This year, something unusual happened. After years of extreme drought and several very wet flood years, the Sierra snowpack, the source of one-third of the state’s water supply, is shockingly average this year: 104% of normal on Friday.

And more is on the way. The National Weather Service on Friday declared a winter storm warning for the Sierra, predicting 1 to 2 feet of new snow through Sunday. Chain controls went into effect on Interstate 80 Friday afternoon.

For a state where 11 of the past 17 years have been in severe drought, where massive, punishing storms last year brought the biggest snowpack since 1983 and waves of destruction along the coast, and storms in 2017 caused $100 million in flood damage to downtown San Jose and nearly collapsed Oroville Dam, an ordinary winter is a godsend, experts said Friday.

“It’s about as normal as you can get,” said Jeffrey Wood, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento. “It’s what we hoped for. In recent years we’ve had extremes. This year is definitely an outlier, but in a good way. Enjoy the normal.”

The last time California had a winter this close to the historical average was more than a decade ago, in 2010, when the Sierra snowpack on April 1 was at 104%. By comparison, last year on April 1 it was 232%. The year before, just 35%.

Two years of ample snow and rain have wiped away drought conditions. Most of California’s big reservoirs are brimming.

They were already full from last year’s bounty and have been topped with storms this year. The largest reservoirs in California on Friday were a combined 116% of their average capacity for the end of March, with the two largest, Shasta, near Redding, and Oroville, in Butte County, at 91% and 87% full.

The conditions mean that cities will not impose water restrictions this summer.

“This is a usefully boring year,” said Jay Lund, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Davis. “It will be useful if people use the lack of urgency to work on long-term preparations for both floods and droughts. That would be time well spent.”

Precipitation will continue to spread across the area today through Saturday, with the heaviest expected this afternoon into early Saturday. Here's a look at the latest forecast rainfall & snowfall totals. Expect mountain travel delays & chain controls. #cawx pic.twitter.com/1h0IVxPxQT

— NWS Sacramento (@NWSSacramento) March 29, 2024

The snowy February and March, along with healthy rain levels across the state, mean that California’s fire season this year could end up being another mild one.

“We might expect something similar to last year,” said Craig Clements, director of the San Jose State University Fire Weather Research Lab. “Below normal in terms of acres burned. More snow. More moisture. Higher soil moisture. And higher fuel moisture levels. Things can change if we get a big heat wave in August. But for now all the rain and snow have helped a lot.”

Last year, following the wet winter, 324,917 acres burned statewide, according to Cal Fire, well below the state average for the previous five years of 1.7 million acres and more than 90% less than the horrific fire year of 2020 when 4.2 million acres burned statewide.

The shifting risk levels don’t mean that climate change isn’t happening, experts say. The Earth continues to warm, which makes droughts more severe. And that warming can cause winter storms to carry higher levels of moisture because more water evaporates from the ocean into them during hotter conditions.

But this year and last serve as a reminder that every year isn’t a wildfire Armageddon, Clements said.

“You are going to have some normal seasons,” he said. “You are going to have wet seasons.”

Few barometers of the state’s changing water fortunes are as dramatic as the weekly reports from the U.S. Drought Monitor, put out by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

At the end of March 2022, 100% of California was in a drought, according to the monitor. Water shortages were prevalent around the state. A year later, just 28% of California was in a drought — mostly near the Oregon state line and in the southeastern corner of the state. This week? None of the state is in drought.

Early on it wasn’t clear what this winter would bring. On Jan. 1, the statewide Sierra snowpack was just 21% of normal. But steady storms through February, and particularly in the first week of March, brought the turnaround as the Sierra was blasted with 8 to 10 feet of new snow in blizzards that closed ski resorts and blocked I-80 and Highway 50.

Lund, the UC Davis professor, who described this winter as “unusually normal,” said California still has significant water challenges, particularly in agriculture. State officials and farmers need to do a better job capturing water from storms and diverting it to recharge groundwater, he said.

In other areas, such as the Tulare Basin in the San Joaquin Valley, groundwater has been so heavily over pumped for decades that some acres will need to be taken out of production, he said.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has pushed hard for construction of the largest new reservoir in California in 50 years, Sites Reservoir, a $4.5 billion off-stream project proposed for Colusa County that would divert water from the Sacramento River in wet years for use in dry years. This month, the project received $205 million from the Biden administration and now has more than 90% of its funding. Whether it can break ground depends largely on if it can secure water rights later this year from the State Water Resources Control Board and overcome lawsuits from several environmental groups that say the water diversions could harm fish species in the Delta.

On Tuesday, state officials are expected to take a manual snow survey near Sierra-at-Tahoe ski resort. Friday’s statewide totals are expected to increase from this weekend’s storms.

“Winter is not over,” said Wood, the meteorologist. “It’s not abnormal to have an early spring system like this, and it’s definitely not the end of potential wet weather for the area. We will get some significant snowfall out of this one.”

Weather and water

Last week saw some significant storm systems in terms of wind as well as localized rain showers locally.

Kate Forrest, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Sacramento office said the first system, which occurred between Tuesday and Thursday last week, brought about a half an inch to an inch of rain to valley areas such as Chico and beyond and up to 1.5 inches in Paradise and foothill areas.

A second system that lasted Friday and Saturday brought an additional 0.27 inches of rain to Chico, just short of half an inch in Red Bluff and 1.26 inches in Paradise.

Lake Oroville’s water level continues to increase and was reported to be 878.86 at 7 p.m. Sunday. The lake had a water level of 857.28 on the same day last year and was previously at 750.14 on March 31, 2022. Outflows from the Oroville Dam’s main spillway continued on Monday.

Meanwhile, Shasta Lake’s water level was reported at 1,055.06 feet as of 1 p.m. Monday.

Enterprise-Record reporter Jake Hutchison contributed to this report.

The events start April 5 with First Friday downtown, followed by the Wildflower and Nature Festival on April 6 and culminating in the Paws For A Cause fundraiser for the Northwest SPCA on April 7.

First Friday

Downtown Oroville changed April’s First Friday event on April 5 from its traditional Spring Fling theme to Wags and Wildflowers to tie the other two events together to make it a “full weekend of delightful activities for the community” said Robin Zanon, the business association’s vice president.

“The Wildflower and Nature festival and Paws For A Cause are two great annual events,” said Zanon. “We wanted to support both of them so we decided to change our annual April First Friday theme to help promote both events and give the community a head start on the fun.”

During First Friday, which starts at 4 p.m. and ends at 8 p.m., participating downtown businesses will be open late and welcoming human as well as well-behaved canine on leashes into their stores. Some will even have treats for people’s pups. The business association will also have a booth located at the corner of Bird and Meyers streets where they will be accepting donations of non-perishable dog and cat food for the Northwest SPCA. Folks who bring a donation will have a chance to win gift cards from Union and Provisions restaurants. Those who spend $20 or more at any participating business may also bring their receipts to the booth to receive a free wildflower and a raffle ticket.

The Feather River Recreation and Park District will be joining the event this year with a booth where they will be handing out flyers with a map and information on the vendors, activities and entertainment at the following day’s festival.

Wildflower and Nature Festival

The 16th annual Feather River Recreation and Park District’s Wildflower and Nature Festival kicks off at 10 a.m. at Riverbend Park, 50 Montgomery St. and runs until 4 p.m. April 6.

In addition to the sights and sounds of nature including spring’s new green foliage and the rushing Feather River at this free event, attendees can also enjoy shopping, education, free activities and food at 70 different vendor booths and food trucks. The Native Sons of the Golden West Argonaut Parlor No. 8 will be hosting a beer garden for those 21 and older. Smokey Bear will be hanging out in the special area just for kids were youngsters may enjoy playing in a bounce house, having their faces painted and visiting with animals from Kirshner Wildlife Foundation.

Live music performances are scheduled in the amphitheater throughout the day with the Feather River Gypsies performing at 10 a.m., the Stringtown Band at 12:15 p.m. and, at 2:15, the Ragtop Rockers will wrap up the day’s live entertainment.

The Wildflower and Nature Festival has grown in popularity through the years with an average of 3,500 people from throughout the county and attending annually.

“The Wildflower and Nature Festival continues to be a favorite among Oroville and Butte County residents,” said Kendyle Lowe, FRRPD executive administrator. “We’re proud to continue to host this family-friendly event that showcases Butte County’s natural resources and homemade products. We’re also excited to see its growth over the past years and are looking forward to seeing it continue to grow this year and in future years.”

Lowe also said FRRPD was also “happy to partner with Downtown Oroville to promote all the weekend’s events” and appreciated Oroville Chamber of Commerce, California Department of Water Resources and Explore Butte County sponsorship of this year’s festival.

Paws for a Cause

Rounding out the weekend festivities, the Union Patio Bar and Grill, 2053 Montgomery St., is hosting the second annual Paws For A Cause benefit for the Northwest SPCA from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 7.

The funds collected from the event’s $5 cover charge plus 10 percent of all proceeds during the five-hour event will be donated to the local animal shelter. The event also includes a “ton of raffles with really big prizes,” said Jordan Vogel, general manager.

“The money from the raffles will also be donated to the Northwest SPCA,” said Vogel. “Last year we raised over $8,000. Our goal this year is $10,000.”

The event, which will be emceed by a DJ playing music throughout the day, features food and beverage specials and vendors including beer and alcohol merchants giving away swag. The Northwest SPCA will also be on hand with dogs looking for forever homes and the winner of the Butte County Pooch Playoffs, an annual bracket-style dog portrait competition that benefits the Northwest SPCA, will be announced.

“We host this event because we’re all animal lovers here at Union. Union is a big part of the community and we want to do our part to help support our furry friends,” said Vogel. “There will be great music, food and drinks in a really fun atmosphere and it’s just a great way to spend a Sunday.”

For more information on the weekend’s events visit www.downtownoroville.com, www.frrdp.com and www.unionfork.com.

That is the premise of This Way to Resilience exposition Friday at Chico State, where local nonprofits convened for discussion on current efforts to make Butte County prepared with long term resources for its next climate disaster — not if, but when.

“There is no personal protection against climate change,” said Chico State Professor Mark Stemen. “There’s not any one thing we can do to protect ourselves from a major flood or a major fire, but collectively we can.”

Resilience, as Stemen puts it, is recognition that sustainable practices can be put to action, not alone, but as “something we do together.”

“Sustainability is still a goal, but unfortunately things have gotten worse. And now we have to be prepared for disturbances as well – and that is resilience,” Stemen said.

Ushering in this mindset is the Butte Resilience Collaborative, composed of some of the presenters at Friday’s expo. In attendance more than a dozen organizations including the American Red Cross presented their current projects happening in Butte County.

Disasters here — the Oroville Dam spillway and several wildfires — have spawned conversations with the Butte Resilience Collaborative, of which the American Red Cross is part of local conversation.

Nate Millard, manager for the American Red Cross community adaptation program, said the American Red Cross is recognizing climate change to cause billions of dollars in costs, and has now invested about $1 million in Butte County to build out community centers, or “resilience” hubs for the first time.

Currently, Millard said, the Red Cross has invested money into the Bethel African American Episcopal Church, Oroville Southside Community Center, South Chico Community Assistance Center, the Esperanza Center and others in Paradise.

“We’ve been trying to find them all and bring them together,” Millard said.

The organizations at Friday’s expo, including the American Red Cross, are working on a partner agreement form — ironing out how all organizations in the county can triage resources during a disaster.

Millard said this effort into the Butte Resilience Collaborative is seeking to figure out collaboration, communication and resource management soon to be presented April 5 at the Dorothy F. Johnson Center.

Fifteen years ago, disasters costing more than $1 billion would average about three per year in the United States, Millard said. But now about 15 disasters that cause $1 billion in damage are occurring each year, with the last year counting 28.

“Say Maui — Maui is a 3-year recovery. The response was huge and the recovery is even longer, but what we’re realizing is that we’re always in continuous response. It’s too much, and it’s overwhelming everybody.”

Friday’s exposition followed a documentary premiere Thursday called “The Climate Baby Dilemma.”

In the Bay Area, where dozens of large cargo ships, oil tankers, cruise ships and other vessels sail in and out of San Francisco Bay every week, the calamity raised the question: Could it happen here?

Ships have occasionally hit several of the eight major bridges that cross San Francisco Bay over the decades. But for a variety of reasons, the chances of a bridge collapsing are very low, experts said Tuesday.

“It would be ridiculous to say it could never happen here,” said Scott Humphrey, chairman of the San Francisco Bay Harbor Safety Committee, a state organization of industry, government, and nonprofit maritime organizations that meets monthly to improve shipping safety. “But it’s extremely unlikely that anything of that magnitude could happen here.”

All of the major bridges that cross San Francisco Bay, including the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge, have concrete buffers, called fenders, that surround the columns supporting the bridge near the water line.

If a large ship loses power or steering and hits one, it glances off, said Bart Ney, a spokesman for Caltrans, which owns most of the bridges spanning the bay.

“The bridges are designed for it,” he said. “The strategy is that if you get a vessel that is going to collide with the bridge, you want to keep it from touching the bridge. All of our bridges have a robust fender system that are designed to absorb energy. The bridge does more damage to the ship than the ship does to the bridge.”

The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore did not have the same fender system, he said.

Further, the Bay Area is known for earthquakes. All of the major bridges across San Francisco Bay have undergone an extensive earthquake retrofits in the past 20 years, Ney said. They have been fitted with seismic dampening systems — joints that allow bridges to flex and move in earthquakes, along with huge hinges, and other features that not only help them survive earthquakes but avoid collapse in ship collisions, he said.

Khalid Mosalam, a professor of civil engineering at UC Berkeley, watched the video Tuesday of the Baltimore bridge collapse frame-by-frame.

“It’s a very classical mode of failure. It was breathtaking,” he said. “You study these things and learn about them and teach them to students, but you rarely see it happen, which is good thing.”

Many of California’s bridges are more resilient than bridges in other parts of the world, he added.

“Because of earthquake designs, the columns in West Coast bridges tend to be a lot stronger, a lot bigger,” he said. “If an accident like this happened here, I doubt it would lead to destruction like we saw in the video.”

But accidents do happen.

Last year, 2,874 large ships arrived and departed San Francisco Bay, sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge carrying everything from oil from Alaska to steel shipping containers full of electronics and clothes, according to the Marine Exchange of the San Francisco Bay Region, an organization that tracks ship movements. Expert harbor pilots board the ships and help them navigate when they are entering and leaving the Bay.

On Nov. 7, 2007, the 901-foot Cosco Busan, a cargo ship headed from Oakland to South Korea, sideswiped a Bay Bridge support column protected by a fender in dense morning fog.

The incident ripped a 211-foot-long gash in the ship and dumped 53,000 gallons of bunker fuel into the bay. No people were injured or killed, but the spill oiled 69 miles of shore. Roughly 6,800 birds were killed.

An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board found that the ship’s pilot, John Cota, of Petaluma, had a “degraded cognitive performance from his use of impairing prescription medications.” Cota, the investigation concluded, had a history of alcohol abuse and prescriptions for at least nine medications for pain, depression and sleep disorders.

Other causes of the Cosco Busan incident included a lack of communication between Cota and the ship’s Chinese captain; inadequate crew training; and a failure by the Coast Guard to warn Cota by radio that he was heading for the bridge.

The bridge fender suffered only minor damage. The Bay Bridge itself was not damaged.

The Cosco Busan’s owner, Regal Stone Ltd., and its operator, Fleet Management Ltd., both of Hong Kong, paid $44 million to settle the civil case with state prosecutors.

Not long afterward, in 2013, another ship, the Overseas Reymar, a 748-foot-long oil tanker, struck the Bay Bridge in heavy fog. A state investigation found that the pilot, Capt. Guy Kleess of San Francisco, made a risky last-minute change in course and “lost awareness of what was happening around him.”

The oil tanker was empty, having offloaded its cargo at a refinery in Martinez the night before. No oil was spilled.

The accident caused $1.4 million in damage to the fender but did not structurally damage the bridge, Caltrans reported. The ship sustained $220,000 in damage.

After the incident, the harbor safety committee passed guidelines recommending large ships not sail under the Bay Bridge in heavy fog.

There are still some areas of concern. State law requires oil tankers to have tug boat escorts so they can be pushed away from danger if they lose power or steering. But tug boat escorts are not required for cargo ships moving in and out of San Francisco Bay. In 2004, following a series of Mercury News stories exposing the risk, state lawmakers passed a bill to require tug escorts for chemical tanker ships in San Francisco Bay, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill after the shipping industry raised cost concerns.

Early reports indicate that the ship in Baltimore reported it had lost power before colliding with the bridge. In April 2022, the Wan Hai 176, a 564-foot container ship, lost engine power and drifted seven miles off the coast of Point Reyes with 21 people aboard. It was intercepted by tug boats and towed into San Francisco Bay without incident. The Singapore-flagged vessel had more than 700 containers on board and 39,000 gallons of fuel.

“We have seen accidents in the Bay Area involving large ships in the past,” said Ben Eichenberg, an attorney with Baykeeper, an environmental group. “If a ship loses power, taking out a bridge isn’t the only disaster that can happen. It can run aground. It can leak oil. This Maryland accident should get us to review all of our safety procedures. There is going to be some soul searching here.”

Ticks are active year-round, but those most known for carrying Lyme disease, the Western black-legged tick, or ixodes pacificus, tend to thrive in green grass along the foothills and are more active during the winter and spring months when there is consistent rainfall.

Ryan Rothenwander, an ecologist with the Butte County Mosquito and Vector Control District, said he and other employees with the district go out to frequented areas within the county to collect ticks for testing.

“(The Western black-legged tick) is our primary Lyme disease carrier,” Rothenwander said. “So a bite from this tick could lead to transmission of Lyme disease or tick-borne relapsing fever. The way we sample this is we travel along established trails at Bidwell Park, Loafer Creek, Lake Wyandotte or Lime Saddle, and we drag what is a fleece blanket on a pole for about 60 to 100 feet and check it and get the ticks off of it.”

Once the test results on the specimens are in, the district posts signs on the trails warning hikers, Rothenwander said, adding that it is important to check parts of the body that see more moisture or darkness such as the armpit after being outdoors for a period of time.

The risk of Lyme disease typically doesn’t increase until the tick has been on the body for at least 24-48 hours. An early sign of Lyme disease is a bullseye-shaped rash around the bite location. Those bitten by a tick should consult with a doctor for testing, Rothenwander said.

“Generally we do tell people to wear long sleeves and long pants,” Rothenwander said. “They can tuck their pants into long socks. Wear closed-toes shoes of course.”

Rothenwander showcased some tools that can be used to remove ticks such as a pair of tweezers or a tick key, which is a thin piece of metal or plastic with a hole that gradually shrinks into a point to lock onto the tick and pull it off. Ticks should be removed by clasping onto them as close to the skin as possible to make sure no part of it is left in the wound.

“We don’t suggest burning a tick because that could influence it to regurgitate,” Rothenwander said. “When it puts the blood it was taking back into you, it’s introducing even more disease particulates.”

Rothenwander added that trying to suffocate the tick using substances such as Vasoline is also ineffective.

Mosquitos

While mosquitos have seemingly been out in full force during the sunnier days recently, the temperatures will need to rise before the risk of West Nile Virus returns.

As the Lyme disease season dies down, usually toward the end of May, Rothenwander said, the district begins to shift its focus toward mosquitos.

“As the tick season subsides, we will be transitioning into a heavier mosquito season,” Rothenwander said. “The water is there after the rains and after irrigation has started on the rice fields and the temperature has come up to anywhere from 65 to 75 degrees at nighttime. That’s when we’re going to start having a higher presence of mosquitoes for the season.”

For Butte County, West Nile tends to show up either toward the end of June or the beginning of July.

“Once West Nile presents, then we notify the Public Health office and newspapers and publications that what we’ve found was West Nile Virus.” Rothenwander said.

Hotter days? More flooding and less snowpack? Species decline and migration? Stemen amplified these and more, notably through 17 years of the university’s This Way to Sustainability conference — relaunching this week in a new format as This Way to Resilience.

He takes little pleasure in validations of his message; rather, Stemen said, “it causes me a whole lot of anxiety.”

The reflection came on a sunny afternoon outside Colusa Hall, where the symposium will run Thursday evening and Friday (see infobox). Stemen noted that Tuesday’s high of 84 hit the 99th percentile of March 19 temperatures that state has tracked since 1991.

“Everyone was celebrating the beautiful days this week,” he continued, “and I was wondering about the future temperatures.

“Midwesterners talk about ‘tornado weather’ — we have ‘wildfire weather.’ A warm breeze coming from the northeast makes me anxious.

“And my students (feel climate anxiety) as well.”

Stemen works to integrate climate change into the curriculum at schools across the California State University system; in that effort, he connected with Britt Wray, a Stanford researcher and author (“Generation Dread”) featured in a documentary titled “The Climate Baby Dilemma.” So far screened only in Canada and at film festivals, the movie will make its international university premiere Thursday, complete with a red carpet.

Friday’s expo will feature workshops and informational tables from groups such as the Climate Action Corps and the Butte Resilience Collaborative. Stemen distinguished the symposium from its predecessor conference because it’s smaller and, he quipped, “symposium is Greek for ‘We feed you’.” (Admission is free and includes pizza.)

“We like to say in the resilience world, ‘We don’t want to bounce back, we want to bounce better’,” he added. “This is our attempt to bounce better and envision what we should be doing. This Way (to Sustainability) had a great run, we learned a lot, and now I think a lot of resilience work is trying to put that into practice.”

Collaboration

The reincarnation of This Way traces to Stemen and a former colleague, Nate Millard, who now works for the American Red Cross as a regional program manager focused on reducing communities’ disaster risks. He’s also an organizer of the Butte Resilience Collaborative, a collection of local agencies brought together thanks to grant funds from the Red Cross and the North Valley Community Foundation. The organization percolated for two years before forming in earnest last August.

The collaborative was the first under a pilot program through which the Red Cross now supports 15 groups. After the symposium, BRC will meet April 5 at the Dorothy Johnson Center in Chico from 9 a.m. to noon.

Millard compares resilience efforts to a stream: Refilled by rainfall, “it bounces back to what it was. There’s this real understanding that for some people, for some communities in our county, there’s no bouncing back to something; it’s never been good. So how do we bounce forward? How do we move beyond?”

That’s where This Way to Resilience comes in. The film screening will feature a discussion afterward to examine the theme of existential dread so severe that a growing number of young adults hesitate to bring children into the world. The expo will present potential solutions.

“Butte County has so much need,” Millard said. “Even though we have the highest ACEs (adverse childhood experiences) in California, with all these hazards, the ways that we already work together is making us able to move so much faster and so much beyond what I see a lot of other counties and parishes across the nation doing.”

Stemen hopes symposium attendees come away with the same feelings of encouragement.

“One of the things that provides the most anxiety for my students is when they think they’re alone in these things,” he said. “And they’re not. That’s part of this — I think (attendees) will realize they’re not alone.”

Event details

Thursday: Film premiere, 6:30 p.m.

Friday: Expo, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Site: Colusa Hall, Chico State

More info: www.csuchico.edu/calendar

The 10th annual Local Nursery Crawl spans Saturday and today and includes 15 plant nurseries in Butte County.

For the event, participants were offered a flyer with the names of each participating nursery on it. If participants got the flyer stamped by six different nurseries, they could enter into a raffle for a gift certificate at the final nursery they went to. “This event is to get the public to visit/discover the many independent nurseries in the area and inspire loyalty and community support for local business,” states the event’s Facebook page.

This year is Hassur’s “fifth or sixth” year participating in the crawl. At Little Red Hen Plant Nursery she bought dwarf mondo grass she plans to plant in between the sandstones of her walkway.

In 2023, the event was held in February. However, this year it was moved to March.

“It’s been a lot busier with more people coming in,” said Little Red Hen Nursery instructor Karen Brewster. “They’re (customers) more ready to plant. February is too early.”

During the crawl, Little Red Hen Nursery offered 15% off everything except tomatoes.

Fair Street Nursery hosted the Chico Bonsai Society on Saturday. Some of the small trees on display were over 40 years old.

In addition to Fair Street Nursery’s many out door plants for sale, the company also sell indoor plants in a warm heated room. It also sells artisan decorations from local artists for the garden.

At Harvests and Habitats Nursery perennials, vegetables and wildflowers sold the most, said employee Suzie McAllister.

“People are starting to dream about their garden for the spring and summer,” McAllister said.

Harvests and Habitats Nursery owner Sherri Scott said it is nice having the crawl in March because more plants are blooming.

“I like that, but it’s also the really busy time for me planting everything because we grow everything ourselves, or like 95% of it ourselves. … I have not slept,” she said with a laugh.

For those looking a well rounded plant that smells amazing and is low maintenance, McAllister and Scott recommend scented geranium.

“They’re like a low key superhero,” McAllister said. “They don’t have a big showy a blossom, they still attract pollinators and they just smells so good.”

Other plants that are easy to take care of are rosemary, sweet bay and lettuce, Scott said. Another popular option she recommends is succulents.

“It’s just about getting it right,” Scott said.

Roger Lederer and Carol Burr, retired Chico State professors and co-creators of the book “The Wildflowers of Bidwell Park,” said the area near the North Rim Trailhead and the Easter Cross is the best place to view wildflowers in Bidwell Park this spring.

When to see wildflowers

In about two weeks the flowers will really take off, and the parking lots in upper park will likely be packed, Lederer said. “Things are just getting started.”

The wildflower season depends highly on the amount of rainfall, Lederer and Burr said.

In January and February, 9.28 inches of rain fell on Chico and Durham. So far 1.7 inches of rain have fallen in March.

If there is more rain, the wildflower season will often start later and last longer, Lederer said.

In 2023, 14.14 inches of rain fell January through March. This was a steep increase from 0.91 inches of rain in January through March 2022.

“Last year was exciting just because after a lot of drought things (wildflowers) really went ‘woo!'” Burr said.

The duration of each wildflower’s bloom varies, but heat is a huge factor.

“Soon as it gets really hot a lot of things go away,” Burr said.

While spotting wildflowers in near the Easter Cross on Thursday morning, Burr and Lederer came across a white wildflower they didn’t recognize. Lederer used the app PictureThis to take a picture of the flower and identify it as false garlic, sometimes called crow poison.

“These look like they’re coming to an end already,” Burr said about the false garlic.

Some wildflowers won’t begin to bloom until June, Burr said.

“You can find wildflowers actually all year round, but this is the best time,” Lederer said.

Where

Near the Easter Cross and the North Rim Trailhead is the best place to see wildflowers because of its accessibility and the vastness of its hills, said Lederer and Burr.

Parking in this area gives easy access to a variety of flat and slightly steep trails.

Lederer said the blooms in this area are “spectacular, because you can see big fields of them.”

There are hundreds of different wildflowers in Bidwell Park and some tend to grow in different areas.

“Upper park is more hilly, and more rocky,” Burr said. “And so you might see stonecrop and some other different plants up there.”

In lower park, periwinkle, a non-native flower, is blooming near the creek. Because lower park is the most used part of the park, there is less variety in this area, Burr said.

What’s in bloom?

Some of the wildflowers currently in bloom are “belly flowers” which is a much more fun way of saying “really small flowers.”

They’re called belly flowers because you have to theoretically lie down on your stomach to see them. In reality, kneeling down close to the ground, or even looking closely while standing will suffice.

If you want a really good look at them you can do what Lederer does, bring a magnifying glass.

Some of the belly flowers currently in bloom are popcorn flower, cowbag clover and Johnny-Tuck.

Popcorn flower looks like tiny white popcorn. Cowbag clover, also called dwarf sack clover, resembles a cow’s udder if it were a more reddish purple shade.

Johnny-Tuck, sometimes called “eggs and butter” for its yellow shade, is thought to be named after John Bidwell. However, the origins of the “Tuck” part of the name are unknown according to Lederer’s entry on the flower in “The Wildflowers of Bidwell Park.”

Pineapple weed is also sprouting in the park. Though Lederer has a strict rule against picking flowers or any plant in the park, he said pineapple weed smells like pineapple or vanilla when you crush the head of the plant between your fingers.

Each flower has multiple common names that vary depending on who you ask. Each flower, as with every plant, has a scientific Latin name that is universal.

“Common names are just all over the place,” Lederer said. “The only thing that botanists go by is the scientific names.”

Trail etiquette

To ensure a lasting wildflower season that everyone can enjoy, Burr and Lederer said people should stay on trail, keep their dogs on leash and leave the park the way they found it.

“It’s a natural area, and it’ll do fine all by itself,” Lederer said. “You don’t need to do anything to it.”

In addition to “The Wildflowers of Bidwell Park,” the couple also published “The Trees of Bidwell Park” and “The Birds of Bidwell Park.” Lederer, who studied and taught biological sciences, wrote the content of the books. Burr, who taught English and developed multiple programs at Chico State, illustrated the books.

The books can be found online at chicobooks.com and at various downtown businesses.

But the windswept county in the Sacramento Valley — whose entire population of 22,000 people is just one-third of Palo Alto’s — may soon be known for something else: the largest new reservoir anywhere in California in the past 50 years.

Last weekend, President Biden signed a package of bills that included $205 million in construction funding for Sites Reservoir, a proposed $4.5 billion project planned for the rolling ranchlands  west of the town of Maxwell, about 70 miles north of Sacramento.

The funding is the latest boost for the project, which has been discussed on and off since the 1950s. Plans call for Sites to be a vast off-stream reservoir 13 miles long, 4 miles wide and 260 feet deep that would store water diverted from the Sacramento River in wet years, for use by cities and farms around the state in dry years.

“We have a definite tailwind at our back,” said Jerry Brown, a civil engineer unrelated to the former governor, and who is executive director of the Sites Project Authority. The authority is a group of government agencies in the Sacramento Valley planning the massive reservoir.

Brown was also the former general manager of the Contra Costa Water District, where he oversaw expansion of Los Vaqueros Reservoir 15 years ago.

“The funding is a vote of confidence and a sign that the federal government sees a significant benefit to this project and it being a sound investment,” he said.

If the project overcomes opposition and a lawsuit by environmental groups, the 1.5 million-acre-foot Sites Reservoir would be California’s eighth largest. It would be four times the size of Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park, which is the main water supply for San Francisco and the Peninsula. It would provide water to 500,000 acres of Central Valley farmlands, and 24 million people, including parts of Silicon Valley, the East Bay and Los Angeles.

Plans call for groundbreaking in 2026, with construction finished by 2032. If completed, Sites would be the largest new reservoir in California since 1979, when the federal government opened New Melones Lake in the Sierra Foothills between Sonora and Angels Camp.

With the newest funding approved by Congress, the project now has more than 90% of its financing lined up, Brown said, a major hurdle that has killed dozens of other large water storage projects around the state in recent decades.

The sources include:

• A $2.2 billion loan that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency invited the project to apply for;
• $875 million from Proposition 1, a water bond approved by voters in 2014;
• $389 million from Congress, which includes this month’s award;
• A $250 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture;
• $250 million in local cash and bonds from other California water agencies;
• $60 million from Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Act.

The project is supported by Gov. Gavin Newsom, farm organizations, labor unions and water agencies, including the Santa Clara Valley Water District in San Jose, Zone 7 Water Agency in Livermore, and the Metropolitan Water District in Los Angeles, all of which are partners.

Supporters say that as California’s climate continues to warm, more severe droughts are likely. Storing water in wet years to reduce shortages in dry years is more important than ever, they contend.

“We are going to need more storage projects with climate change,” said Matt Keller, a spokesman for the Santa Clara Valley Water District. “Our board is evaluating several different water supply projects from around Northern California and locally, and has been following this one for a while.”

The district, based in San Jose, provides water to 2 million people. It has contributed $2 million so far to Sites for planning and is considering offering up to $130 million more, which would provide it about 37,400 acre-feet of storage — nearly twice the volume of Lexington Reservoir near Los Gatos.

Politically, the project has a big advantage over many traditional dams. It would be an “off-stream” reservoir, which means that instead of damming a river, a remote valley of cattle ranches would be submerged, the water held in by two large dams and up to nine smaller “saddle dams” on ridges, somewhat similar to San Luis Reservoir, between Gilroy and Los Banos.

Had the reservoir already been built, Brown noted, it would have filled entirely in two years from big storms this winter and last winter.

But the Sierra Club and some of the state’s other environmental groups are opposed.

They argue that filling Sites would divert too much water away from the Sacramento River, the state’s largest, hurting endangered salmon, steelhead and Delta smelt, and depriving the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta of fresh water.

“It’s a costly project,” said Ron Stork, senior policy analyst for Friends of the River, a group that opposes Sites. “There’s political support for this idea — happy magical thinking that this project is going to solve our water woes in California. But it’s not the be-all and end-all for water in California.”

Stork and other opponents say cities and farms need to take less water from the Delta. Instead of new reservoirs, they argue, cities should fund water recycling projects and more conservation, and farms should embrace more drip irrigation, groundwater recharge and other techniques, and remove some unsustainable land from production.

The make-or-break moment for Sites is a series of hearings scheduled to run from June to November in which the State Water Resources Control Board will analyze fisheries studies and other documents and decide whether to award it the water rights to move forward.

In December, Friends of the River, the Center for Biological Diversity, and three other environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the project. They argued that Sites’ environmental studies, finalized in November, didn’t adequately study the reservoir’s impact on fish, or properly evaluate alternatives.

A month earlier, Newsom announced he had included Sites among the projects affected by a new state law passed last year to streamline large projects. That law, SB 149, requires that when opponents of large renewable energy, water or transportation projects sue to stop them under the California Environmental Quality Act, courts must decide the challenge within 270 days to reduce years-long delays.

“We’re cutting red tape to build more, faster,” Newsom said in November. “These are projects that will address our state’s biggest challenges.”

If Sites secures the permits, the 22 water agencies who are partners will spend 2025 negotiating how much each will pay for construction costs and how much water each will receive.

The chance of success?

“It’s 50-50,” Stork said. “There’s a lot of political faith in this project and momentum for it. I think it’s magical thinking, but it has momentum.”

Optimism turned to celebration when early results indicated landslides on both Measure O and Measure P. As of the latest update, March 14, as the Butte County Elections Office finalizes the tally, each measure drew 62% opposition to Valley’s Edge versus 37% in favor.

“We were surprised — at least I was personally,” Eric Nilsson, a member of Smart Growth Advocates and the Butte Environmental Council, said Friday. Those and other organizations coalesced under the banner Stop Valley’s Edge (previously Valley’s Edge Resistance).

“As a group, we felt like we had a good chance of defeating the development,” he continued, “but we had no idea it would be a 2-to-1 margin, particularly when along the way we were outspent 10 to 1. That spending was shocking, but our approach was to educate, talk to people one on one, to do all those grassroots kind of things to be effective.”

The project proponents declined to comment until the vote gets certified within the next two weeks. Opponents already have started sharing their views on the property’s future.

Valley’s Edge is a 1,448-acre parcel on the southeast boundary of Chico, separated by a bike path from the Stonegate development approved along Bruce Road. The ownership group, namely Bill Brouhard, spent more than a decade developing the plan that would have added 2,777 housing units while keeping roughly half the acreage as parkland and open space. The City Council approved the proposal and variances from the general plan it would necessitate last January.

Stop Valley’s Edge put forth a list of concerns including fire risk, water, traffic and species conservation. Parallel to the referendum, coalition members filed suit to block the specific plan, and that litigation remains active at least until a case management conference May 15. Measures O and P overturned approval of the plan, but the litigants also seek to nullify the environmental impact report the council also approved.

Looking forward

Grace Marvin, conservation chair of the local Sierra Club chapter, expressed a prevailing view among opponents that “we want to protect that land as much as possible and not develop on it, but we’d be more than willing to talk about developing other areas of town.” Nilsson shared the same preference while noting the coalition is “looking at and open to alternatives, from 100% preservation of the land to some sort of combination of development and preservation of the land, depending on what that development might look like.”

Other allies have variations on the theme. Public interest attorney Marty Dunlap expressed that “the concept of Valley’s Edge as a community does seem to be offering some benefit, but not necessarily at that location — probably not at that location.” Jared Geiser, executive director of the local Audubon Society, said his conversations revealed “some people see high-density development on the city side of it, on the western side, and conserve the ridgeline. Me personally, I don’t want to see development out there … more sprawl in the foothills.”

Nilsson said opponents have engaged with public and private entities on the prospect of funding acquisition of the property for conservation as open space. Potential partners include the California Wildlife Conservation Board and the Northern California Regional Land Trust.

“We’d love to sit down with the landowners and see what’s possible,” he said. “Those are the next steps we’re looking at.”

Bandied in campaign messaging as the alternative to the Valley’s Edge Specific Plan, the owners could develop the site that currently sits in county jurisdiction under county standards. The property is zoned for 20-acre ranchettes. Geiser said he spoke with a county planner who confirmed such a project would require a parcel map that would need an environmental assessment and public review before approval.

Whether the litigants — Chico-based AquAlliance, the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity — successfully negotiate a rescission of the current EIR, Geiser explained that any substantive revision to the plan would trigger a new evaluation of environmental impacts.

“The process going forward after the referendum is not as cut and dry as any of us wish it here,” he added. “But I think history and examples around the state of California show that when people organize successful referendums against development, it is very rare for that development to come back in the same form.”