Lake Oroville Update - May 29 2026

Spend the Day on Lake Oroville

The spring and summer months invite everyone to get outside and enjoy the benefits of longer daylight hours. Lake Oroville is the perfect place to cool off, with over 15,000 surface acres of water and 167 miles of shoreline. The state's second largest reservoir provides ample opportunities for numerous watercraft activities, including skiing, sailing, wakeboarding, swimming, or paddleboarding.

Along the shoreline, several day-use areas offer shaded picnic tables, barbecue grills, and restroom facilities for those seeking a break from nonstop water activities. Visitors looking to spend more than a day relaxing on the lake can rent boats from local marinas, stay at one of three full-service campgrounds at the lake, or boat into secluded floating or land-based campsites that can be reserved through the California Department of Parks and Recreation. Reserve a camping site at https://reservecalifornia.com or contact State Parks at (800) 444-7275.

A popular excursion at Lake Oroville during periods of high water is to take a boat trip to the upper end of the Middle Fork Arm to view Feather Falls, a Yosemite-style waterfall of exquisite beauty. Along the way, there are many smaller waterfalls to see, including some that tumble directly into Lake Oroville, such as Bean Creek and Frey Creek. Bring a picnic lunch, a camera, and don't forget a fishing pole. There are unlimited bass fishing opportunities along the route and trout fishing can also be good where the cold mountain streams enter the lake.

Lake Oroville is also one of California's best fishing spots. The lake provides both warm-water and cold-water fisheries and is a popular destination for bass tournaments. The marinas at Bidwell Canyon and Lime Saddle are open daily and provide a variety of services, including a convenience store, gas, boat rentals, and more.

DWR Starting Construction on Dam Revegetation Project

The Department of Water Resources (DWR) is starting construction in the coming weeks on a project to reestablish native vegetation in areas adjacent to Oroville Dam's main and emergency spillways. The project is revegetating approximately 70 acres with seed and replanting six acres of woody vegetation surrounding Oroville Dam's spillways, further enhancing the appearance of the dam's hillside. The project is designed to improve the appearance of areas near trails and roadways while enhancing the view for visitors and motorists traveling along Oroville Dam Boulevard East. Maintaining a fire-resilient landscape within the Lake Oroville State Recreation Area was also a top consideration during project development, with planting basins spaced apart to prevent vegetation from acting as a fire ladder. In addition, selected California native plants are fire-adapted species that can regenerate after fires.

Members of the public will see heavy equipment and grading work in areas surrounding both spillways and along the Diversion Pool. Work in 2026 will include grading and seeding areas of the hillside to establish native grasses, with completion of the first phase expected by November. Project work will continue in 2027 with the establishment of planting basins that include trees and shrubs. A five-year establishment period has been incorporated into revegetation efforts, with temporary irrigation tanks being installed to support initial vegetation growth. Following project completion, Oroville Field Division's Fuel Load Management Program will maintain native vegetation.

DWR's revegetation project continues the Department's commitment to mitigate impacts to native habitats from the 2017 spillway incident. Following the incident, DWR mobilized immediately and implemented a robust reconstruction plan resulting in impacts to native vegetation surrounding the spillways. While project plans were initiated, developed, and submitted during spillway reconstruction efforts, the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission (FERC) gave DWR approval to move forward with revegetation efforts in 2023. Final revegetation plans were approved by FERC in July 2025. Empire Landscaping Inc. of Davis, CA, is the contractor for the project.

Driftwood Abatement at Lake Oroville

With Lake Oroville near full capacity, DWR's civil maintenance crews are patrolling the branches of Lake Oroville to capture floating woody debris before it reaches the main body of the lake. When reservoir elevations rise, fallen woody debris along the shoreline floats into the lake which can impact water infrastructure and present a hazard to boaters. DWR crews are collecting, containing, and pulling larger pieces of wood out of the lake and away from shoreline areas using boom lines.

DWR crews spent a significant amount of time collecting woody debris in Lake Oroville between 2023 and 2025 following heavy storms, with approximately 44,000 cubic yards of woody vegetation collected. Floating debris removal ensures continued infrastructure operations and the safety of the recreating public on Lake Oroville. However, boaters and other water recreationists should take precautions when operating watercraft on Lake Oroville and should remain alert for floating debris.

Feather River Fish Monitoring Station

DWR resumed operations of the Feather River fish monitoring station on March 4, 2026, to capture the return of spring-run Chinook salmon. Monitoring was temporarily suspended at the end of December 2025 due to anticipated high flows in the Feather River. Upstream migrating fish totals between March 4 and May 23, 2026, are:

• Spring-run Chinook salmon: 6,088
• Steelhead: -31 (most likely kelts moving downstream)
• To see previous year data, visit CalFish.org.

Current Lake Operations

Lake Oroville is at 895 feet elevation and storage is approximately 3.35 million acre-feet (MAF), which is 98 percent of its total capacity and 119 percent of the historical average.

Feather River flows are at 650 cubic feet per second (cfs) through the City of Oroville with releases from the Thermalito Afterbay River Outlet at 2,350 cfs for a total Feather River release of 3,000 cfs downstream. DWR continues to assess Feather River releases daily.

The public can track precipitation, snow, reservoir levels, and more at the California Data Exchange Center. The Lake Oroville gage station is identified as "ORO."

All data as of 11:59 p.m. on 5/28/2026.