On May 12 the Russian River Recreation and Park District had good news, and said so — “Good News!” — right on its website: the state’s final signatures were in, and the long slog to rebuild the Vacation Beach summer dam was finally moving. Nine days later, state inspectors walked the dam and found new damage outside the approved repair scope. So summer number three is underway with no pool above Vacation Beach — and no seasonal road across the river, either.
How a beam failure became a three-year permitting saga
The dam breached on Aug. 29, 2024, when a steel stringer on the Neeley Road side failed. State dam-safety officials inspected that September and delivered the verdict in a Nov. 5 report: no reinstallation until the Division of Safety of Dams approves both the repair plans and the finished repair.
The district hired MKM & Associates, a Rohnert Park structural engineering firm, then Bauer Associates, a geotechnical firm in Forestville. Regulators determined the repair also needs a Lake and Streambed Alteration Agreement from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife — a process the district says requires certifying a lead agency under the California Environmental Quality Act, and can take 90 days on its own.
By mid-May of this year, that maze looked cleared. The district’s May 12 update said the state’s final signatures were in and that exposing the dam’s anchors for evaluation would need no additional permits — one less hurdle, it seemed. Then came the May 21 re-inspection. In its June 11 update, the district said newly identified repairs “fall outside the current authorized scope of work” and will require revising the project’s authorization. The official inspection report still hadn’t arrived as of that update.
“There are multiple agencies that have only sort of been on the same page and we are working to make everything clear and above board,” Benton said by email in June.
The dam and the road are two different problems
River regulars call it the footbridge, but the summer crossing at Vacation Beach is a drivable seasonal road, and it isn’t the park district’s. Sonoma County installs it, and it hasn’t gone in since the dam failed. For residents on the Neeley Road side, that crossing is the shortcut in and out — and a third straight summer touched by its absence keeps the long way around the only way around.
The district says inquiries about the crossing’s timing belong with Sonoma Public Infrastructure, the county department formerly known as Public Works.
What the pool means — and what its absence shows
When the dam goes in, roughly late June through early October, it backs up a swimming pool of river reaching upstream toward Guerneville. Without it, the river runs at its natural summer level through the reach — the way it has now for three seasons. Johnson’s Beach still gets its pool from its own dam, which the district reported on schedule in May. The swimming is still there, too: the county’s June 29 sampling found Monte Rio and Johnson’s Beach open and within state bacteria standards. What’s missing is the deep water — and the drive across.
A seasonal recreation fixture from another era now lives inside a modern dam-safety regime, and every new finding reopens the file. Approval, as Vacation Beach has learned twice now, is not one signature. It’s a moving target — and the district has stopped guessing when it will hit.
FAQ
Will the Vacation Beach dam go in at all in 2026?
The district cannot say. It has no estimated installation date while repairs are re-scoped and re-permitted.
Is the summer road at Vacation Beach coming back this year?
The crossing is installed by Sonoma County and has not gone in since the dam failed. No installation has been announced this year. The county’s Sonoma Public Infrastructure department handles crossing questions: 707-565-3040.
Does this affect Johnson’s Beach in Guerneville?
No. Johnson’s Beach has its own summer dam, which the district said in May was on track for mid-June installation.