The Confluence Winter 2005

Maidu High Students Take to the River
- by Pam Wirsh, Maidu High School Science Teacher

Geologist Laird Thompson accompanies Maidu High School students and their teacher Pam Wirsch to the "outdoor classroom" of Murderer's Bar

A group of Maidu High School students spent a beautiful fall morning in October hiking into the Murderer's Bar area of the Middle Fork of the American River, "botanizing" and "geologizing" along the way. Accompanied by science teacher Pam Wirsch, PARC representative Eric Peach, and geologist Laird Thompson, they had the chance to identify various plant species along the way and gain some insight into the "Jurassic Park" geology of the area. A small hawk made a flyby as they investigated some fault surfaces in the serpentine outcrops, and they read the historical account of Murderer's Bar found in The American River guidebook from a promontory overlooking the rapids.

Student responses included "I would like to bring some friends down here and show them some of these new things," from Lisa Willey, and "I've always been fascinated by the No Hands Bridge but I never knew what it was for. Today I learned that it was for the trains to go across when transporting limestone from the quarry," from Breanna Corum-Jackson. A great summary of the day came from Jarrett Weiss who said, "Most important!! I learned that the river is an awesome place and should be taken care of. Every creature in the river ecosystem some how helps it stay how it is, even birds."

American River Restoration & Pump Station Update
- by David Jones, United States Bureau of Reclamation

Since the project began in Sept. 2003, the contractor, Steve Manning Construction of Redding, Calif., has removed in excess of 400,000 cubic yards of material from the riverbed. Most of the material that has been removed washed out of the old Auburn Dam cofferdam that failed in 1986 . Small boulders and rocks have been set aside to be put back into the river channel to make ripples and waves in the channel for boaters to enjoy when the project is completed some time in 2006.

Currently Manning Construction is involved in the more technical pump station phase of the project. This involves drilling horizontally into the canyon wall to create a wet well chamber, next to the river. Seven vertical shafts, each seven feet in diameter and about 61 feet deep, are being drilled down to the crown of the wet well chamber. The contractor is setting liners in the three holes excavated so far, and will grout them in place. Once all seven holes are finished by about mid February, the contractor can start placing concrete for the pumping plant floor. By March, the pumping plant walls will be up, and then by mid-summer we expect to see the pumping plant essentially built, with work continuing until near year's end to set up the fivepumps that will be initially installed, as well as associated equipment. The remaining two shafts will be held in reserve for future expansion of pumping capability if PCWA decides they need it.

Water from the American River will be pumped from the Pump Station and be sent uphill into a 72" Auburn Ravine Tunnel pipeline where it is transported to the Placer County Water Agency (PCWA) treatment plant for use in western Placer County. Visit the USBR's web site: www.usbr.gov/mp/ccao/pcwa/index.html for updates on the American River restoration, pump station project.

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