By Dana M. Nichols
Record Staff Writer
Published Sunday, Aug 13, 2006

LODI — Now, most who travel California do so in a blur of asphalt and the hum of motor noise.

Long ago, crossing this land was much more intimate, something done to the beat of boots on granite, hooves in dust or even the glide of a tule raft propelled by a double-bladed paddle.

Lodi soon will be on the front lines of a movement to restore that older heritage, as conservationists propose making the Lower Mokelumne River that winds past mansions, fields and forests on the north edge of town a designated water trail. They say such a trail would not only encourage area residents to play on and care for the river, but also would help complete the 300-mile Mokelumne Coast to Crest Trail and connect to a 1,000-mile network of recreational trails in the Delta being proposed by state legislators.

“We know so little about how to access these regional treasures that are out there,” said Sue Shalvey of Linden, chairwoman of the Mokelumne Coast to Crest Trail Council. “It is a great project for the community of Lodi, for the county, for these neighboring areas. And for the Mokelumne Coast to Crest Tail, it could be the missing link.”
Coast to Crest Trail advocates have been working since 1990 to create a hiking trail from the Sierra crest above Bear Valley to San Francisco Bay. Although many segments are now complete in Contra Costa County, near Camanche and Pardee Reservoirs, and in the High Sierra near Bear Valley, not one inch of trail has been laid in San Joaquin County.

The difference is that San Joaquin County is mostly farms, with little public park land along rivers and with property owners reluctant to allow a foot trail near their crops.

Meanwhile, in 2002, a group of farmers, conservationists and recreation advocates drafted the Lower Mokelumne Watershed Stewardship Plan, a blueprint for how to care for the 28 miles of the river below Camanche Dam.

The Mokelumne has suffered a variety of human-caused woes in its past 156 years: from going dry when Gold Rush miners diverted its flow, to massive fish kills caused by waste from a copper mine, to pollution from farms and city of Lodi storm drains.

Tens of millions of dollars have been spent in recent decades to plug the leaking copper mine, restore the gravel in salmon spawning beds, guarantee river flows when salmon migrate, and even restore riverside habitat for creatures threatened with extinction, such as the Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle. In Lodi, schoolchildren volunteer to check the river after storms for signs of storm drain pollution.

The 2002 stewardship plan drafted under the guidance of the San Joaquin County Resource Conservation District called for such conservation and education efforts to continue. It also called for more access to recreation on the river.

Recently, that prompted members of the stewardship committee and the trail council to discuss joining forces on a plan that could meet the needs of both groups by making the Coast to Crest Trail link across San Joaquin County a water trail, rather than a land trail.
Earlier this month, the two groups submitted an application to the National Park Service’s River Trails and Conservation Assistance Program. If approved, the Park Service would help the various local governments, private groups, property owners and conservationists to develop a water trail on the Lower Mokelumne.

The application won letters of support from a number of groups and from several elected leaders: San Joaquin County Supervisor Jack Sieglock and state Senator Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch.

Perhaps the biggest hurdle water trail advocates will face is finding a place where boaters can get to the river. There are only three places in San Joaquin County where members of the public can legally dip a toe or launch a kayak. A fourth, Woodbridge Regional Park, is closed pending repair of damage to the river banks.

“Public access is a big deal. There is just not enough of it,” said Kathy Grant, who coordinates Lodi Lake Docents volunteers for the city of Lodi and also was a part of the stewardship plan committee.
The National Park Service’s River Trails and Conservation Assistance Program recommends that river access points should be spaced no more than every 1 or 2 miles for water trails near urban areas intended for day use. River access on the Lower Mokelumne is so sparse that it does not even meet the National Parks recommendation for long-distance water trails in deep wilderness.

Another challenge for any canoeist trying to float the length of the Lower Mokelumne is that there is no way to portage around Woodbridge Dam, just down river from Lodi Lake Park.
“With the new dam, there’s been a lot of safety measures as well as high security around the dam,” said William Stokes, president of the board of Woodbridge Irrigation District. Electronic surveillance notifies security staff when anyone tries to walk around the dam, Stokes said.

Stokes, who owns farm land along the river below Woodbridge Dam, said property owners will have concerns about plans to encourage more recreationists on the river.

“I would be concerned a little a bit about the possible trespassing. That may be an issue,” Stokes said.

Upstream near Camanche Dam, rancher and bed and breakfast operator Joe Mehrten said he has not had any problems with trespassing by the many boaters who already launch there. But he does worry about safety on the river for both boaters and property owners.

“Our only concerns would be fire prevention and trash. This time of year the grasslands are pretty burnable,” Mehrton said. “Grass fires can be a real problem in the area.”

At least some of the Lodi residents whose back yards face the river say they would welcome a water trail, although they also worry about safety.

“We are major water people, too. We own four boats. We don’t mind people coming behind our house,” said Moriah Collins, 28, who lives in Lodi’s Rivergate neighborhood.

“The other issue is cleaning up the river,” said Kathryn Munson, 58, who lives in the Edgewood neighborhood. “It can be very dangerous with fallen trees. The currents and the debris under the water is the other hazard, besides the jet skis and stuff.”

There’s currently no system for clearing snags caused when winter storms topple trees into the river, nor for educating boaters. Many parts of the Mokelumne are closed now by order of San Joaquin County supervisors for the second time this year after the Sheriff’s Office had to rescue a kayaker swept into river debris.

Grant said that a well-organized river trail should be able to marshal the forces to educate boaters and do more maintenance on the river. She says such volunteerism already is strong in the Lodi area, citing the 120 volunteers who showed up for this year’s Coastal Cleanup Day at Lodi Lake Park.

Those who have worked on river trails elsewhere say such partnerships are crucial to a successful water trail.

David Getchell, 77, is the retired editor of National Fisherman magazine and one of the co-founders of the Maine Island Trail. He said vandalism and trash are virtually nonexistent at both public and private camp sites along the trail, thanks to efforts by volunteer monitors who patrol the trail.

“The whole thing is built around stewardship,” Getchell said. “Our point always was that the users would take care of the resource. And it has been amazing how well that has worked.

“And the interesting thing is they have absolutely no authority and they don’t want it. ... Some people might look on them as private rangers, but that is not what they are. They are simply monitors. They are always positive.”

Getchell acknowledged that eastern states have different patterns of land use and different outdoor recreation traditions than the west.
“Here in the staid old East there seems to be a greater connection between landowners and users than there is in the West.”
He said he is aware of the reluctance of western landowners to allow access to trials on their property.

“The secret is when you make an agreement with a landowner, you put it in writing in a friendly letter that is not binding, just to let them know what you will do. And then you do exactly what you say you will do.”

Torlakson said California trail users can build trusting relationships with private property owners, and that is exactly what he and others have done over the past 15 years with the Bay Trail, a hiking and biking trail around San Francisco Bay.

“In the Bay Trail, there were similar issues. There were other landowners that had the same feeling around the Bay. Little by little, we worked through that,” said Torlakson, who served at various times as an Antioch city councilman, a Contra Costa County supervisor and as president of the Association of Bay Area Governments.

Torlakson is currently pushing SB 1556 to create the Great California Delta Trail. The bill, working its way through committee, is co-sponsored by state Senator Mike Machado, D-Linden.

If the bill is approved, the Delta Protection Commission would be charged with leading an effort involving property owners, recreationists, conservationists and others to create a 1,000-mile network of water, hiking and bicycling trails around the Delta.

That network would connect with both the Bay Trail and the Mokelumne Coast to Crest Trail. That, combined with a rails-to-trails project now proposed between Lodi and Sacramento, could someday make Lodi the center of a hub of trails crisscrossing Northern California.

Said Torlakson: “It would be a web to connect our communities to natural resources. And each other.”

Contact reporter Dana M. Nichols at (209) 754-9534 or dnichols@recordnet.com