Geese and goslings munch on greens
The park is busy on a windy, upper-70s day. After walking for a few miles the occasional gust feels delicious, as I aim for the shade.
The creek that borders the trail is quite low. I remember years ago when we had torrential rains. The waterway greeted me with another extreme — an overflowing bank that turned a meager creek into a rapid river. I was stunned by the creek’s width that year. I had to turn around. I couldn’t pass until the waters subsided several days later.
Not today, our three-year drought has trees snapping and falling into the water, creating natural dams. I’m sure the beavers are pleased. Less work, perhaps.
The salmon somehow made it back in December to spawn, when we had a few weeks of intense rain. But I think the fish will need rescuing once hatched. There won’t be enough water or much current for them to swim back down into the rivers that merge with the ocean. The entire state has a salmon crisis. Chinook and Coho used to be plentiful like so many other species in California. Now dams and drought have endangered these beautiful creatures of habit. They smell their birth but can’t swim to it. They sense their path to the ocean but can’t reach it.
Even the birds that migrate through our state are in trouble. We are a major component of nature’s migratory link —the 4,000-mile-long…
