Rising Feather threatens trees

With the reopening of the Oroville Dam main spillway, the increased flows in the Feather River are likely to carry with them a thousand or more trees, according to a Sutter County press release.

Levee District 9 Manager David Schmidle said in the release that erosion in the riverbed has eaten the soil from around the roots of some orchard trees and native oak trees. Most were lost when the river dropped suddenly with the shutoff of flows from the main spillway a couple weeks ago, he said.

Flows into the river increased from 13,300 cubic feet per second to 50,000 cfs on Friday. That was not expected to cause flooding concerns but could result in dangerous conditions on the river with the flow of debris, according to the release.

The higher flows were to be achieved by reducing releases from the Hyatt Powerplant and then adding releases through the regular Oroville Dam gated flood control spillway, according to the Department of Water Resources.

As of Friday morning, the lake elevation was 864 feet. By Friday afternoon, it had dropped to 863 feet.

“Spillway releases are going well and holding steady,” DWR Information Officer Lauren Bisnett said in an email.

Anglers, boaters, and other river users were advised to be aware of the increase in flows, as the river will become deeper and swifter.

DWR plans to keep the outflows and river levels steady for one week before reducing them again. The increased flows will continue to create storage in Lake Oroville to take on more water from rain or snowmelt, according to the press release.

The National Weather Service expects some light rain today and Sunday, with heavier and more widespread rain and breezy winds Monday and Tuesday. Additional storm systems are also a possibility late next

week. This weekend’s rain will take snow levels to 7,000 feet, and Monday’s storm will lower levels to 5,000-6,000 feet.

Joe Henderson, general manager for Reclamation District 1001, said the Nicolaus area is likely to see significant seepage following the releases.

“This is kind of uncharted territory because we’re talking about starting and stopping so rapidly,” Henderson said Friday. “It can affect crops and trees in Nicolaus.”

Though Henderson said the situation leaves officials with unknowns, he said he believes the seepage won’t get to monitor stage. Officials are on standby.

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” he said.

Henderson said DWR plans to get the lake level down to around 835 feet to give itself more room for upcoming snowpack runoff.

“At this point with a damaged spillway, damaged emergency spillway, and levees (that) have been through what they’ve been through, the more room we’ve got, the better,” he said.

Sutter County public information officer Chuck Smith was concise in his opinion of runoff.

“Let’s just say we hope the snow does not melt too quickly,” Smith said in an email. “Let’s hope we are through storm season.”

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