Feather River Drainage System

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Feather River Drainage System

• Prepared for NERDS 2006
• Pamela Cantrell, Ph.D.

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To Increase Your Understanding

• These slides presents the BIG PICTURE of the
  Feather River
• You might want to print the previous slide and
  tape it in your field journal for reference in
  the field
• Go through these slides with a map in front of
  you and trace the routesthe Portola map you
  received will help only for the Middle Fork of
  the Feather Riverthe site for our study

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Facts About the Feather River

• Principal tributary of the Sacramento River in
  Northern California
• Drains part of the northern Sierra Nevada
  Mountains and a small portion of the middle part
  of the Sacramento Valley
• Provides a water source for central and southern
  California through aqueducts in the Central Valley

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General Description

• The river rises in three separate forks in the
  Sierra Nevada which unite as arms of the Lake
  Oroville reservoir in eastern Butte County. The
  combined stream flows generally south across the
  Sacramento Valley and joins the Sacramento River
  about 20 miles NNW of Sacramento

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North Fork

• Rises in several creeks south of Lassen Peak in
  NW Plumas County
• Flows southeast through the Lake Almanor
  reservoir, then SW through the Sierra Nevada
• Receives the East Branch North Fork from the east
  near Belden.
• Flows SE into Butte County, becoming the northern
  arm of Lake Oroville.

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East Branch of the North Fork

• Headwaters in eastern Plumas County, south of
  Honey Lake, as Last Chance Creek (not the Little
  Last Chance that flows out of Frenchmans Lake)
• Flows westward through Plumas National Forest,
  through Indian Valley, becoming Indian Creek and
  the East Branch of the North Fork
• Joins the North Fork near Belden

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Middle Fork

• Rises in SE Plumas County in the Sierra Valley SE
  of Beckwourth
• Combines with the short North Branch (Grizzly
  Creek) and the Sierra Branch in an inverted delta
• Flows NW through the Sierra Nevada, past
  Blairsden, then WSW through the Plumas National
  Forest
• Becomes the middle arm of Lake Oroville

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South Fork

• Rises in the mountains along the Plumas-Sierra
  county line and flows WSW
• Becomes the south arm of Lake Oroville

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References

• http//www.feather-river-crm.org/monitoring.html
  visit this site for the map shown on slide 2,
  monitoring information, and a brief history of
  the region
• Wikipedia