Welcome to the Cosumnes River Preserve's Homepage!
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What's new on the Preserve?
Summer Naturalist Training Starts July 11th
If you've ever visited the Cosumnes River Preserve, you've probably been helped by a Volunteer Naturalist. Did you also want to know how you could become a Naturalist? If so, here's your chance. The Preserve is offering a summer Volunteer Naturalist Training. At this training, participants learn a lot about the Preserve and the many habitats and species that we are trying to protect. This training helps prepare you to first serve as a weekend docent in the Visitor Center but there are other exciting activities that Naturalists take part in once they have gained a little experience.
Want to learn more about the training? Below are some details:
Location: the Visitor Center
Fee:
$30 for materials and instruction
Class Size: 20 (Space is limited!)
Dates: All Saturdays--July 11,18, 25 & Aug. 1 (e-mail for times)
For more information or for an application, please e-mail info@coumnes.org.
Planned Bridge Removal
Beginning on approximately June 15, 2009, the old P.G. & E. suspension bridge that crosses the Cosumnes River, just east of the railroad tracks, is being removed for safety and environmental concerns. For your safety, the Preserve and the contractor are requesting that the public avoid using that area of the Cosumnes River while the removal operation is being conducted. Also, sections of the River Walk trail that are east of the railroad tracks will be closed to public access during this effort.
The bridge removal is expected to be completed by July 31, 2009 and the project's final completion date being October 1, 2009. If you have to travel through the demolition area on the Cosumnes River, make verbal and visual contact with construction personnel to ensure that your passage is done at a time that will not endanger your, or the crew's safety. The full extent of the River Walk trail will be re-opened after the project has been completed
If you have any questions, please contact the Preserve by calling (916) 684-2816 or by sending an e-mail to info@cosumnes.org.
River Walk Detour
The Cosumnes River Walk has been temporarily re-routed due to safety concerns with the levee. The 3-mile, dirt trail is closed between Markers 5 and 8. To access the trail beyond Marker 8, visitors may travel east on the maintenance road near Marker 5 and than follow it south near the railroad tracks. The detour eventually meets up with open sections of the original trail.
For your safety and the safety of the habitat, please remain on the designated paths and do not venture into closed areas.
Preserve Background:
Cosumnes River country holds a very special place among California landscapes. The Cosumnes is a small river, a mere 80 miles long. Its headwaters in the El Dorado National Forest rise at only 8,000' above sea level. From mostly rain, but also snow melt, the river's water meanders from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the Central Valley, just south of Sacramento.
Yet the Cosumnes River is far more important than its size would indicate. It is the only remaining unregulated river on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. In its lower reaches, it flows through one of the biologically richest regions in California's Central Valley, before merging with the Mokelumne River to flow into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and eventually the Pacific Ocean. The Cosumnes River Preserve was created to safeguard much of this unique landscape.
The free-flowing nature of the river allows frequent and regular winter and spring overbank flooding that fosters the growth of native vegetation and the wildlife dependent on those habitats. More than 250 bird species, more than 40 fish species, and some 230 plant species have been identified on the Preserve.
The Cosumnes River Preserve encompasses and protects thousands of acres of wetlands and adjacent uplands. These lands, once considered insect ridden, unattractive, and even dangerous, today are recognized as beautiful places with important roles in local and global ecology.
Wetlands provide a diverse habitat critical to the survival of many kinds of plant and animal life. The Cosumnes River Preserve is recognized as one of California's most significant natural areas.
Cosumnes River Preserve * 13501 Franklin Blvd. Galt CA 95632
(916) 684-2816
info@cosumnes.org