Water in, water out

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20091026/ARTICLES/910269960/1349?Title=Carving-a-path

Score 1 for the fish! 

great article, thanks for the link mickfish, cameron

I wonder how much the remnant traintrack foundation on Jenner Beach inhibits the natural opening of the mouth.  When the mouth does open naturally, it tends to follow a course bounded on the south by the old foundation.  

From a beach geomorphology standpoint, if this foundation were not there, the river would  likely find a more southerly course to the mouth not subject to excessive sand accumulation from the northerly currents.

Compare aerial photos on google earth of the dammed mouth of the Russian and the uninhibited mouth of the Navarro rivers.  Both have a similar aspect to the northerly current and swell, however the Navarro mouth flows more southerly and does not have similar problems with the mouth opening.  The Russian channel flows southerly until it is impeded by the railroad foundation.

I would definitely like to see the jetty removed as well before another channel is dug.

The primary reason for breaching is to save low-lying homes from flooding.  What seems good for the fish may actually not be - they'll enter the river thinking it was rain that broke it open, then they'll find that it wasn't and they'll end up hanging out in there maybe longer than they naturally would've... 

I would definitely like to see the jetty removed as well before another channel is dug.

Get on it Joe!  - John @ UCCE

Little history for those interested http://icce2008.hamburg.baw.de/downloads/intern/Paper/BookOfAbstracts/0085_Magoon.pdf
sorta ironic

That link keeps crashing Mozilla, got another one.

John - How's it going over there at UCCE!

Yes, premature artificial breaching of a lagoon is a touchy subject in Carmel, too. Rumor has it...a few years ago, a family was actually cited for breaching the lagoon prematurely.
I think I just made up a cool new term too: premature breaching....

Little history for those interested http://icce2008.hamburg.baw.de/downloads/intern/Paper/BookOfAbstracts/0085_Magoon.pdf
sorta ironic

Cool link.  I'm intrigued by old jetties and wharfs.  I think river mouths could be much more dynamic and utilized with such structures, but I'm no expert on whether they'd be destructive to the rivers and their riverine life.

Joe I'm running Mozilla and it's OK on mine here is a different that references the article http://www.russianriverhistory.org/