Visited on 4/1/2018, Jeff and I loaded up our two pups, Summer and Skye and went on a weekend camping trip in Northern California. We traveled to Lake Sonoma, which is a beautiful reservoir west of Healdsburg in northern Sonoma County, California, created by the construction of Warm Springs Dam. Access from U.S. Route 101 is by way of Dry Creek Road from Healdsburg. When we arrived we witnessed a large bald eagle nesting in the tree top at the dam vista lookout area.
The lake located at
495 feet above sea level, provides water for countywide growth and development,
and for recreation. At full capacity, it has 50 miles of shoreline, a surface
area of more than 2,700 acres of water.
The US Army Corps of
Engineers built Warm Springs Dam across Dry Creek. Completed in 1982, this
rolled-earth embankment dam is 319 feet high, 3,000 feet long, and 30 feet wide
at the top. The dam aids in flood
control, and a hydroelectric plant produces electricity from the water released
downstream. A minimum amount of flow must be maintained in Dry Creek to allow
fish migration.
Pomo people had lived
in the Dry Creek area since at least the 18th century, and some of them
resisted the creation of the lake. Archaeologists at Sonoma State University
have written about the prehistory and history of Warm Springs Dam, Lake Sonoma,
and the Dry Creek Valley.
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