Natomas Basin - Wildlife Friendly Lands

Northern Natomas Basin

It was one thing for me to sit in an office behind a computer and work on conservation of a threatened species and its habitat. To actually go out into the field and see the habitat is another thing and was a privilege of my job. However, when anyone drives through an area with some open space and farmlands in northern California, they may be driving through very important habitat for the rarest of species without realizing it. This is because as natural wetlands in California declined to nearly ten per cent of the area they once covered, working landowners--mostly farmers and conservancies--started managing their lands and operations to create the habitat function the lost wetlands once provided.

One such area is the Natomas Basin, in the City of Sacramento and to the north. South Natomas is about 10 minutes from downtown, where affordable housing communities provide attractive options for commuters and newcomers to buy homes. Although North Natomas is also somewhat developed, a more rural landscape farther north stretches into southern Sutter County. Here, farmers do business in the best way possible to be profitable and successful while providing a benefit to the wildlife that use their fields as habitat during certain times of the year, a term coined as "wildlife friendly agriculture". North Natomas also has reserve lands managed by The Natomas Basin Conservancy. This land is set aside for the recovery and conservation of wildlife, including species that are threatened and endangered in the U.S. and California, such as the giant garter snake and Swainson's hawk.

I was working to help conserve the giant garter snake, a species endemic only to certain parts of the state, with disjunct populations that are threatened by genetic isolation and local extirpations. The Natomas Basin population is important for the survival of the species. So when a representative of the Natomas Basin Conservancy invited my supervisor and me to tour giant garter snake habitat on their reserve, we felt very fortunate.

A canal used by the giant garter snake with upland habitat on the rocks and levee.

It was a beautiful sunny day with a very clear blue sky on October 9, 2015. We toured tracts of the reserve at the northern edge of Sacramento County off of Elverta Road, which is accessed from Highway 70/99, that included rice fields, freshwater marshes, tree-lined canals, large ponds, and open grassland. Though we did not see the snakes, we saw the edges of ponds, canals, and flooded rice fields that we know they are using to meet most of their needs, such as breeding, dispersing, and foraging. The giant garter snakes also use grassy, rocky, or vegetated banks of these watery habitats, sometimes up to several hundred feet away, as "upland" habitat. This is where they use burrows or crevices to hibernate underground in the winter; or when above ground, to hide from predators or extreme weather.

The snakes colonized the emergent vegetation at the edge of this pond and its bank.

Sometimes the ponds get overrun with water primrose, which needs to be removed. 

Swainson's hawks also nest in the trees in the reserve, and tricolored blackbirds may use the tules in the ponds or marshes.

We then traveled up Natomas Road in southern Sutter County through the rice fields, where the farmers manage their crops for the benefit of the giant garter snake and birds. Turning left on Sankey Road, we drove by some some trees and grasslands that are used by Swainson's hawks for nesting and foraging.

Although the public does not have access to the reserve itself, there are good viewing spots from the roads that surround them and a preserve map that shows where to go. The Natomas Basin is scenic and peaceful and worth a drive-through for local people who want to take a daytime excursion. Fishing is allowed in some of the canals, and the more developed areas have good eateries. So while my trip was focused on viewing habitat for wildlife, there is always a little something for everyone to do or see.

Bay Area Ridge Trail - Vallejo to Benicia

Looking south towards Carquinez Strait

For hikers, walkers, cyclists, or horseback riders visiting or living in California's San Francisco Bay Area, the Bay Area Ridge Trail offers spectacular treks along city streets, over bridges, in flats and wetlands, in hills and mountains, in many local and regional parks, and through miles of open space. Much of this network of trails offers views from higher ridges of the bays, rivers, and waterways, while some are closer to the lowlands. It covers the many different types of scenery and ecosystems the Bay Area has to offer. Some of the trails are mellow, some are moderate or moderately difficult, and some are strenuous and adventurous. The idea of the Bay Area Ridge Trail is to connect over 350 miles of trails around the perimeter of the greater Bay Area. All of the segments are not connected. They either have not yet been developed or past segments were taken over by land use changes and private property. However, with the help of some maps and a bit of creative navigation skills, disjunct sections can be pieced together.

Start of the trail overlooking Vallejo

Going back to our idea of traversing a monumentally large hiking journey in small segments over time, my brother started hiking the established Bay Area Ridge Trail as well as improvising his way through the missing segments in between. It soon became his passion and obsession. I was invited to join him on this mission, and started my first segment with him on September 26, 2015. This segment began in the City of Vallejo, which is in the East Bay region of the trail network. The entrance is off of Ascot Parkway near Georgia Street, and the trail goes into open space grasslands known as the Vallejo-Benicia Buffer between Lake Herman Road and Columbus Parkway. The trail is moderately hilly and was an effort for my level of fitness. The effort, however, was worth the views of Suisun Bay to the east, San Pablo Bay to the west, and the Carquinez Strait that connects to the two bays. The birding opportunity was also a huge win as I watched raptors soar over the grasslands in search of prey. I also caught sight of a few of the many beautiful moth and butterfly species that live in or are endemic to the Bay Area.

This trail segment connects Vallejo to the City of Benicia. Staying on the trail is pretty straight forward, with a couple of other trails branching off. At the first juncture, the Bay Area Ridge Trail turns to the right to continue southwest towards the west side of Benicia. This trail ends on Rose Drive, which when taken to the right, goes to the Benicia State Recreation Area.

Tidal wetland in the Benicia State Recreation Area

The next segment of the Bay Area Ridge Trail picks up again at Dillon Point, immediately south of the Benicia State Recreation Area. To connect the two trails, we started walking Dillon Point Road, which borders the tidal wetland this State park preserves. This wetland provides habitat for rare and endangered plants and wildlife, such as the endangered salt-marsh harvest mouse.

We stopped partway after the road turned to the south, since my brother had earlier sustained an injury. Sitting on a bench and taking in the view of the beautiful marsh, we made note of the spot to pick up from for the next segment of our journey. The parents picked us up at that spot and took us to Mountain Mike's Pizza for a bite to eat before driving us back to where we started in Vallejo.

New Melones Lake in the Drought of 2015

My travel on September 23, 2015, seemed to also be focused on visiting drought-stricken reservoirs, although not so intentionally. On the holy day of atonement for Jewish people called Yom Kippur, my family has carried on a tradition of spending the day out in the solitude of nature rather than with other people, food, and stressful distractions, because it is a day of fasting and quiet reflection. It also, for me, leads to a more spiritual connection with God through nature. However, choosing a location that is less than a day's drive, beautiful, not crowded, not strenuous to get to, and that has a nice place to sit in the shade most of the day with some hiking opportunities can be a challenge. I also seem to gravitate towards a place with water when I take the initiative on deciding where to go.

That year, I chose New Melones Lake because I had seen it from the air during a flight over the delta and other parts of central California. My colleagues on that flight wanted to see New Melones from the air to get a good picture of how low the water in the reservoir actually was. The scenery was pretty spectacular because of the way New Melones spreads and fingers out amongst and between the rolling green and brown hills. I though if it was this pretty from the air, it would be a cool place to go to on land. New Melones Lake is on the Stanislaus River in the central "gold country" foothills of the Sierra Nevada range in the counties of Calaveras and Tuolumne. It is about a three-hour drive south of the Sacramento area, off of State Highway 49, between the towns of Angels Camp and Sonora. It is not only scenic, but a lake enjoyed by many for recreation and water sports such as boating, fishing, water skiing, and camping. It is also very large, with 100 miles of shoreline and an area of about 12,500 acres. We found our ideal spot in the Tuttletown Recreation Area, with shady oaks, picnic tables, and trails that wound down towards the lake.

Oak woodland at the Tuttletown Recreation Area

After many hours of peaceful and lazy reflection on the past year with thoughts of how I may do better in the year to come, we decided to drive around and explore a bit. We drove out to the southern tip of the Glory Hole Recreation Area. What was utterly shocking was how far out we walked into what is usually deeply underwater. While theming on how this historic drought was affecting the state of California, I'd be remiss to mention how walking into the middle of a giant reservoir is likely a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The scenery was also uniquely fascinating--steep, striated slopes of the basin, now shades of green and brown soils, jetting high above the water line and telling the story of where different water levels over time reached the shorelines. Similar to how it felt at Folsom Lake a week before, it was an eery kind of fascination.

Towards late afternoon and getting very hungry, it was time to wind our way back out to Highway 49 and head north to break our fast in the town of Angels Camp. I think we chose the Angels Creek Cafe to fill our empty tummies, then headed back towards the greater Sacramento area. The skies were filled with a spectacular red sunset. The beauty of the sunset was unfortunately enhanced by the smoke from the wildfires that were raging in north central California, likely accelerated by the drought. It was another delicate balance between feeling the somberness of a state of disaster while at the same time enjoying the scenically unique sights that otherwise would not be experienced. It is one of those emotionally ambivalent dilemmas often encountered in life.

Adventures on the Pioneer Express Trail

On January 14, 2007, a random ride through the foothills of California's Sierra Nevada range led my brother, husband, and me to a segment of the Pioneer Express Trail at the Folsom Lake State Recreation Area in Placer County.  The Pioneer Express Trail starts in the City of Auburn and follows  the American River south to Folsom Lake. It follows the western shore of Folsom Lake until it meets up with the Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail at Beal's Point just before Folsom Dam, pretty much covering the north to south span of the Folsom Lake SRA. We then hatched the idea of hiking long-mileage trails a segment at a time with a dream of hiking American River trails from the foothill town of Cool to Discovery Park in Sacramento.

A few months later, on March 24, 2007, we set our ambition way too high. We decided to not only take the 14-mile Pioneer Express trail from beginning to end, but to actually hike the 24 or so miles along the American River and Folsom Lake from Auburn to Negro Bar in the city of Folsom in one day. It was a lesson in being unrealistic, very bad planning, and making bad decisions--the kind of decisions where the phrase "what were we thinking" frequently comes to mind. Lesson 1 - know the terrain. We mistakenly thought the trail would be mostly flat; however, there were a lot of uphill-downhill runs (after all, it is in the foothills). We also mistakenly thought we had some level of supreme fitness, when indeed we were not physically equipped to take on such a trek. Our sense of timing was way off. We actually started late morning, not having a clue how many hours we would need to get to the parked car on the Folsom end of the hike. Lesson 2 - long hikes need good boots. I had on a pair of army boots that were not the right fit and they destroyed my feet. Lastly, and most comically, learn to read the legends on trail maps. We failed to pack an adequate supply of food because the "g" on the map for "gravel pit" was mistaken for "grocery". Envisioning some sort of mythical food vendor on a beach, I failed to realize that this section of trail is very remote and there are no services to be found, even on the roads that parallel the park. So three of us wound up subsisting all day on a strenuous hike on one Clif bar.

It wasn't all horrible, especially in the beginning. The scenery is astounding--starting with beautiful riparian ecosystems and river views, sand bars, small beaches, and eventually moving into rolling hills with oak woodland and grasslands that open up the view of the reservoir as the river widens. I only made it about 10 miles in before my feet were so blistery sore, I had to take off the army boots and hike in my socks. When my bleeding sores started to mix with mud, dirt, and horse manure, I called it quits. I suggested my husband and I hike out of the recreation area to the road and try to find a phone. My brother remained foolishly over ambitious and thought he would make it to the car in Folsom so he could come get us. By this time, it was already starting to get dark. Once we reached a rather ritzy neighborhood off Auburn-Folsom Road, we noticed helicopter police with a spotlight hovering about. I started to get nervous about a criminal on the loose. In reality, some resident saw and heard us talking and thought I was a little boy being kidnapped by my husband, so they called the police. The helicopter cop was after us. Eventually, a patrol car found us. I told the police my brother was caught in the dark on the trail, to please go rescue him. He had made it as far as the populated part of Granite Bay; so luckily, he was found. We were driven to our starting point in Auburn where we left the first car and eventually made it home so I could try to clean and nurse the wounded feet and get something to eat.

On September 20, 2015, my brother and I decided to revisit the trail and take that final stretch from Granite Bay to Negro Bar. This time, we were much more sensible about the distance, the level of difficulty, the need to actually pack a picnic lunch, and wearing the right clothes and shoes. It was a mid-morning to midday hike that included a bit of meandering off the trail and needlessly expending energy I didn't have lung power for on a steeply sloped detour. The scenery was strikingly different and alarmingly depressing. It was in the midst of the hottest, driest season of this area's frightening drought of 2015. Water levels in Folsom Lake were so low, people discovered the ruins of a historic gold rush town that had been inundated.

Folsom Lake during the drought of September 2015

Boat launches and life guard stands sat in lakes of sand, and shades of brown, tan, and mossy greens extended across the dry lakebed over large distances before actual water could be seen. White sands with concentric lines appeared on the slopes where the lake had previously reached the shore. It was fascinating from an aesthetic perspective but also eerily sobering, reminding us of how fragile we are in a changing environment. Folsom Lake supplies much of the greater Sacramento area water supply. The implications for people and nature alike were daunting. Even though we have since recovered from that drought, water conservation in the western USA is still extremely important. It was all I could think of while I was on that trail. This time, we met our destination. We picked up the Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail, walked along Folsom Dam, and eventually made it to Negro Bar. Although the day will likely never come for us to hike from Cool to Discovery Park, we still enjoy the memories of our adventures on the Pioneer Express Trail.

Negro Bar on the American River, Folsom, CA

Tidal Wetland Restoration at Cullinan Ranch and Sears Point - San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge

Restoration at Sears Point near Petaluma, California

Tidal wetlands are a hot topic in restoration ecology. Since it was related to my work in 2015, I attended a field training in August to two exemplary sites in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. These two sites, Cullinan Ranch and Sears Point, were at various stages of restoration. They are located on California Highway 37, a scenic route through protected bay and marsh lands that connects the City of Vallejo in Solano County with the City of Novato in Marin County. Both sites are within the San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge, a huge federally protected complex that spans most of the northern shore of San Pablo Bay and its estuaries.

Tidal wetland restoration occurs where previously diked, bermed, or leveed tidal flows are brought back to their natural state. Generally, these tidal flows were blocked to protect agricultural lands, ranches, or other property from flooding. With such practice, valuable habitat for many fish and wildlife species is lost. When the berms, levees, or dikes are breached, natural tidal flow returns between the ocean, bay, sloughs, and rivers. Aquatic, mudflat, marsh, and upland habitats gradually return to the birds, fish, plants, and other life that once depended on them. With some additional help from restoration professionals and volunteers planting marsh and upland vegetation, biodiversity (different kinds of living organisms in an area) is restored, and natural ecosystem processes return. The effort is not always successful. Often, expected outcomes are not realized, and different approaches are needed. It can take many decades and many millions of dollars before the natural wetland ecosystem is fully restored.

Cullinan Ranch

Cullinan Ranch is just west of the Napa River and north of Highway 37. At Cullinan Ranch, restoration started in 2011 with a phased schedule through 2019. In 2015, we walked over land that would become inundated from breaching of levees, connecting the Napa River estuary with the bay. By 2019, the end goal was to finish breaching the levees so the tidal flows would create marsh and aquatic habitats for fish and wildlife. When I went back out there in 2019 and took a look, I saw a lot of water. The levees may have already been breached.

August 2015: Looking towards Highway 37 from a northern levee

March 2019: Looking from Highway 37 to the north 

One phase of the project included developing a parking lot with safe access from the highway, interpretive signage, and a levee trail dividing the national wildlife refuge and the State of California's Napa-Sonoma Marshes Wildlife Area Pond 1 unit. Public access at Pond 1 is available for people to enjoy walking through the tidal wetlands to view a variety of birds and other wildlife and for hunting and fishing. It includes a kayak launching dock and a viewing platform. In March 2019, tidal water inundated both sides of the trail. These tidal wetlands support many species of native fish and wildlife, including three-spined stickleback, tule perch, steelhead trout, California roach, Pacific herring, coast range sculpin, Pacific lamprey, and canvasback. They also provide habitat for threatened and endangered species such as Chinook salmon, Sacramento splittail, longfin smelt, salt marsh harvest mouse, and Ridgway's rail.

Cullinan Ranch trail, facing east, August 2015, during restoration

Same view from Cullinan Ranch trail in March 2019. Gulls are on the island and enjoy better fishing.

Sears Point

About four or five miles west of Cullinan Ranch is Sears Point, which starts at the intersection of State highways 37 and 121 and extends a good distance to the west. When people think of Sears Point, they probably think of the famous Sonoma Raceway where NASCAR and other competitions are held. What is less known is that Sears Point also has public access to the San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge just opposite the Lakeville Highway.

Restoration of the Sonoma Baylands started as far back as 1995 to reconnect diked farmlands to the San Pablo Bay, and restored wetlands were incorporated into the national wildlife refuge. Partners included the Sonoma Land Trust, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ducks Unlimited, and others. In 2015, we saw Sears Point under construction, where the ground was was being contoured and filled with dredge to design and shape the landscape for marsh, slough, and upland habitats. The dredged material, essentially recycled from dredging projects in the San Francisco Bay, also raised the elevation in areas that had become subsided, meaning land that had sunk below sea level. Wetland vegetation was planted, and a levee was carefully built and sloped to protect the railroad and the highway while also providing upland habitat for marsh species. Today, the result is a naturally developing wetland ecosystem containing deep water, shallow water, mudflats, low marsh, high marsh, and higher elevation grasslands. Sears Point now has public trails, including the Sears Point trail, which is a portion of the San Francisco Bay Trail; a cellphone audio tour; and kayaking for outdoor enthusiasts.

Construction August 2015

Restored! March 2019

Cullinan Ranch is only accessible on the west-bound side of the highway. Sears Point is accessible when traveling from either direction. Driving both directions on Highway 37 is a worthy day trip if you're in the Bay Area. There are other access points for outdoor recreation, such as Skaggs Island and the Sonoma Creek Unit of the Napa-Sonoma Marshes Wildlife Area. Skaggs Island even holds raptor tours in the winter. A couple notes of caution: Avoid commute hours during the week, as this highway can be very slow and crowded. In very wet winters, check for flooding, as the highway is sinking below sea level.

Boat ramp and viewing platform - Cullinan Ranch 

Agriculture and nature may continue to be in conflict for years to come, but at least this restoration story is a successful one. San Francisco has no shortage of food supply, and the northern San Pablo Bay has no shortage of beautiful tidal wetlands, fish, and wildlife for generations to enjoy.

Oregon Random Ride Finale: Darlingtonia to Ashland

July 12, 2015, was the last day of our random ride, cut short because of car trouble. We tried to figure out what had happened and replace the leaking fluids, but what to do was a mystery. We decided to rush back to the mechanics in Ashland, who had made repairs at the beginning of this trip, and have them check it out. But there was one more stop to make before leaving the coast and making a beeline to the east.

California pitcher plant

Just north of Florence, there is a little park a few miles off Highway 101 called the Darlingtonia State Natural Site. With my knowledge dating back to Little Shop of Horrors, venus fly traps in flower pots, and studying botany at Humboldt State University, I only recently discovered carnivorous plants are not only in the jungles of Borneo. Darlingtonia californica, the California pitcher plant or "cobra lily", is endemic to northern California and southern Oregon. Where there is cold water, seeps, or bogs, this beautiful-looking green predator may grow in large populations. They suck water up from their roots to fill leaves modified into pitchers, attracting unsuspecting insects with a sweet nectar. When the insects fall into the liquid, the plant dines on and digests the poor critters to make up for a lack of nitrogen in the soil. "It's supper time..." I first discovered these pitcher plants when camping in the Siskiyou range; however, the population by Florence is much larger.

We took Highway 126 along the Suislaw River to Interstate 5 and to Ashland, passing a wildlife refuge I would like to visit, and stopping for lunch at Ixtapa Family Mexican Restaurant in the town of Veneta, just west of Eugene. The truck seemed to do OK on the trip up I-5 to Ashland. We took a room at the Rodeway Inn and got dinner at the adjacent Wild Goose Cafe and Bar. Little did we know, it was open mic night. So we followed dinner with a few drinks and entertainment from Ashland's local singer-songwriters--from seasoned folk singers, to a clever cover of The Elements by Tom Lehrer, to a fledgling who had never played in front of people before.

The next day, we took the truck to the Shell station mechanics, and they again dropped us off at Lithia Park while they spent nearly the whole afternoon fixing her up. This time, we walked the trail a bit and had lunch at Umi Sushi and nice coffees from the Mix Bakeshop. And we saw a few more animals at the duck pond, including the western pond turtle, which is a native and critically sensitive species in Oregon and a species of special concern in California. They may be common in southern Oregon, but they are declining in other parts of their range. They are usually shy of people, but this turtle seemed well adjusted to our presence.

A western pond turtle makes his home in Lithia Park.

American robin with his catch of the day. Is that a fish?

This is a male cardinal meadowhawk (Sympetrum Illotum)--
a very pretty red dragonfly found in the western U.S.

Lithia Creek

When the car was finally ready, we headed back to California. Of course, no trip down Interstate 5 from Oregon is complete without getting the shot of Mt. Shasta. Not much snow, however. Tells the tale of the drought.

The trip ended meeting dad for dinner at Black Bear Diner in Paradise--home to my parents and nearly home for us. I was already planning the 2016 random ride, starting at the Darlingtonia reserve.

Oregon Coast: Umpqua River to Florence

Eel Lake,  William M. Tugman State Park

July 11, 2015. We started the morning at the scenic Eel Lake, where we had camped at Tugman State Park, and took a short walk down to the dock. enjoying the beautiful lake with emergent vegetation and surrounding forested hills. We then headed north to the Umpqua River lighthouse, which sits on the western edge of Umpqua Lighthouse State Park. Back in '05, we had visited this lighthouse and took the tour up the spiral stairs into the awesome red and white glass top housing the lens; this time, we enjoyed the lighthouse from outside of the closed gate. Across from the lighthouse, I took in the view of the mouth of the Umpqua River and its two jetties, where it meets the sea, across the very green Ziolkouski Beach Park. What I didn't see was another hidden lighthouse in the trees. Look even closer, and between the south jetties is the Umpqua Aquaculture triangle oyster farm. So when I pop the next luscious oyster in my mouth, I can imagine this is where it came from--which is better than the wild oysters being over-harvested and depleted while the dredging destroys the bottom of the sea. Thumbs up for aquaculture.

Ziolkouski Beach Park. Look to the right, just below the landward edge of the longer south levee for the hidden lighthouse. Zoom in to see the rows of suspended oysters on ropes in the triangle between the two south levees.

Instead of climbing the spiral stairs, we visited the museum and gift shop just up the street and spent a good amount of time learning about the history of this place and buying a few gifts. Just a bit off Highway 101, we did our random riding up Lighthouse Drive between Umpqua Lighthouse State Park and the Umpqua River. Lighthouse Drive ended on Salmon Harbor Drive, and we had a very windy, rainy picnic along a little inlet called Half Moon Bay, where people fished the Umpqua along the pier. Sandwiched between Highway 101 and the sea, the only place to wind up was back at at the highway at Winchester Bay. Our left turn continued north.

Umpqua River Light

Now, we were riding along the dunes. My brother recommended a dune buggy ride, so in the late afternoon, we stopped at Sand Dunes Frontier to experience the sand on wheels rather than on foot. It's a different world than hiking the wild places--it's where the federal government gave thousands of acres of what was once pristine natural dunes to a big human playground. My eco adult side felt guilty about supporting an industry of vehicles compacting the sand and damaging the natural dune ecosystem processes, while the little kid in me was having a blast of a good time. We had a crazy driver with a crazy MadMax-like rig for multiple passengers. The old buggy gave him a little trouble while he had us out on the sand, but he got it started again and gave us a ride for our money. The scenery was beautiful, and we were seeing parts of the Oregon Dunes NRA that we would not have been able to access on foot. And, of course, we hit the highest hills at top speed for that amusement park effect.

Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area with an ATV kicking up sand (upper left).

When that bout of fun was over, it was time to head up to Florence to settle in for the night. We found a room at the Le Chateau Inn, which seemed nice and reasonable, but we parked in the back next to a guy living out of his truck. When I went to move my truck, we discovered an unpleasant surprise of a puddle of leaked fluid. Car trouble. Again. Dinner, however, was on the agenda. We took the leaking truck down to the Port of Siuslaw along the Siuslaw River, and by recommendation, dined on pilings on the river at Mo's Restaurant--a trendy seafood place that had a cool atmosphere, lovely view, and delicious clam chowder. Back at the Chateau, we enjoyed a nice relaxing hot tub before settling in for the night. We saved worrying about the car trouble for the morning.