POST a FORDYCE comment - 100 responses?

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If you left an AT at the Fordyce take out, send me an e-mail. Courtesy of the campground host...

October flows and v cool campground hosts made this Fordyce season epic. Thanks to all those who made the effort, seems some good headway was made with the folks up there. Feel free to post on the # of times you did or would this run, optimal flows, or whatever builds a case for Fordyce releases.

Before 2005, I've kayaked this run c. two dozen times. This year, I made seven trips. Fordyce is unique in being a late season subalpine class v run with two to three times the number of rapids of the well known 'Cherry Creek' run on the Tuolumne. Counterintuitively, I'd estimate the userdays this September and October as an order of magnitude higher than the Chili Bar and Gorge sections of the South Fork American River, which could arguably be the most heavily used section in the state between May and August. While not a commerical section, most kayakers doing this run make a considerable effort to support local businesses (I know I have!). Class V boaters also tend to boat more frequently and are less than seasonal than other groups. In addition to abundant glacial outcrops, this run has more old growths, cedars, and ponderosa pines than I have seen on other runs of the Yuba drainage. Others may differ, but I'd peg optimal flows between 425-550 with a range of 350-700 cfs.

IMO, it would relatively easy to deal with the river crossing issue for 4wd vehicles. One very raised Toyota barely crossed at ~375 cfs, as there's a 'hood' deep spot in the right center of the river twenty feet off the right bank. For those unaware, this run is often left at flows of ~200 cfs all summer to allow 4wds to cross. With 200,000 acre-feet being diverted out of Spaulding to the Bear River annually (i.e. the equivalent of ~100 days of 1000 cfs) and the subsequent dewatering of Yuba Gap and four sections of the South Fork Yuba, I would support efforts to have late summer or fall releases on Fordyce Creek. Apparently, we only had releases this fall since the dam was being worked on all summer-

Brett Valle
Truckee, California