Boehle said he has seen the river flow at 79,000 cubic feet per second — like it did this week — only two or three times in the past 20 years.
His house was spared this time, but Boehle worries that his home could be flooded if the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation kicks up the releases to 90,000 or 100,000 cfs.
So he asked bureau officials if he could get copies of maps showing the river elevations corresponding with dam releases. But agency officials told him they don't make them available to the public.
“There are a lot of people I know who live on the river who would love to see them," he said about the maps. "This is information that we could use.”
Even Shasta County Public Works Director Pat Minturn said he hasn't seen the maps. He said he wasn't sure why they were so sensitive.
Don Bader, the bureau’s area manager, also declined a Record Searchlight request to get copies of inundation maps.
“I get it why people would want to see the maps,” Bader said. He said they aren’t even available through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Bader didn't want to talk about why the maps were not available to the public. He said the agency had distributed them to law enforcement and other emergency agencies, but under Department of the Interior policy he couldn’t release them to the public.
That wasn’t a comfort to Boehle, who earlier this week watched the river creep toward his house as dam releases rose to 79,000 cfs.
If he could consult the bureau’s maps, he said he could decide whether he needed to buy sandbags or take some other action to protect his home.
“That’s where those maps would really, really put us at ease — or put us in action,” Boehle said.
On Thursday, dam releases were down to about 46,000 cfs, easing the danger to Boehle’s house and numerous other homes and businesses along the river.
Bureau officials said that once this week’s storms pass through the North State, dam releases will again go up, inundating homes, businesses and other areas along the river.
Even people who visit the river for recreation noticed many of their favorite trails and bird viewing spots were under water.
Lou Mendonsa, out hiking in the Turtle Bay East area along the river south of Highway 44, said some of the trails in the area were under water.
Ray Bruun of Shingletown said he likes to go birding in an area off Park Marina Drive called the Kiddie Pool (Even though it’s not really a kiddie pool). But the area was off limits this week when Park Marina was flooded by high water from the Sacramento River.
He has also noticed fewer bird species along the river during high water. He typically finds 65 to 70 different bird species along the river, but with the higher river flows, he is only spotting 50 to 55 species, he said.
Trail troubles also aren’t confined to the river. Many trails and roads at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area have been damaged because of the heavy rains this month, said Jennifer Gibson, chief of the Division of Interpretation and Resources Management.
On Feb. 9 a storm cell settled over the eastern area of the park and poured rain for about four hours, she said.
“Just when you thought it couldn’t rain any more, it rained some more,” Gibson said.
The heavy rainfall clogged culverts, knocked over trees and caused landslides that blocked roads. Elementary school students also had to be evacuated from Whiskeytown Environmental School as creeks near the school continued to rise.
She said crews have gone out to try to address the worst problems first — cutting up fallen trees, clearing culverts and removing rocks and mud from roads.
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