Lake Oroville Update - August 30, 2024
Children look through an underwater viewing window of a Chinook Salmon swimming up the fish ladder at the Feather River Fish Hatchery during the Oroville Salmon Festival in Oroville, California.
Oroville-Area School Tours
A new school season is back in session with young minds ready to grow in their knowledge of local history and ecosystems. Fortunately, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) offers free tours and educational programs for students throughout the region. Tour the Lake Oroville Visitor Center featuring interpretive displays on Oroville Dam, area geology, wildlife and habitat, hydroelectric power, and cultural and historical artifacts. View videos in the theater about the construction of Oroville Dam, walk or hike along nearby trails, and visit the 47-foot-tall observation tower that provides unsurpassed panoramic views of surrounding areas.
During the fall Chinook salmon spawning season, Lake Oroville Visitor Center guides also host free school tours of the Feather River Fish Hatchery. View salmon spawning activities in action, feed fish in the rearing raceways, and learn about the Chinook salmon lifecycle and the importance of the Hatchery in supporting salmon populations in the Feather River and ocean. Fall spawning tours book early, but the Visitor Center still has afternoon tours available.
Free guided tours for schools are available by reservation. To book your tour, contact the Lake Oroville Visitor Center at (530) 538-2219.
Explore Loafer Creek
Located along the southern shoreline of Lake Oroville, the Loafer Creek Recreation Area offers several hiking, equestrian, and biking trails that are largely shaded by trees. With current temperatures in the high-90 or 100-plus degree range, trails such as the Loafer Creek Day Use (1.7 miles) or Loafer Creek Loop (3.2 miles) offer a shaded respite from the scorching sun. Trails also run along Lake Oroville’s waterline, providing an opportunity to cool off in the lake after meeting your activity goals for the day.
The Loafer Creek recreation trails can be accessed from the Loafer Point Campground and Day-Use area off Highway 162 (Oro-Quincy Highway), or trail users can connect to Loafer Creek through the Bidwell Canyon Saddle Dam Trail. The trails are open to equestrians and cyclists, but cyclists must stay on paved and dirt roads.
Free Fishing Day
If you are new to the sport of fishing, and not sure if you will enjoy it, CDFW is offering a free fishing day on Saturday, August 31. While all fishing regulations, such as bag and size limits, gear restrictions, report card requirements, fishing hours and stream closures remain in effect, the upcoming free fishing day allows anyone to fish without purchasing a fishing license. Free Fishing Days provide a great, low-cost way to give fishing a try.
Lake Oroville is one of the State Water Project’s premier recreational destinations and one of California’s best fishing spots. The lake provides both warm-water and cold-water fisheries. Below the Oroville Dam, the Thermalito Forebay, Thermalito Afterbay and the Feather River offer additional excellent fishing opportunities for Chinook salmon and steelhead. The marinas at Bidwell Canyon and Lime Saddle are open daily and provide a variety of services including a convenience store, gas, boat rentals, and more.
More information about CDFW’s free fishing day is available on their website.
Oroville Recreation
DWR, State Parks, CDFW maintain over 92 miles of trails in the Oroville area. An interactive map of recreation facilities, including open trails and their permitted uses (hike, bike, horse, multi), is available on DWR’s Lake Oroville Recreation webpage. A paper trail map is available at various locations, including most entrance kiosks and the Lake Oroville Visitor Center.
Upstream migrating fish totals through the Feather River Fish Monitoring Station between January 1 and August 27 are:
- Spring-run Chinook salmon (March 1 through June 30): 7,121
- Fall-run Chinook salmon (July 1 through present): 7,927
- Steelhead: 950
Current Lake Operations
Lake Oroville is at 819 feet elevation and storage is approximately 2.32 million acre-feet (MAF), which is 68 percent of its total capacity and 112 percent of the historical average.
Feather River flows are at 1,100 cubic feet per second (cfs) through the City of Oroville with 6,400 cfs being released from the Thermalito Afterbay River Outlet (Outlet) for a total Feather River release of 7,500 cfs downstream. DWR continues to assess Feather River releases daily.
Releases from Oroville Dam’s main spillway ceased earlier this summer, but water is still being released through the Hyatt Powerplant for power generation, water deliveries, and environmental requirements. When the main spillway is not in use, water may still be seen on the main spillway outlet as the seals on the eight radial gates are not designed to be watertight. The gate seals do not play a role in the structural integrity of the gates. Visitors to Oroville Dam may also notice minor amounts of water flowing from drains built into the emergency spillway. This is normal and expected given the emergency spillway design. The dam and emergency spillway continue to operate as intended.
The public can track precipitation, snow, reservoir levels and more at the California Data Exchange Center. The Lake Oroville gage station is identified as “ORO.”
All data as of midnight 8/29/2024.
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