Picture of the week

Last oak standing

Last oak tree of an open space area off of Scott road on the edge of the suburban sprawl for the town of Folsom.  This particular tree is one of my favorite compositional trees in the area, sitting on a small hilltop.  Normally this time of year the grass on these hills should be a lush green. But due to the extreme drought conditions that appear to be as dire as those in 1977, only the dead grass from last year is present.  This area may seem insigifcant to the more casual observer, but to me it represents a buffer and breathing area on the edge of our suburban growth to buffer it from the still natural habitat that thrives here, south of Highway 50.

The city of Folsom recently won approval from Sacramento County to annex this area to further expand their sprawl with another 10,000 to 20,000 homes.  It is probably only a matter of a year or two before this area will be bulldozed to make room for these high density stucco tract houses and the corresponding Walmarts, Walgreens, Grocery Outlets, and other such concrete mega tilt-up structures to go with it.

In addition to the loss of this pastoral area, it will be interesting to see how this additional large increase in development will be supported by the existing water resources.  The Aerojet rocket testing facilities just west of this area have poisoned large areas of the underground aquifer in the area with perchlorate rocket fuel, while water from Folsom Dam is becoming more and more of a contended resource between the sprawl of this area, the rest of Sacramento, diversions through the Bureau of Reclaimations Folsom South Canal that diverts the American River at Nimbus Dam as far south as San Joaquin county, and last-but-not-least the Pacific Chinook Salmon and Steelhead that seasonably still run the American River up to Nimbus Dam.

Combined with the additional stress on the water use coming out of Folsom and the drought this year, there is a possibility that Folsom Lake could be depleted below the intake pipes and output to the American river below. This would turn the lake into a dead pool, and worst case drying up the American river and ability for the city of Folsom and other surrounding municipalities from tapping water from the lake. This has been documented in an article published in the El Dorado Hills telegraph here.  At some point responsible city and county planning in Folsom and Sacramento must step in and say: Enough is enough!  No new large scale development projects without a clear plan on how they get supported with the natural resources that are available.

So the next time you are eastbound on Highway 50 and you notice that oak tree off on the hill by itself just pass Scott road to the right on your drive past Folsom, ask yourself:  Is that tree really so insignificant?  Or perhaps it is a symbol of what remains against this potential tipping point in the next wave of sprawl, providing a buffer and open space around our current environmental impact. Without it, the inevitable reduction in the quality of life for Sacramento county...

All content and images are property of Stephen Fischer Photography, copyright 2013, 2014.  Last updated: 1/12/2014   ()