South Yuba Planning Meeting to Focus on Popular Recreation Areas

The stretch of the South Yuba River which includes popular recreation sites such as Jones Bar, the Highway 49 Bridge, Hoyt's Crossing, Purdon Crossing, and Edwards Crossing will be the subject of the next South Yuba River Planning Meeting. The meeting will be Tuesday evening, September 28, 2004, between 6:30 pm and 9:30 pm, in the L.O.V.E. Building, 660 Minnie Street, Condon Park in Grass Valley.

Meeting participants will be working with issues affecting the river and its uses such as sanitary facilities, gold dredging, mountain bikes, camping, commercial whitewater boating, water-related activities, trails, law enforcement, and parking. Management actions to resolve the issues will be discussed, and recommendations on what - or what not - to do will be made. These recommendations will form the basis for a draft management plan that will be presented to the general public next year.

BLM Planner Jim Eicher said he wants to hear from as many river users as possible. "If you can't come to one of our meetings," he said, "then please send us a letter or an e-mail with your thoughts and ideas. The more comments we get, the better the plan will be." He noted that everything accomplished so far in the planning meetings can be found on South Yuba River Plan web site.

The meeting will be the 31st in a series of planning meetings sponsored by the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, the California Department of Parks and Recreation, and the Nevada County Planning Department. The agencies are using the collaborative and community-based planning process to create the draft management plan. This process directly involves interested private citizens in determining the contents of the draft plan by working in cooperation with each other and the land management agencies.

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.

For more information, please call the South Yuba River hot line at (530) 272-6356, or log on to the South Yuba River Plan website at http://www.southyubariverplan.com.

-BLM-

Folsom Field Office, 63 Natoma Street, Folsom, CA 95630
Visit our web site: www.ca.blm.gov/folsom