New Boat Ramp Planned at Lake Oroville to Offset Declining Water Level

By Matt Weiser, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.

Apr. 30–State water officials will build a new, longer boat ramp at Lake Oroville’s Bidwell Canyon to ensure continued boater access after an expected decline in lake levels this summer.

The Department of Water Resources plans to start construction on the new ramp in mid-October and finish the project four to six weeks later. A cost estimate has not yet been developed because the project is still being designed, said spokesman Ted Thomas. The project will be financed with State Water Project funds, accrued through payments by state water contractors.

The existing boat ramp at Bidwell Canyon extends to a water surface elevation of 700 feet, which DWR projects will be reached by mid-August, putting the ramp out of commission. The new ramp will extend down to an elevation of 640 feet. The lake is now about 48 percent full, with a water elevation of 753 feet.

The Sierra Nevada snowpack was about average this year. But runoff is expected to be below normal because last year’s drought conditions left soils very dry, so much of the runoff will be absorbed. March and April have provided almost no precipitation, which also reduced the runoff forecast.

Oroville is California’s second-largest reservoir, with a capacity of 3.5 million acre-feet of water at a surface elevation of 900 feet. For more information, call the Lake Oroville Visitor’s Center at (530) 538-2219.

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