Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Arcata Marsh Interpretive Center and Trails

IMG_4147

  The site of Arcata Marsh, which is located adjacent to the city’s wastewater plant, was used by lumber mills and as a landfill until 1973 when the landfill was closed and capped. In 1974 California passed strict laws on the discharge of wastewater into bays and estuaries. Rather than building a new wastewater plant experiments were conducted on the effectiveness of running the partially treated wastewater through a natural system of marshes. The idea worked well and now the marsh is a popular place for walking, jogging, and bird watching. Five miles of innerconnecting trails that loop around the ponds allow visitors to choose a walking distance.

IMG_4151

IMG_4143 IMG_4146IMG_4168 IMG_4144IMG_4165     The small visitor center is accessible. The hard packed dirt and gravel trails trails are mostly level but wheelchair users may need assistance on the hilly sections.

IMG_4139

The parking lot has long RV/bus spaces.  Marsh   40.85936, -124.08975

california1

2 comments:

  1. This is nice, and a good way to deal with water that "isn't quite there yet!" Pretty flowers, nice walking path. (How was the smell? Any skeeters?)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We've found that a lot of small cities are using this method. It makes an attractive park-like setting and there's no smell at all. No mosquito either!

      Delete