced dike 8. There is now a ledge on both sides of the dike. They want to raise the dam, but if they could just learn how to manage it, everything would be all right.

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.... I know they decided that 7' would be the most feasible for Folsom, but I don't think a decision has been made yet.

Wow, when I lived in Folsom in the early 90's (outside of the bars by-the-way) they were afraid that dike 8 was going to burst and wipe out all the new houses they had just built below the dike. Back then they were going to drain the lake...so now you say they want to raise it 7 feet... Crazy.gif

Ya, but they re-inforced dike 8. There is now a ledge on both sides of the dike. They want to raise the dam, but if they could just learn how to manage it, everything would be all right.

Always a BIG IF.

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.... I know they decided that 7' would be the most feasible for Folsom, but I don't think a decision has been made yet.

Wow, when I lived in Folsom in the early 90's (outside of the bars by-the-way) they were afraid that dike 8 was going to burst and wipe out all the new houses they had just built below the dike. Back then they were going to drain the lake...so now you say they want to raise it 7 feet... Crazy.gif

Well you should see it now. Empire Ranch has competely developed accross the road with low/high density housing and commercial strip centers. Not the smartest location imho given the possibilities that could happen. They are also not required to get flood insurance....I guess nothing was learned from NO about living below water.

.... I know they decided that 7' would be the most feasible for Folsom, but I don't think a decision has been made yet.

Wow, when I lived in Folsom in the early 90's (outside of the bars by-the-way) they were afraid that dike 8 was going to burst and wipe out all the new houses they had just built below the dike. Back then they were going to drain the lake...so now you say they want to raise it 7 feet... Crazy.gif

Ya, but they re-inforced dike 8. There is now a ledge on both sides of the dike. They want to raise the dam, but if they could just learn how to manage it, everything would be all right.

Last I heard they were going to raise Folsom 7.5' for more flood protection, not increase water capacity for irrigation or recreation. The dyke east of dyke 8 (Folsom Point for the PC crowd) has a non-active fault running approximately in the middle as well :(

.... I know they decided that 7' would be the most feasible for Folsom, but I don't think a decision has been made yet.

Wow, when I lived in Folsom in the early 90's (outside of the bars by-the-way) they were afraid that dike 8 was going to burst and wipe out all the new houses they had just built below the dike. Back then they were going to drain the lake...so now you say they want to raise it 7 feet... Crazy.gif

Ya, but they re-inforced dike 8. There is now a ledge on both sides of the dike. They want to raise the dam, but if they could just learn how to manage it, everything would be all right.

Always a BIG IF.

Just look at how they managed the lake in 1986, almost flooded the City of Sacramento and in the mid 90's and after much neglect on the release gates two broke allowing for an uncontrolled release of water.

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Just look at how they managed the lake in 1986, almost flooded the City of Sacramento and in the mid 90's and after much neglect on the release gates two broke allowing for an uncontrolled release of water.

or 2 summers ago when the water never got above about 60% because the idiots didn't pay attention to the snowpack and let all the water out before summer ever hit.

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Just look at how they managed the lake in 1986, almost flooded the City of Sacramento and in the mid 90's and after much neglect on the release gates two broke allowing for an uncontrolled release of water.

or 2 summers ago when the water never got above about 60% because the idiots didn't pay attention to the snowpack and let all the water out before summer ever hit.

Most of the time I lived there, the Folsom marina never floated because of a sever drought. I would drive half a mile out on the lake bottom at Granite Bay just to launch my Windsurfer.

I did all my waterskiing on the Sacramento River north of the airport... It was pretty narrow but I did not have to worry about the big cruisers like down in the delta.

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Just look at how they managed the lake in 1986, almost flooded the City of Sacramento and in the mid 90's and after much neglect on the release gates two broke allowing for an uncontrolled release of water.

or 2 summers ago when the water never got above about 60% because the idiots didn't pay attention to the snowpack and let all the water out before summer ever hit.

How could I forget that major screwup Mad.gif

Just look at how they managed the lake in 1986, almost flooded the City of Sacramento and in the mid 90's and after much neglect on the release gates two broke allowing for an uncontrolled release of water.

or 2 summers ago when the water never got above about 60% because the idiots didn't pay attention to the snowpack and let all the water out before summer ever hit.

Most of the time I lived there, the Folsom marina never floated because of a sever drought. I would drive half a mile out on the lake bottom at Granite Bay just to launch my Windsurfer.

I did all my waterskiing on the Sacramento River north of the airport... It was pretty narrow but I did not have to worry about the big cruisers like down in the delta.

So you must have lived here 1988-1992ish. The lake was a 4x4 bowl and at times you could cross up the river arm it was so shallow.

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So you must have lived here 1988-1992ish. The lake was a 4x4 bowl and at times you could cross up the river arm it was so shallow.

That is about right...I think I moved to Maryland in 1993 so there was one good season.

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How many trees are you talking about? When the lake is low why not head in there with a pontoon and a chain saw. Clear out a long narrow boat lane and mark it with you GPS or slalom bouys or something. Load the cut off tree tops on the pontoon or drag them to shore. Make a note of the water elevation and use the boat lane when the water is at least 5' higher in the spring and summer.

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Being as Lake Shasta falls in the Trinity NATIONAL forest I think that it would be illegal to just go in there and start cutting down trees

Just being picky, but Lake Shasta is in the Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area which is the heart of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

By the way, the oh-so-wise managers of the water have dropped the lake level to 36 feet down (from a high of 23 feet down a couple weeks ago). This happened two years ago. We filled early, they drew down the lake expecting more storms that never came, and we ended up down 110 feet by the end of the season.

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I never understood why they did not cut the trees down before they filled the lake. They did on one arm and not the other...did they do that intentionally? Makes for a better fish habitat but kind of dangerous for boaters.

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I never understood why they did not cut the trees down before they filled the lake. They did on one arm and not the other...did they do that intentionally? Makes for a better fish habitat but kind of dangerous for boaters.

The reason that there are trees on the Pit and Squaw Creek arms is this:

The trees were cleared as part of a CCC project during the end of the depression and beginning of WWII.

As the war was heating up and more of our young men were needed for the war effort, there was simply not enough time and manpower to get the job done before it was time to start filling the lake.

It makes me nervous wakeboarding on the Pit. You see trees sticking up at various heights. It really makes you wonder what could be lurking just below the surface.

Edited by Deltawake
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I never understood why they did not cut the trees down before they filled the lake. They did on one arm and not the other...did they do that intentionally? Makes for a better fish habitat but kind of dangerous for boaters.

The reason that there are trees on the Pit and Squaw Creek arms is this:

The trees were cleared as part of a CCC project during the end of the depression and beginning of WWII.

As the war was heating up and more of our young men were needed for the war effort, there was simply not enough time and manpower to get the job done before it was time to start filling the lake.

It makes me nervous wakeboarding on the Pit. You see trees sticking up at various heights. It really makes you wonder what could be lurking just below the surface.

Can you say "pucker" factor

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Sometime during a drought, the Government should allow commercial loggers to come in and harvest the trees? I was watching a segment on the Discovery Channel where a firm was diving to the bottom of one of the Great Lakes to get sunken logs. They were finding logs that had sunk a 100 years ago that were still prime old growth timber.

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Sometime during a drought, the Government should allow commercial loggers to come in and harvest the trees? I was watching a segment on the Discovery Channel where a firm was diving to the bottom of one of the Great Lakes to get sunken logs. They were finding logs that had sunk a 100 years ago that were still prime old growth timber.

There is a salvage firm out here that does just that in the Columbia. They use sonar to find old growth timber that was harvested and sunk to the bottom a hundred years ago. The timber is so valuable that it is worth all of the effort to find them and bring them up and still make a tidy profit.

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It makes me nervous wakeboarding on the Pit. You see trees sticking up at various heights. It really makes you wonder what could be lurking just below the surface.

Last summer I saw a Nautique that hit a tree and ripped all its underwater gear right off the boat. I also saw a Bu that had a big gash in the hull. The trees are more dangerous in high water years where they can be just under the surface. In low water years, you can pretty much see them all.

The lake has dropped to 38 feet down. :(

Edited by kpickett
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Being as Lake Shasta falls in the Trinity NATIONAL forest I think that it would be illegal to just go in there and start cutting down trees

Aw. Come on. Its not like you would be cutting down live trees in the forest. ROFL.gif

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It's amazing how much those big mountain lakes draw down in the winter. We're behind on rainfall the last couple of months but our springtime "usually" makes up for everything.

What is the average depth for those lakes? Shasta, Orville, ect.....

Average is hard to say as in May it maybe closer to 300 feet whereas in September with the drawdowns it could be less.

I don't know about "average depth" - but Shasta is ~500ft at the dam, and Oroville is ~400 ish ... off the top of my head.

Usually running around (in the wakeboarding areas - not by the dam) with depths in the mid 100's

Troy, Oroville dam is 770' high, Shasta is 602' high, Folsom Dam is 340' high and Bullards Bar is 645' high.

the shasta lake water shed produces about 7.5 to 8 million acre feet of water in a "normal" water year. the water shed extends all the way up into the state of oregon. the lake when full to the brim holds 4.5 million acre feet of water. ( 1 acre foot of water is 325,850 gallons). there is some movement afoot to raise shasta dam 18.5 feet higher. this would generate about 625,000 acre feet more storage behind the dam. this could be competed by 2014 if all goes well. mike

Mike,

I know they we're researching the changes to all the CVP projects but I remember that 18.5' feet would cause one two much environmental damage and two inundate too much private property. They had some scoping meetings with the USBR but haven't concluded that 18.5 is feasible from a fiscal perspective. The interesting thing is that Shasta Dam could be raised another 200 feet as it was originally designed, but due to shortage of materials during WW II, they reduced it. USBR said they could always come back and raise it and since about 1978 they have been trying to just that. The fight over this is far from over especially from environmentalists. Another note if they raised the dam 18.5' houseboats would be stranded on onside or the other at crest of the I-5 Bridge. I know they decided that 7' would be the most feasible for Folsom, but I don't think a decision has been made yet.

malibudude, i got a book published by montgomery watson engineering and authorized the the USBR. the book has everything you would want to know about this project. properties affected, utilities, railroad, roads, bridges, etc. it also has times lines for construction start and completion. these times could very of course, but this is the first time i have seen anything printed with time lines included. raising the dam 7 feet does not gain a whole lot of storage but it does help. here is some other info of a tell tale. the antlers bridge on i-5 is in the process of design to raise the bridge elevation. this bridge just had a new surface put on it. why design a new bridge after just re-surfacing the old one. this brdge has to be raised for a higher lake level but not at 7 feet. digger bay marina is slated to be moved from where it currently is. the knew location is at turntable bay. bridge bay and digger bay are part of seven crowns. if bridge bay were to have to move also because of a higher lake there is plenty of room at turntable bay. there would be some work on a few railroad bridges but the overall grade would not have to be changed. chasing a grade on a railroad would be very expensive. a realtor told me that at this time property owners do not have to disclose about the higher lake levels expected yet. but will have to in 2 years. there are alot of signs that this is going to happen. a very good source of mine has told me 18.5 feet is a done deal. i guess time will tell. mike

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...some other info of a tell tale. the antlers bridge on i-5 is in the process of design to raise the bridge elevation. this bridge just had a new surface put on it. why design a new bridge after just re-surfacing the old one. ....

By resurfacing the bridge you increase the likelihood that the project will be undertaken. In fact it is now almost certain to happen...Just think back to the last time they resurfaced an important street in your community. I bet within 6 months someone came along and dug a new trench in it. ROFL.gif

Edited by MoonDawg
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