Potential Project Field Visit

Posted Tue Jul 27, 2010 in Engineering

The first day back in the office after a week out was a doozy! I had three conference calls this morning plus a strategy session and tried to catch up on all the other work that needs to be DONE RIGHT NOW when you return from an absence.

I got most of what needed done, done, then rode home to eat a bite with Wife before riding up the Spooner Lake (near Lake Tahoe) for a field walk. There’s and RFP out for some remediation work and I think we might try for it.

The ride up U.S. 50 was fun, as always. The big sweepers beg to be run between 70–90 mph, but the limit is 50 mph and I was a good boy. Still, they are fun curves on the big BMW. I turned north on SH 28 then turned into the parking area. The ranger booth was manned and a bit backed up, but he waved me through when I announced I was there for the field trip.

I parked Windfola, stowed my helmet and jacket, and retrieved my paperwork. I recognized a couple of folks there and thought I knew of a couple more. I was even 15 minutes early, which is unheard of these days.

The remaining participants straggled in by ones and twos and the briefing started. Liv, the lead POC, briefed us on what we were going to do and how they wanted to handle questions. She also saw that we got bug repellent, which I used. The ‘skeeters can be bad up there, especially during warm days.

The weather could not have been better. There was plenty of sunshine and a decent breeze kept the air from being too still. We piled into the State-provided conveyance and headed for the first stop near Spooner Lake. They want some remediation done on the spillway, maybe installation of a drop-inlet spillway. I looked at the rip-rap, or what passed for rip-rap, downstream from the emergency spillway and thought “That won’t hold up to anything.” The median particle size might have been three inches and I doubt it would be stable in a velocity in excess of four or five feet per second. I don’t think it was designed.

We clambered back into our vehicles and headed to the next stop — a culvert crossing. They want to shut down one culvert and redirect flows exiting Spooner Lake to the historic drainageway, which they called the “remnant channel.” This won’t be too bad, I think, but some reworking of the channel area and revegetation with appropriate materials will be required.

We walked down the alpine meadow to inspect an old irrigation channel. That one they want to abandon and backfill. A few crossings are needed for the remnant channel as well. I made a few images (including the one above) and listened to the staff present their goals. A couple of individuals, my guess long-time consultants in the Tahoe Basin, asked questions dealing mostly with the vegetation. I’ll need help with that aspect if we get the project.

We made a couple more stops up in the valley to inspect features they want to improve. The banks of North Creek are badly trampled in a couple of locations where equestrians pause to water their horses. Plus a segment of North Creek is too congested with vegetation and they want to improve portions of it to restore habitat.

I was tired after the hike back up the hill and was glad to return to the departure point. I was ready to get home and get a shower. The mosquitoes were really bad, as in they would not take “NO!” for an answer. Many perished, but the Fuzzy-Wuzzy principle is alive and well, it seems. I have a few bites, but not too bad.

I’m done for the day. Now for a bite of supper and some down time. It all begins again tomorrow.