National Park Service
It was created on August 25,1916, by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act and is an agency of the United States Department of the Interior. As of 2014, the NPS employs 21,651 employees who oversee 417 units, the National Park Service celebrated its centennial in 2016. National parks and national monuments in the United States were originally individually managed under the auspices of the Department of the Interior, the movement for an independent agency to oversee these federal lands was spearheaded by business magnate and conservationist Stephen Mather, as well as J. Horace McFarland. With the help of journalist Robert Sterling Yard, Mather ran a publicity campaign for the Department of the Interior and they wrote numerous articles that praised the scenic and historic qualities of the parks and their possibilities for educational and recreational benefits. This campaign resulted in the creation of a National Park Service, Mather became the first director of the newly formed NPS.
On March 3,1933, President Herbert Hoover signed the Reorganization Act of 1933, the act would allow the President to reorganize the executive branch of the United States government. It wasnt until that summer when the new President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Roosevelt agreed and issued two Executive orders to make it happen. In 1951, Conrad Wirth became director of the National Park Service, the demand for parks after the end of the World War II had left the parks overburdened with demands that could not be met. In 1952, with the support of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, he began Mission 66, New parks were added to preserve unique resources and existing park facilities were upgraded and expanded. In 1966, as the Park Service turned 50 years old, emphasis began to turn from just saving great and wonderful scenery, Director George Hartzog began the process with the creation of the National Lakeshores and National Recreation Areas. Since its inception in 1916, the National Park Service has managed each of the United States national parks, Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the United States.
In 1872, there was no government to manage it. Yosemite National Park began as a park, the land for the park was donated by the federal government to the state of California in 1864 for perpetual conservation. Yosemite was returned to federal ownership, at first, each national park was managed independently, with varying degrees of success. In Yellowstone, the staff was replaced by the U. S. Army in 1886. Due to the irregularities in managing these national treasures, Stephen Mather petitioned the government to improve the situation. In response, Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane challenged him to lobby for creating a new agency, Mather was successful with the ratification of the National Park Service Organic Act in 1916. Later, the agency was given authority over other protected areas, the National Park System includes all properties managed by the National Park Service
Levee
A levee, dyke, floodbank or stopbank is an elongated naturally occurring ridge or artificially constructed fill or wall, which regulates water levels. It is usually earthen and often parallel to the course of a river in its floodplain or along low-lying coastlines, the word levee, from the French word levée, is used in American English. It originated in New Orleans a few years after the founding in 1718 and was adopted by English speakers. The name derives from the trait of the ridges being raised higher than both the channel and the surrounding floodplains. The modern word dike or dyke most likely derives from the Dutch word dijk, the 126 kilometres long Westfriese Omringdijk was completed by 1250, and was formed by connecting existing older dikes. The Roman chronicler Tacitus even mentions that the rebellious Batavi pierced dikes to flood their land, the word dijk originally indicated both the trench and the bank. It is closely related to the English verb to dig, in Anglo-Saxon, the word dic already existed and was pronounced as dick in northern England and as ditch in the south.
Similar to Dutch, the English origins of the lie in digging a trench. This practice has meant that the name may be given to either the excavation or the bank, thus Offas Dyke is a combined structure and Car Dyke is a trench though it once had raised banks as well. In the midlands and north of England, and in the United States, a dike is what a ditch is in the south, a property boundary marker or small drainage channel. Where it carries a stream, it may be called a dike as in Rippingale Running Dike. The Weir Dike is a dike in Bourne North Fen, near Twenty and alongside the River Glen. In the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads, a dyke may be a ditch or a narrow artificial channel off a river or broad for access or mooring, some longer dykes being named. In parts of Britain, particularly Scotland, a dyke may be a field wall, Levees can be mainly found along the sea, where dunes are not strong enough, along rivers for protection against high-floods, along lakes or along polders. Furthermore, levees have been built for the purpose of empoldering, the latter can be a controlled inundation by the military or a measure to prevent inundation of a larger area surrounded by levees.
Levees have built as field boundaries and as military defences. More on this type of levee can be found in the article on dry-stone walls, Levees can be permanent earthworks or emergency constructions built hastily in a flood emergency. When such a bank is added on top of an existing levee it is known as a cradge
Tributary
A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage basin of its surface water and groundwater, leading the water out into an ocean. A confluence, where two or more bodies of water together, usually refers to the joining of tributaries. The opposite to a tributary is a distributary, a river or stream that branches off from, distributaries are most often found in river deltas. Right tributary and left tributary are terms stating the orientation of the relative to the flow of the main stem river. These terms are defined from the perspective of looking downstream, where tributaries have the same name as the river into which they feed, they are called forks. These are typically designated by compass direction, for example, the American River receives flow from its North and South forks. The Chicago Rivers North Branch has the East and Middle Fork, the South Branch has its South Fork, forks are sometimes designated as right or left.
Here, the handedness is from the point of view of an observer facing upstream, for instance, Steer Creek has a left tributary which is called Right Fork Steer Creek. Tributaries are sometimes listed starting with those nearest to the source of the river, the Strahler Stream Order examines the arrangement of tributaries in a hierarchy of first, second and higher orders, with the first-order tributary being typically the least in size. For example, a second-order tributary would be the result of two or more first-order tributaries combining to form the second-order tributary, another method is to list tributaries from mouth to source, in the form of a tree structure, stored as a tree data structure
State park
State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use state as a political subdivision. State parks are established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest. There are state parks under the administration of the government of each U. S. state, some of the Mexican states, the term is used in the Australian state of Victoria. The equivalent term used in Canada, South Africa, similar systems of local government maintained parks exist in other countries, but the terminology varies. State parks are thus similar to parks, but under state rather than federal administration. Similarly, local government entities below state level may maintain parks, in general, state parks are smaller than national parks, with a few exceptions such as the Adirondack Park in New York and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in California. As of 2014, there were 10,234 state park units in the United States, there are some 739 million annual visits to the countrys state parks.
The NASPD further counts over 43,000 miles of trail,217,367 campsites, many states include designations beyond state park in their state parks systems. Other designations might be state recreation areas, state beaches, some state park systems include long-distance trails and historic sites. The title of oldest state park in the United States is claimed by Niagara Falls State Park in New York, however several public parks previously or currently maintained at the state level pre-date it. Indian Springs State Park has been operated continuously by the state of Georgia as a park since 1825. In 1864 Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove were ceded by the government to California until Yosemite National Park was proclaimed in 1890. In 1878 Wisconsin set aside a vast swath of its forests as The State Park but, needing money. The first state park with the designation of state park was Mackinac Island State Park in 1895, list of U. S. state parks National Association of State Park Directors Wilderness preservation systems in the United States Ahlgren, Carol.
The Civilian Conservation Corps and Wisconsin State Park Development, the State Park Movement in America, A Critical Review excerpt and text search Larson, Zeb. Silver Falls State Park and the Early Environmental Movement, oregon Historical Quarterly 112#1 pp, 34-57 in JSTOR Newton, Norman T. When Forests Trumped Parks, The Maryland Experience, 1906-1950, Maryland Historical Magazine 101#2 pp, 203-224
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild, techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, netting and trapping. Fishing may include catching aquatic animals other than fish, such as molluscs, crustaceans, the term is not normally applied to catching farmed fish, or to aquatic mammals, such as whales where the term whaling is more appropriate. According to United Nations FAO statistics, the number of commercial fishermen. Fisheries and aquaculture provide direct and indirect employment to over 500 million people in developing countries, in 2005, the worldwide per capita consumption of fish captured from wild fisheries was 14.4 kilograms, with an additional 7.4 kilograms harvested from fish farms. In addition to providing food, modern fishing is a recreational pastime, Fishing is an ancient practice that dates back to at least the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic period about 40,000 years ago. Isotopic analysis of the remains of Tianyuan man, a 40.
Archaeology features such as middens, discarded fish bones, and cave paintings show that sea foods were important for survival. During this period, most people lived a lifestyle and were, of necessity. However, where there are examples of permanent settlements such as those at Lepenski Vir. The British dogger was a type of sailing trawler from the 17th century. The Brixham trawler that evolved there was of a build and had a tall gaff rig. They were sufficiently robust to be able to tow large trawls in deep water, the great trawling fleet that built up at Brixham, earned the village the title of Mother of Deep-Sea Fisheries. The small village of Grimsby grew to become the largest fishing port in the world by the mid 19th century, an Act of Parliament was first obtained in 1796, which authorised the construction of new quays and dredging of the Haven to make it deeper. It was only in the 1846, with the expansion in the fishing industry. The foundation stone for the Royal Dock was laid by Albert the Prince consort in 1849, the dock covered 25 acres and was formally opened by Queen Victoria in 1854 as the first modern fishing port.
The elegant Brixham trawler spread across the world, influencing fishing fleets everywhere, by the end of the 19th century, there were over 3,000 fishing trawlers in commission in Britain, with almost 1,000 at Grimsby. These trawlers were sold to fishermen around Europe, including from the Netherlands, twelve trawlers went on to form the nucleus of the German fishing fleet
Lava tube
A lava tube is a natural conduit formed by flowing lava which moves beneath the hardened surface of a lava flow. Tubes can be actively draining lava from a volcano during an eruption, or can be extinct, meaning the flow has ceased. Lava tubes are a type of cave formed when an active low-viscosity lava flow develops a continuous and hard crust. Tubes form in one of two ways, by the crusting over of lava channels, and from pāhoehoe flows where the lava is moving under the surface, Lava usually leaves the point of eruption in channels. These channels tend to very hot as their surroundings cool. This means they slowly develop walls around them as the lava cools and/or as the channel melts its way deeper. These channels can get enough to crust over, forming an insulating tube that keeps the lava molten. These types of lava tubes tend to be closer to the eruption point. Farther away from the point, lava can flow in an unchanneled, fanlike manner as it leaves its source. Called pāhoehoe flows, these areas of surface-moving lava cool, forming either a smooth or rough, the lava continues to flow this way until it begins to block its source.
At this point, the lava is still hot enough to break out at a point. Lava flows from the source to this breakout point as the surrounding lava of the pāhoehoe flow cools. This forms a channel that becomes a lava tube. A broad lava-flow field often consists of a lava tube. When the supply of lava stops at the end of an eruption or lava is diverted elsewhere, lava in the system drains downslope. Lava tubes generally have pāhoehoe floors, although this may often be covered in breakdown from the ceiling. A variety of speleothems may be found in lava tubes including a variety of stalactite forms generally known as lavacicles, lavacicles are the most common of lava tube speleothems. Drip stalagmites may form under tubular lava stalactites, and the latter may grade into a known as a tubular lava helictite
Shasta County, California
Shasta County, officially the County of Shasta, is a county located in the northern portion of the U. S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 177,223, Shasta County comprises the Redding, California Metropolitan Statistical Area. The county occupies the northern reaches of the Sacramento Valley, with portions extending into the reaches of the Cascade Range. Points of interest in Shasta County include Shasta Lake, Lassen Peak, Shasta County was one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood. Parts of the territory were given to Siskiyou County in 1852. The county was named after Mount Shasta, the name Shasta is derived from the English equivalent for the name of an Indian tribe that lived in the area. The name of the tribe was spelled in various ways until the present version was used when the county was established, originally Mt. Shasta was within the county, but it is now part of Siskiyou County, to the north. Its 14, 179-foot peak is visible throughout most of Shasta County, according to the U. S.
Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 3,847 square miles, of which 3,775 square miles is land and 72 square miles is water. Mountains line the county on the east and west, the Sacramento River flows out of the mountains to the north, through the center of the county, and toward the Sacramento Valley to the south. According to Willis Linn Jepson the biota of Shasta County were not explored in a scientific manner until just before the year 1900, Shasta County has extensive forests, which cover over one half the land area with commercially productive forest systems. Common forest alliances include mixed oak woodland and mixed conifer-oak woodland as well as douglas fir forest, common trees found include White-bark pine, California Black Oak and California Buckeye. In more recent times it is a strongly Republican county in Presidential and congressional elections, the last Democrat to win a majority in the county was Jimmy Carter in 1976. In the United States House of Representatives, Shasta County is in Californias 1st congressional district, in the California State Legislature, Shasta County is in the 1st Senate District, represented by Republican Ted Gaines, and the 1st Assembly District, represented by Republican Brian Dahle.
Interstate 5 State Route 36 State Route 44 State Route 89 State Route 151 State Route 273 State Route 299 Redding Area Bus Authority provides service in, one route operates to Burney via State Route 299. Greyhound buses and Amtrak trains both serve Redding, Redding Municipal Airport has scheduled passenger flights. Other airports within the county include Benton Field, Fall River Mills Airport, the following table includes the number of incidents reported and the rate per 1,000 persons for each type of offense. The 2010 United States Census reported that Shasta County had a population of 177,223. The racial makeup of Shasta County was 153,726 White,1,548 African American,4,950 Native American,4,391 Asian,271 Pacific Islander,4,501 from other races, Hispanic or Latino of any race were 14,878 persons
American white pelican
The American white pelican is a large aquatic soaring bird from the order Pelecaniformes. It breeds in interior North America, moving south and to the coasts, as far as Central America and South America, the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin described the American white pelican in 1789. The scientific name means red-billed pelican, from the Latin term for a pelican, the American white pelican rivals the trumpeter swan, with a similar overall length, as the longest bird native to North America. Both very large and plump, it has a length of about 50–70 in. It has a wingspan of about 95–120 in, the species has the second largest average wingspan of any North American bird, after the California condor. This large wingspan allows the bird to use soaring flight for migration. Body weight can range between 7.7 and 30 lb, although typically these birds average between 11 and 20 lb, one mean body mass of 15.4 lb was reported. Another study found mean weights to be lower than expected, with eleven males averaging 13.97 lb.
Among standard measurements, the wing chord measures 20–26.7 in, the plumage is almost entirely bright white, except the black primary and secondary remiges, which are hardly visible except in flight. From early spring until after breeding has finished in mid-late summer, after moulting into the eclipse plumage, the upper head often has a grey hue, as blackish feathers grow between the small wispy white crest. The bill is huge and flat on the top, with a throat sac below, and, in the breeding season, is vivid orange in color as are the iris, the bare skin around the eye. In the breeding season, there is a laterally flattened horn on the upper bill and this is the only one of the eight species of pelican to have a bill horn. The horn is shed after the birds have mated and laid their eggs, outside the breeding season the bare parts become duller in color, with the naked facial skin yellow and the bill and feet an orangy-flesh color. Apart from the difference in size and females look exactly alike, immature birds have light grey plumage with darker brownish nape and remiges.
Their bare parts are dull grey, chicks are naked at first, grow white down feathers all over, before moulting to the immature plumage. American white pelicans nest in colonies of several hundred pairs on islands in remote brackish, the most northerly nesting colony can be found on islands in the rapids of the Slave River between Fort Fitzgerald and Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. About 10–20% of the population uses Gunnison Island in the Great Basins Great Salt Lake as a nesting ground, the southernmost colonies are in southwestern Ontario and northeastern California. Nesting colonies exist as far south as Albany County in southern Wyoming and they winter on the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico coasts from central California and Florida south to Panama, and along the Mississippi River at least as far north as St. Louis, Missouri
Ceanothus
Ceanothus L. /ˌsiːəˈnoʊθəs/ is a genus of about 50–60 species of nitrogen-fixing shrubs or small trees in the family Rhamnaceae. Common names for members of this genus are California lilac, wild lilac, ceonothus comes from a Greek word meaning spiny plant, Ancient Greek, κεάνωθος, which was applied by Theophrastus to an Old World plant believed to be Cirsium arvense. The genus is endemic to North America, with the center of its distribution in California, some species are found in the eastern United States and southeast Canada, and others extend as far south as Guatemala. Most are shrubs 0. 5–3 metres tall, but C. arboreus and C. thyrsiflorus, the majority of the species are evergreen, but the handful of species adapted to cold winters are deciduous. The leaves are opposite or alternate, simple, Ceanothus leaves may be arranged opposite to each other on the stem, or alternate. Alternate leaves may have one or three main veins rising from the base of the leaf. The leaves have an upper surface that feels gummy when pinched between the thumb and forefinger, and the roots of most species have red inner root bark.
The flowers are white, greenish–white, dark purple-blue, pale purple or pink, maturing into a dry, the flowers are tiny and produced in large, dense clusters. A few species are reported to be intensely fragrant almost to the point of being nauseating, the seeds of this plant can lie dormant for hundreds of years, and Ceanothus species are typically dependent on forest fires to trigger germination of their seeds. Plants in this genus are distributed and can be found on dry, sunny hillsides from coastal scrub lands to open forest clearings. These plants are distributed throughout the Rocky Mountains from British Columbia south through Colorado, the Cascades of Oregon and California. Ceanothus velutinus is the most common member of genus and is widespread throughout North America. The Californian species are known collectively as California lilacs, with individual species having more descriptive common names. Species native elsewhere have other names, such as New Jersey tea for C. americanus. In garden use, most are called by their scientific names or an adaptation of the scientific name.
Colubrina elliptica Brizicky & W. L. Stern Noltea africana Endl, Ceanothus is a good source of nutrition for deer, specifically mule deer on the West Coast of the United States. However, the leaves are not as nutritious from late spring to fall as they are in early spring. Porcupines and quail have seen eating stems and seeds of these shrubs
Flood
A flood is an overflow of water that submerges land which is usually dry. The European Union Floods Directive defines a flood as a covering by water of land not normally covered by water, in the sense of flowing water, the word may be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods can occur in rivers when the flow exceeds the capacity of the river channel. Floods often cause damage to homes and businesses if they are in the flood plains of rivers. Some floods develop slowly, while others such as floods, can develop in just a few minutes. Additionally, floods can be local, impacting a neighborhood or community, or very large, the word flood comes from the Old English flod, a word common to Germanic languages. Deluge myths are stories of a great flood sent by a deity or deities to destroy civilization as an act of divine retribution. Floods can happen on flat or low-lying areas when water is supplied by rainfall or snowmelt more rapidly than it can infiltrate or run off. The excess accumulates in place, sometimes to hazardous depths, surface soil can become saturated, which effectively stops infiltration, where the water table is shallow, such as a floodplain, or from intense rain from one or a series of storms.
Infiltration is slow to negligible through frozen ground, concrete, areal flooding begins in flat areas like floodplains and in local depressions not connected to a stream channel, because the velocity of overland flow depends on the surface slope. Endorheic basins may experience flooding during periods when precipitation exceeds evaporation. Floods occur in all types of river and stream channels, from the smallest ephemeral streams in humid zones to normally-dry channels in arid climates to the worlds largest rivers. When overland flow occurs on tilled fields, it can result in a flood where sediments are picked up by run off. Localized flooding may be caused or exacerbated by drainage obstructions such as landslides, debris, slow-rising floods most commonly occur in large rivers with large catchment areas. The increase in flow may be the result of sustained rainfall, rapid snow melt, the cause may be localized convective precipitation or sudden release from an upstream impoundment created behind a dam, landslide, or glacier.
In one instance, a flood killed eight people enjoying the water on a Sunday afternoon at a popular waterfall in a narrow canyon. Without any observed rainfall, the rate increased from about 50 to 1,500 cubic feet per second in just one minute. Two larger floods occurred at the site within a week
Muskrat
The muskrat is found in wetlands over a wide range of climates and habitats. It has important effects on the ecology of wetlands, and is a resource of food, the muskrat is the largest species in the subfamily Arvicolinae, which includes 142 other species of rodents, mostly voles and lemmings. Muskrats are referred to as rats in a sense because they are medium-sized rodents with an adaptable lifestyle. They are not, members of the genus Rattus, the muskrats name probably comes from a word of Algonquian origin, muscascus, or from the Abenaki native word mòskwas, as seen in the archaic English name for the animal, musquash. Similarly, its specific name zibethicus means ‘musky’, being the adjective of zibethus ‘civet musk, the genus name comes from the Huron word for the animal and entered New Latin as Ondatra via French. An adult muskrat is about 40–70 cm long, half of that is the tail, Muskrats are much smaller than beavers, with which they often share their habitat. Muskrats are covered with short, thick fur which is medium to dark brown or black in color, with the belly a bit lighter, as the age increases, the fur has two layers, which helps protect them from the cold water.
They have long tails covered with rather than hair, and to aid them in swimming, are slightly flattened vertically. When they walk on land, their tails drag on the ground, Muskrats spend much of their time in the water and are well suited for their semiaquatic life. They can swim under water for 12 to 17 minutes and their bodies, like those of seals and whales, are less sensitive to the buildup of carbon dioxide than those of most other mammals. They can close off their ears to keep the water out and their hind feet are semiwebbed, although in swimming, their tails are their main means of propulsion. Muskrats are found over most of Canada and the United States and they were introduced to Europe in the beginning of the 20th century and have become an invasive species in northwestern Europe. They mostly inhabit wetlands, areas in or near saline and freshwater wetlands, rivers and they are not found in Florida, where the round-tailed muskrat, or Florida water rat, fills their niche. Their populations naturally cycle, in areas where they become abundant and they are thought to play a major role in determining the vegetation of prairie wetlands in particular.
They selectively remove preferred plant species, thereby changing the abundance of plant species in many kinds of wetlands, species commonly eaten include cattail and yellow water lily. Alligators are thought to be an important natural predator, and the absence of muskrats from Florida may in part be the result of alligator predation and they are able to live alongside streams which contain the sulfurous water that drains away from coal mines. Fish and frogs perish in such streams, yet muskrats may thrive, Muskrats benefit from human persecution of some of their predators. The muskrat is classed as a new organism under New Zealands Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996
Pit River
The Pit River is a major river draining from northeastern California into the states Central Valley. The Pit, the Klamath and the Columbia are the three rivers in the U. S. that cross the Cascade Range. The main stem of the Pit River is 207 miles long, the Pit River drains a sparsely populated volcanic highlands area, passing through the south end of the Cascade Range in a deep canyon northeast of Redding. The river is so named because of the pits the Achumawi dug to trap game that came to water at the river and it is used extensively for irrigation and conservation purposes. The Pit River rises in forks in Modoc, Lassen. The 30-mile long North Fork - Linnville Creek tributary begins 5 miles southeast of the town of Davis Creek and it flows generally south-southwest, joining the South Fork from the north near Alturas. The combined river flows west-southwest in a course across Modoc County, past Canby. It turns south to flow past Lookout and into northern Lassen County, past Bieber, North of Little Valley it flows into northeast Shasta County and the Shasta National Forest.
Then the river reaches Fall River Valley, where it is joined by the Fall River, after passing through the town of Fall River Mills, the river drops over Pit River Falls, enters the head of a long serpentine canyon that cuts through the southern Cascade Range. It turns south to join the Sacramento River as the arm of Shasta Lake reservoir. Two major tributaries, Squaw Creek and the McCloud River, join the Pit from the north within the lake. The lower 30 miles of the forms the longest of the five arms of Shasta Lake. The upper reaches of the Pit above Fall River Mills are a high desert stream with a much more seasonal hydrograph. The lowermost part of the Pit River system receives heavy winter rainfall, summer low water flows rarely drop below 2,000 cu ft/s. Much of this water rises at what is often called Thousand Springs a few miles above Fall River Mills, Hat Creek and Burney Creek, spring-fed from the Lassen Peak area, supplied a further 900 cubic feet per second to the Pit River. The water typically emerges at points of lower elevation where the surface layers encounter harder metamorphic, the U. S.
Geological Survey operates a stream gage on the Pit River at Montgomery Creek, directly below Pit 7 Dam and above Shasta Lake. This gage measures streamflow from an area of 4,952 square miles, the average streamflow between 1966 and 2012 was 4,786 cu ft/s, with a maximum of 73,000 cu ft/s recorded on January 24,1970, after heavy rainfall. A short minimum flow of 30 cu ft/s occurred on July 12,1975 due to work at Pit 7 Powerhouse requiring temporary cessation of releases
