For Release: September 17, 2003 CCal-03-35
Contact: John Scull (916) 985-4474

Fifth South Yuba River Planning Meeting

A public meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 24, 2003, from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm in the L.O.V.E. Building, 660 Minnie Street, Condon Park in Grass Valley, the fifth in a series of public meetings to write a comprehensive management plan for the public lands along the 39-mile stretch of the South Yuba River from Spaulding Reservoir to Lake Englebright. Everyone who is interested in the South Yuba River is invited to attend.

The Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, California Department of Parks and Recreation, and the Nevada County Planning Department will host the meeting. The four agencies are using the collaborative, or community-based planning process to create the plan. This process directly involves the public in determining the contents of the draft plan, instead of government agencies doing the planning themselves.

The meeting agenda includes finishing work on the "Purpose and Needs Statement" of the plan, and the introduction of draft planning assumptions and constraints.

The South Yuba River is a popular outdoor recreation destination for many Nevada County residents as well as people from outside the region who enjoy the opportunities for swimming, hiking, sunbathing and nature appreciation in the highly scenic river canyon.

The river is a part of the California state wild and scenic river system, and has been recommended for the same status under federal law. Should the federal government ever designate the South Yuba as a federal wild and scenic river, the comprehensive management plan will become the wild and scenic river plan.

For more information, please call the South Yuba River hot line at (530) 272-6356.

-BLM-

Folsom Field Office, 63 Natoma Street, Folsom, CA 95630