Bay Water Trail comes to Petaluma

A transplant from landlocked and mountainous Pennsylvania, with roots in corn-covered Illinois, I’ve been fascinated with the deceiving simplicity of the Petaluma River since we moved here in 2007. But last year, on the Napa River History Kayak Tour, I physically recognized - what you might call the “negative space” in artists’ terms - the interlocking puzzle that is the San Francisco Bay Area. We’re all connected foremost by water: 500 square miles of it.

Ben Botkin is a planner for the San Francisco Bay Area Water Trail, on whose beautifully designed map the watery byway is represented with a combination of cornflower and indigo blues, with the land masses, in their supporting role, spread out and away from this circulatory system as areas of pale off-yellow and yellow-green; our aquatic interconnectedness is made primary, indicating for today’s recreational people-powered boaters, many of them transplants like myself, the very raison d’etres of our aquatically-linked communities. There would never have been a Petaluma without this waterway.

The Petaluma River was once a road, carrying the world’s most fragile agricultural output: eggs. According to a piece in the Argus in 2008 by Bonnie Allen, “By 1917, Petaluma was shipping 16 million dozens of eggs. The Corliss Ranch, with 50,000 chickens, was then the world’s largest. Petaluma eggs were served to the President of the United States and the King of England.” Today, while 700,000 tons of material still traverses the river annually, it is a quieter place, and our thoughts turn to recreation.

A 2009 California Division of Boating and Waterways survey showed that nearly a million California households owned non-motorized boats (NMB), with average annual usage at 24 days. In 2006, almost 2.5 million Californians participated in non-motorized boating. These are the families that will be served best by the evolving Bay Area Water Trail. Two of the 29 sites are in Petaluma: the Marina, and the turning basin, future home to The Floathouse, a small craft rental center.

Most people who use NMBs in California decide where to boat, windsurf, paddle or kiteboard based on whether it’s convenient to home; allows them to do other things, like fish; has good facilities; or boasts alluring destinations and waterway features, like beaches and shoreline. In Petaluma’s case, the enticing elements are a 13-mile stretch of naturally protected water and access to a vibrant downtown.

The Water Trail was created in 2005, building in part upon the growth of the now 350-mile San Francisco Bay Trail.

“Improved access for all” is fundamental to the growing network of waterside trail heads. Botkin says Water Trail grants are awarded primarily to those projects holding or seeking ADA compliance, and that the long-term vision of the water trail includes more kayaking campgrounds for overnight opportunities.

In an encouraging development, the North Bay Water Association has just agreed to help fund the creation of a series of waterproof maps, modeled on National Park maps, with information on access, history, culture, local natural habitats and species and nearby restoration projects.

What we may forget while paddling the relatively calm Petaluma River is that diverse Bay Area water conditions allows for a wide variety of experiences, but also may lure the growing number of newly enthused boaters into unsafe situations. Bay Area Water Trail designation and the information it gathers under one umbrella, online and on the new maps, will act as guides to safe recreation.

This vetting process, says Kevin Takei, shoreline unit manager of the East Bay Regional Park District, will allow people interested in non-motorized boating to use the trail as a trusted resource, and that site designation and local signage can alert people to natural wonders like the Ridgeway’s rail habitat at Arrowhead Marsh, in Oakland’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Shoreline. Victor Randall, acting senior planner for the City of Benicia, whose Carquinez Strait is a challenging waterway for small craft, sees the Water Trail as a friendly neighbor-maker, a liquid connector building upon land trail connections like the Benicia-Martinez Bridge, a newly pedestrian-friendly two-mile addition to the Bay Trail and Bay Area Ridge Trail.

As Randall says, “With the Water Trail, we may create local connections around the Carquinez Strait, as well as with more distant neighbors such as Suisun City, Napa and Petaluma. As more sites are adopted into the Water Trail, our relationships will grow.”

Maggie Hohle moved her family from the East coast to Petaluma in 2007 and immediately fell in love with rowing on the Petaluma River thanks to the North Bay Rowing Club. She spends her spare time working towards river access for all on “Petaluma’s Longest Park.”