Orangevale Bluffs Rockfall Mitigation, Trail Clean-up and Repair

Orangevale Bluffs Rockfall Mitigation, Trail Clean-up and Repair

The project will conduct safety improvements to the bluffs above and repair the trail surface of the Jedediah Smith Memorial. Trail along Lake Natoma in Folsom Lake State Recreation Area to restore safe recreational use and emergency vehicle access. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will use heavy equipment to remove the existing rock fall material that fell from the Orangevale Bluffs onto the trail In the winter of 2017 and move the material to a deposition site at Mississippi Bar. Once the initial clearing is completed, State Parks will scale additional material from the Bluffs and complete clean-up and repair of the trail. The scaling work involves physically loosening and removing unstable rock masses under controlled circumstances that have been identified as having a higher risk to fall onto the paved trail below. Up to an estimated 5,500 cubic yards of material may be scaled. Workers will rappel from the top of the bluff and use hand tools and/or mechanical equipment (e.g., hydraulic jacks/wedges and/or inflatable bags) to perform this work. Two (2) areas will be "surface raked" (dragging an implement such as a large rake or chain across the vertical surface of the bluff) to remove any readily dislodged surficial material. Existing fallen material and concrete ultrablocks will be positioned to prevent any scaled material from entering Lake Natoma. Additionally, an earthen and rock berm approximately 100 feet long by 35 feet wide with a peak of 5 feet high will be constructed along one portion of the base of the Bluffs to serve as a catchment berm for rock fall in that specific area. Following the scaling, the additional material removed from the Bluff will be cleared with heavy equipment and taken to the deposition site at Mississippi Bar. Once the scaled material has been removed, the paved trail will be repaired within its existing footprint, which may Include removing s,actions of the paved trail and replacing the trail including the base rock and asphalt or in other places installing an asphalt pavement overlay, crack repairs, root removal and re-establishing the trail shoulders removal. The removal of existing rock fall material and the repair of the trail will require brushing along portions of the paved trail, but mature trees will be retained.

Sacramento