2017 Sacramento River Charter Boat Tour

Sierra to Sea: A Watershed-Wide Legacy of Mercury Contamination

Wednesday, May 10

Tour packet and speaker handouts are now available online. Click here to view.

Participants were able to round out their Reclaiming the Sierra 2017 conference experience with a three hour tour up the Sacramento River by charter boat on Wednesday, May 10, departing from Old Sacramento. See below for an outline of the tour schedule and speakers.

After two full days of plenaries, technical presentations and workshops, tour participants collaboratively digested the event while soaking up the scenery on Woody’s River City Queen.

The goal of the tour was to visualize the impacts of legacy mining on the Bay/Delta ecosystem and infrastructure, and draw connections between upstream remediation and downstream benefits. The Sierra to Sea Tour built on previous conference tours that featured mine-impacted landscapes in the upper-watershed: Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park (one of the largest hydraulic mine sites in California), Combie Reservoir (behind which mercury laden sediment is accumulating) and the Yuba Goldfields (a 10,000 acre area made up of 19^th century hydraulic mining debris).

A tour by charter boat helped participants understand the connectivity between the headwaters and the Bay, and how cleaning up contamination upstream will benefit those downstream.

The three hour tour left from the Riverfront Dock in Old Sacramento at 10:00 am on Wednesday, May 10. Boarding began at 9:30 am, one half hour prior to departure. A lunch buffet and non-alcoholic beverages were included in tour registration, at a cost of $120. A no-host bar was available during lunch. The Sierra to Sea Tour was not included with the purchase of a One Day or Two Day Conference Pass.

Sierra to Sea Tour Schedule