After the floods, expect lush spring
Seasons: Park workers shovel mud left by a week of storms, enjoy gushing waterfalls, look forward to carpets of wildflowers
The past two weeks of relentless storms have left Northern California’s parks battered and bruised, but Mother Nature’s thrashing promises an upside: Spring will be stupendous.
The storms temporarily closed Yosemite and many other parks, toppled the historic drivethrough Pioneer Cabin Tree in Calaveras County, severed trails in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and severely mucked up Livermore beaches and picnic areas with tons of mud.
The full toll isn’t known as crews wait for the waters to recede so they can locate and repair damage from slides, mud, silt, toppled trees and carvedup trails.
Despite the short-term pain, park managers say the payoff will be big. There will be spectacular waterfalls, bubbling creeks, carpets of spring wild-
flowers, lush grasses, and rich habitat for frogs, fish and other wildlife.
Park officials say they haven’t begun to quantify the costs and benefits, but the tab is far from all bad.
“This is going to be a great year for waterfalls,” said Scott Gediman, a ranger at Yosemite National Park, which was temporarily evacuated. “Our view is that flooding is a natural event, and we have to be prepared for it. For the most part, the environment did fine.”
Yosemite National Park felt the brunt of the storms but has largely recovered.
The park closed Jan. 6 in advance of rising waters in the Merced River, and the park reopened in phases Tuesday and Wednesday. Officials hope two entrance roads blocked by slides will be open in time for Monday, when admission to national parks across the nation is free.
Little severe damage
Most Bay Area parks weathered the storms with some inconvenience but no severe damage, although some did not, officials said.
Sanborn County Park near Saratoga, Uvas Canyon County Park near Morgan Hill and a park for radio-controlled model airplanes at the Coyote Creek Parkway in San Jose remained closed Friday after mudslides, erosion and flooding caused significant damage, said Tamara Clark, a Santa Clara County Parks spokeswoman.
“It’s the most extensive storm damage to our parks system in many years,” she said. “One of our trails has become a waterfall.”
Del Valle Park near Livermore took the biggest storm hit in the East Bay Regional Park District. Rising waters in Lake Del Valle flooded beaches, picnic areas, campgrounds and some buildings and deposited a thick blanket of mud and silt.
“The park is a muddy mess,” said Bob Doyle, general manager of the district.
He said it may cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to clean up and restore shoreline beaches, campgrounds and picnic areas.
Park managers say they are accustomed to water levels rising and lowering in the state-owned Lake Del Valle in response to fluctuating state demand for water, but while the state water pumped into the lake is relatively dirt free, the stormwater that surged in from Arroyo Creek carried tons of dirt and silt washed in from hillsides miles away.
“We have huge sandy beaches and lawns covered with thick mud and silt,” Doyle said, “and I expect we will need to hire contractors to remove it and add fresh sand.”
With the exception of Del Valle, however, Doyle said the 65 East Bay regional parks weathered the storm with relatively minor damage that crews are accustomed to fixing after big storms.
The regional parks, he said, are mostly natural areas able to absorb storm runoff and winds, acting as a buffer to protect developed areas from flooding and landslides.
He also said parks will thrive on the abundant rain and runoff this year, cultivating grass, seeds and other plants at the base of the food chain.
“This is going to be a great year for wildflowers and salamanders,” Doyle said.
Waterfalls are thundering in many parks, including at Mount Diablo State Park in Contra Costa County and the Big Basin Redwoods State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
“The waterfalls are bigger than I’ve ever seen them in my four years at this park,” said Alex Tabone, ranger at Big Basin Redwoods park. “They are very impressive.”
The Big Basin park campgrounds were closed from Jan. 6 through Wednesday but are open again, although one route there was blocked by a road closure.
Fish will benefit
Tabone said he expects the heavy rain will help struggling steelhead and salmon in coastal creeks and provide more moisture for plants to hold down fire risks in summer.
The moisture also helps microbes break down and compost the many dry and sick trees that died during five years of drought, Tabone said.
More than 20 state parks had full or partial closures over the past week, but state parks spokesman Dennis Weber said all but two have reopened.
Mount Diablo State Park closed Wednesday because of mudslides on its two entrance roads. One road reopened Thursday and the other on Friday.
“Our crews worked hard to reopen the roads,” said Dan Stefanisko, the park’s head ranger. “We have an idea what to expect when a big storm hits.”