Flight Over the Delta Part 2

Lindsey Slough

In part one of "Flight over the Delta", an early dense fog and President Obama's flight path to the Cyber Security Summit in Palo Alto blocked many of the views we were hoping to see from our small 4-seat fixed-wing aircraft. So my colleagues and I were very fortunate to be invited again to take to the skies for live aerial views of the landscape that our daily working lives are dedicated to. This time it was a bright and sunny day in mid April. No fog, no Obama, no Dramamine, and a map to help me figure out where we were. I could pay closer attention to the locations of the natural communities I hope will be protected and restored in California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. We met at the hangar and took a different plane on this day, one with larger bubble windows. I couldn't have asked for a better day.

The photos and video I took with my iPhone will tell the rest of the story. Well, almost the rest.

Sacramento River from Hood to Courtland, CA. 

This is where the twin tunnels intake pumps would be constructed if that project goes through.

Brannan Island State Recreation Area on the Sacramento River.
This island has one of the last remaining dune habitats in the Delta.

Tip of Discovery Bay, Contra Costa County

Tyler Island and North Mokelumne River. Look closely to see Sacramento River, top.

Vernal pool-grassland complex in the Mountain House mitigation bank for species like California red-legged frog and California tiger salamander.

Some lovely riparian habitat along the San Joaquin and Stanislaus rivers, but a lot more needs to be restored here to bring back the species that once occupied this area but are now gone:

We diverted a bit from the Delta to the east to see how the reservoirs of the Sierra Nevada foothills  were doing during the drought. We probably shouldn't have been surprised by what we saw. The low water levels and exposed land are due to a record-low snow melt in the mountains. It's a little frightening when thinking about how much water is consumed in California.

New Melones Lake. Water level changed so much in a matter of weeks, I could not match this image to Google Earth.

Narrow band of Sierra Nevada snowmelt

Leaving New Melones

Camanche Reservoir with exposed islands

After our detour to the foothills, we returned to the Delta so we could get good bird's-eye views of Suisun Marsh. Suisun Marsh isn't technically within the legal Delta boundary; however, it is that part of the San Francisco Bay estuary that links the Delta with the San Pablo and San Francisco bays. It consists primarily of managed wetlands for waterfowl habitat and duck clubs, but plans have been underway to restore these diked wetlands to the historic state of a natural tidal marsh ecosystem. I had visited Suisun Marsh many times on the ground; but had never imagined how colorful it would be from the air.

Grizzly Island Wildlife Area and Roaring River Slough

Flooded island between Wheeler Island and Van Sickle Island

Montezuma Slough and the Montezuma Hills

We circled around Suisun Bay and Grizzly Bay, then headed up to Lindsey Slough and the north Delta. I took one last shot of Cache Slough and Lindsey Slough meeting up with the now-flooded Liberty Island (top of photo below):

Now the rest of the story: After reveling for a couple of hours in the air, our aircraft landed and we were told to hop out. But for some strange reason, it was super easy to jump out because there was such a wide open space. In other words, there was no door. It wasn't until we were out, standing on the tarmac, that our pilot said, "Where's the door?" Apparently, it fell off and landed somewhere in Suisun Marsh. We were all so enthralled in our habitat viewing, photographing, and video recording, none of us noticed--not even my colleague who was sitting next to it. It wasn't until we were off the plane that we realized the door was no longer there. We all got a good chuckle out of it. We were well strapped in, and the flight was low and slow, so there was no noticeable change in air temperature, pressure, or anything dangerous or scary. We were just having a little adventure that we weren't even aware of.  And now that we were back on terra firma, it was time to go back to work in the office and look forward to another adventure.