Because of the intense storms, rain and snow this winter, the USDA Forest Service has posted an interactive website to alert all users of damage that might affect their campground, roads and trails. Be sure to check this website first before you drive to your destination.

CLICK HERE to access the website.

  Join Bear Yuba Land Trust (BYLT), outdoor recreationists and trail supporters next week for the biggest showcase of local community trails of the year!“Trails are one of our greatest community assets. They build strong neighborhoods and boost the local economy. Trails get us outside and close to nature for healthy exercise and spiritual renewal. I am really inspired by the diversity of people who come together for such a wonderful cause,” said BYLT’s Community Engagement Manager Laura Petersen.

Ales for Trails
On Wednesday, May 31 from 5 to 10 p.m. meet up with your friends for the annual kickoff trails fundraiser, Ales for Trails at Three Forks Bakery and Brewing Co. on Commercial Street in downtown Nevada City. Brewer Dave Cowie has created a specialty brew just for trails called “Hirschman Hefeweizen.” For every pint sold, $1 will be donated to local trails! In addition, a portion of proceeds from the evening’s food and beverage sales will be donated back to the Land Trust to build and maintain local trails.

Celebration of Trails
On Saturday, June 3, the community is invited to Celebration of Trails – the perfect day to enjoy local trails and plan your summer outdoor recreation adventures. Numerous local outdoor recreation groups will be in one place to bring the community everything they want to know about trail related topics – a one stop resource for gear, maps, summer guided hiking and trail ride schedules, flora and fauna, and more.
The day starts with a lineup of guided morning outings on local trails such as Black Swan Trail with Author and Historian Hank Meals, Deer Creek Tribute Trail with BYLT’s Shaun Clarke and Hirschman Trail with Ana Acton of FREED and Bill Haire of BYLT. The outings will be followed by a fun family-friendly trails day festival held from noon to 3 p.m. at Tahoe National Forest headquarters, 631 Coyote Street in Nevada City.
“People should come to this event if they care about the local beauty of our natural trails,” said Volunteer and Past Board Member Bob Jennings of Empire Mine Park Association who will hand out Empire Mine trail maps. The park has three trails – Hardrock Trail, Osborne Hill Trail, Union Hill Trail – a total over 7 miles.
Celebration of Trails coincides with American Hiking Society’s National Trails Day first begun in 1993. In 2015, 176,000 people got outdoors on community trails and participated in 2,329 activities across the U.S.
This year’s participants include: Tarp Tent, Gold Crush Climbing Gym, 49th Gold Country Scout Group, Bicyclists of Nevada County, Youth Bicyclists of Nevada County, City of Grass Valley, City of Nevada City, Empire Mine Park Association, FREED, Gold Country Trails Council, Mountain Recreation, Inn Town Campground, Folk Trails Hiking Club, Nevada City Scenics, Nevada City Chamber of Commerce, Sierra Club, South Yuba River Citizens League, South Yuba River State Park Association, Sierra Fund, Tahoe National Forest, California Gold Kettle Corn, Placer Nature Center, Nevada County Woods Riders and more. “Local trails are important – You can get in shape, join your family for a ride on a shady trail in August, connect to our great forests and rivers, and challenge yourself on a new steep route. We are so lucky to have an abundance of opportunities in Nevada County,” said BONC Secretary Ellen Lampham.

Family Activities and Local Food
Besides giving out maps and info on the new Hoot Trail, BONC and YBONC will offer t-shirt printing with recycled bike parts during the afternoon festival. Other activities include a “boulder twister” climbing trailer with Gold Crush Climbing Gym, face-painting and trail shots game with BYLT, a photo booth with Tahoe National Forest, scouting activities with 49th Gold Country Scout Group, backpacking basics with Mountain Recreation and a live horse appearance from Gold Country Trails Council.
Local food and drink are also on tap. Colombia-born Rene Medina from new mobile organic and local farm to fork business, “Chomp” will serve up sausages made from local meats and fermented kimchee and sauerkraut. It’s the perfect pairing with “Hirschman Hefeweizen” from Three Forks Brewing Company. Folks who shop Nevada City’s Farmers Market in the morning can pick up a $1 off drink ticket at the market’s information booth before heading up Coyote Street to the Trails Day festival headquarters.

Morning Hikes:
WHAT: Hike from Black Swan to Deer Creek led by Hank Meals
WHEN: 8:30 a.m.
DIFFICULTY: Moderate 3 to 5 miles, carpooling required
MEET AT: Tahoe National Forest Headquarters, 631 Coyote Street, Nevada City
Join the area’s best-loved archeologist, author and hiking guru Hank Meals on this walk from Bear Yuba Land Trust’s Black Swan Preserve to Deer Creek.
“The Nisenan loved this place. Right over the ridge from Deer Creek Diggins (Black Swan), at Rose’s Bar, is where gold was ‘discovered’ on the Yuba River,” said Meals.
Dress appropriately for the weather, sturdy footwear, sun protection and bring snacks and plenty of water.
Space is limited to 15. Pre-register required! www.bylt.org or Contact: Laura Petersen [email protected], 272-5994 x 211

WHAT: Family Hike on the Hirschman Trail with FREED and BYLT
WHEN: 9:30 a.m.
DIFFICULTY: Easy to moderate (depending on distance and mobility level), .8 miles (wheelchair accessible) – 5 miles possible (moderate ascending and descending)
MEET AT: Hirschman Trail Trailhead on Cement Hill Road
Bring the whole family for this kid-friendly, all ability level exploration of Nevada City’s Hirschman Trail. Join Ana Acton of FREED and Bear Yuba Land Trust to learn about the history of this former hydraulic mine site and investigate the flora and fauna of this popular trail. Cameras, binoculars and sketch books are encouraged. This is a wheelchair, limited mobility accessible trail to the pond (.8 mile round trip). Those who want to go further, will have that option, too.
Call FREED 477-3333 for transportation information.

WHAT: Deer Creek Tribute Trail with BYLT and Nevada City
WHEN: 9:30 a.m.
DIFFICULTY: Easy to moderate
MEET AT: Meet in front of Miner’s Foundry, Spring Street, Nevada City

Join Bear Yuba Land Trust’s Trails Coordinator Shaun Clarke and special guest Nevada City Mayor Evans Phelps for this guided walk from downtown Nevada City to the beautiful Deer Creek Tribute Trail. Don’t forget to pick up your $1 off beer coupon from the Nevada City Farmers Market info booth before heading back up the hill to the trails day festival.

WHAT: 2017 Gold Country Trails Council Poker Ride
WHEN: Sign up at 8:30 a.m., ride out at 10 a.m.
WHERE: Skillman Horse Camp on Tahoe National Forest
Calling all equestrian riders, this is the 26th annual Poker Ride led by Gold Country Trails Council. This ride on eight miles of easy to moderate marked trails benefits the building and maintenance of local trails, staging and parking areas around horse camps such as Skillman and Little Lasier Meadow. The event includes a raffle, prizes, food and live music.
Register at: www.GoldCountryTrailsCouncil.org

Learn more about Celebration of Trails at: www.bylt.org

CLICK HERE to see the original article in YubaNet.

Nevada City council members voted unanimously to approve the alignment for a proposed trail on Sugarloaf Mountain last week. The trail alignment was recommended to the council by the city planning department after a public hearing and consideration of various proposed routes. (Photo is a view from the trail.)
Bear Yuba Land Trust, the organization proposing the trail, will need to submit formal documents detailing plans for trail construction and funding to the planning department before construction can begin.
An environmental review of the site will also begin now that the alignment has been approved.
The land trust plans to construct the trail with a moderate six to eight percent grade and a width of four feet, following recommendations made by the public during a planning commission hearing. Those dimensions are meant to discourage bikers from speeding. Brush and tree cover will also be managed to visually discourage trail users from cutting switchbacks.
Community members also requested some assurance from the Bear Yuba Land Trust and the city that extra patrolling of the area will be included in the trail plan, in order to address concerns that numerous homeless camps have appeared on the property in recent years.
City Manager Mark Prestwich estimates a formal plan for construction to be completed next spring.
Nevada City is also working on a proposal to annex the Sugarloaf property, which is currently on county property, though it is owned by the city.
A public hearing on the annexation of the Sugarloaf property will be held at Thursday's planning commission meeting at 1:30 p.m. at City Hall.
--by The Union Staff Writer Matthew Pera.
CLICK HERE to read the original article and photos in The Union newspaper.

Justin Schwartz high above the North Fork American River at Pucker Point on the Western States Trail, Photo by James Adamson
On March 3 2017,  Congressman McClintock (R-Roseville) from California introduced H.R. 1349.  On one side, the Sustainable Trails Coalition, a special interest mountain bike group established in 2015, and 11 other organizations, and Rep. Tom McClintock; on the other side, the Wilderness Society and over 100 organizations. Email Rep. Tom McClintock, pro or con. Here are the arguments:

PRO From the Sustainable Trails Coalition, a mt. biking group that is working to promote H.R. 1349, a U.S. House of Representatives bill introduced by Federal Lands Subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock (R-Calif.). STC is also working with Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on the planned reintroduction of his 2016 U.S. Senate bill, S.3205. Additional information on S.3205 can be found here.

The legislation’s purpose is to restore federal land managers’ authority to regulate bicycle use on Wilderness trails, as they did during the first two decades of the Act, before a blanket ban was imposed by the U.S. Forest Service. Thus, the legislation places backcountry cyclists on equal footing with campers, hikers, hunters and equestrians.

Groups that demand zero mountain biking in Wilderness, Wilderness Study Areas, and Recom­mended Wilderness, and work to expand these areas and shrink mountain biking on federal lands, are making false or misleading statements to lawmakers and the public about the bills. STC hereby presents the facts.
FALSE CLAIM: The legislation will open all Wilderness trails to mountain biking.
FACT: The legislation only reverses federal agencies’ blanket bicycle bans, which rest upon a misunderstanding of the Wilderness Act of 1964. When the blanket bans are gone, agency regulations will take over, at which point land managers may enable full regulation and control of mountain biking . . . up to and including existing limitations and bans.
For example, a Forest Service regulation, unaffected by the legislation, provides that authorized Forest Service employees may “restrict the use of any National Forest System road or trail.” The other Wilderness-administering agencies—the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Manage­ment, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service—have similar regulations that would remain in effect.
FALSE CLAIM: Mountain bikers are divided on bicycle access in Wilderness.
FACT: All available evidence is contrary. A survey of cyclists on Singletracks.com indicated that 96% of mountain bikers support this effort. An International Mountain Bicycling Association survey conducted in 2016 showed that in California, where Wildernesses abound, about half of IMBA members feel regaining some Wilderness access is “very or extremely important.” Only a handful of mountain bikers, whether or not IMBA members, are actively opposing bicycling in Wilderness.
FALSE CLAIM: The legislation is dividing the conservation community.
FACT: This is patently false. Rather, the legislation is exposing and isolating a combination of moneyed interests and Wilderness purists who have adopted Wilderness as a revenue source or a temperance movement respectively. These selfish users of public space believe that whatever they do in Wilderness (multi-day camping, habitual off-trail use, nocturnal disturbance of animals, significant trail damage, trampling of meadows, etc.) is compatible with Wilderness values but mountain biking isn’t. These groups are incapable of assessing their own habits in Wilderness areas, most of which have far greater impact than mountain biking. For-profit commercial pack trains in particular continue to damage iconic Wilderness areas. There is no divide among reasonable conservationists.
FALSE CLAIM: The legislation would materially amend the Wilderness Act of 1964.
FACT: The legislation would not accomplish this. Rather, it aims to restore the Act to its original meaning.
STC is a steadfast backer of the Wilderness Act of 1964. For example, STC opposes allowing power-assisted bicycles (e-bikes) in Wilderness, because the Act prohibits “motor vehicles” and “motorized equipment,” which e-bikes constitute. (To clarify, STC knows of no effort to introduce these devices into Wilderness.) By contrast, Congress meant for rugged, self-reliant travel to define the Wilderness experience, and human-powered mountain biking fits right in.
FALSE CLAIM: The legislation is a “Trojan Horse” making Wilderness vulnerable to development and eventual sale to private interests.
FACT:  Nothing could be further from the truth. Backcountry cyclists seek the same experience as backcountry hikers and horseback riders and the legislation only grants us a possibility of that experience. Those engaging in this Chicken Little–style fear-mongering offer no evidence in support of their doomsaying.
STC urges journalists and lawmakers to challenge organizations and people who promote these false claims on Capitol Hill, in the media, and elsewhere.
ABOUT THE SUSTAINABLE TRAILS COALITION
STC was founded in 2015 to reverse outdated and counterproductive blanket bicycle bans in Wilderness, Recommended Wilderness, and Wilderness Study Areas, on the Pacific Crest Trail, and on parts of the Continental Divide Trail. To find out more, please visit www.sustainabletrailscoalition.org.
Sustainable Trails Coalition, from their website, are supported by The Angry Singlespeeder, MTBR.com, Singletracks.com, New England Mountain Bike Association, Mount Hood Mountain Bikers, Folsom-Auburn Trail Riders Action Coalition, San Diego Mountain Biking Association, Access4Bikes, Park City Mountain Bile.com, CORBA, Central California Off-Road Cyclists, Ride Salmon

To see the opposing statement by INTERNATIONAL MOUNTAIN BICYCLISTS ASSOCIATION (IMBA) against bikes in Wilderness areas, CLICK HERE

CON:
From Kevin Proescholdt, the conservation director for Wilderness Watch that spearheaded a sign-on letter to Congress in opposition to opening up the National Wilderness Preservation System to bikes and resulted in a total of 114 wilderness-supporting organizations signing on, stating that the conservation community is united in its opposition to the mountain bikers’ efforts.

Imagine hiking with your family on a wilderness trail in Yosemite or Sequoia-Kings Canyon. Suddenly your peace and quiet and the natural pace of a hike in the woods are shattered by a mountain bike screaming down the trail, narrowing missing you, shattering your solitude, and startling yourselves and all wildlife in its path. Unfortunately, this scenario could soon be happening in a wilderness near you. Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Roseville, recently introduced a bill in Congress at the behest of a group of mountain biking proponents that would eviscerate the 1964 Wilderness Act and allow bicycles in every Wilderness in the nation.

The bill, HR 1349, was introduced on March 15 on behalf of the mountain biker organization, the Sustainable Trails Coalition (STC). This bill would amend the Wilderness Act to allow bikes, strollers, wheelbarrows, game carts, survey wheels, and measuring wheels in every unit of the National Wilderness Preservation System.

In an especially cynical and disingenuous move, the mountain bikers seem to hide behind people with disabilities in their effort to make America’s wildest places merely a playground for cycling.

The mountain bikers list “motorized wheelchairs” and “non-motorized wheelchairs” as the first uses to be authorized in Wilderness under their bill (even prior to the listing of “bicycles”), though the 1990 amendments to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) have clearly allowed wheelchairs in designated wilderness for more than a quarter-century.

Sustainable Trails had a bill introduced last year in the U.S. Senate by the two Utah Senators, Mike Lee and Orrin Hatch, whose lifetime conservation voting records as compiled by the nonpartisan League of Conservation Voters are just 9 percent and 10 percent respectively. Fortunately, last year’s bill went nowhere.

Unfortunately, the new bill could very well advance in the current anti-wilderness Congress, allied with the new administration that seems hostile to environmental protection.

McClintock, a member of the House Natural Resources Committee whose lifetime conservation voting record is 4 percent, also chairs that panel’s Subcommittee on Federal Lands. This places him in a significant position of leadership and could mean that this year’s mountain-bike bill might well advance in Congress.
Last year, anticipating the 2016 Senate bill to open wilderness to mountain bikes, Wilderness Watch spearheaded a sign-on letter to Congress in opposition to opening up the National Wilderness Preservation System to bikes.
It resulted in a total of 114 wilderness-supporting organizations from around the nation signing on, clearly showing that the conservation community is united in its opposition to the mountain bikers’ efforts.

The 1964 Wilderness Act prohibits bicycles in the National Wilderness Preservation System. The law bans all types of bicycles as well as all other forms of mechanical transportation in designated wilderness. Section 4(c) of that act states, “[T]here shall be…no use of motor vehicles, motorized equipment or motorboats, no landing of aircraft, no other form of mechanical transport, and no structure or installation within any such area.”
Furthermore, Congress stated the purpose of the Wilderness Act was, in part, to protect these areas from “expanding settlement and growing mechanization….”

In a deft use of “fake news,” the mountain bikers have claimed that the Wilderness Act actually allows bikes in wilderness. They claim that the U.S. Forest Service put the ban in place in 1984 when the agency explicitly named bicycles as one of the prohibited forms of mechanical transport in wilderness.

The agency’s earlier wilderness regulations, written in 1965, did not specifically name bikes as a prohibited use since mountain bikes had not yet been invented.

These false claims (among many others by the STC) ignore the clear language of the Wilderness Act and the regulations of the other three federal agencies that have from the beginning clearly banned bikes from the wildernesses they administer.
The STC arguments also evince an incredibly narrow and selfish view of wilderness as just a recreation “pie” to be divided up among competing recreation user groups, with seemingly no regard for wildness, wildlife habitat, solitude or future generations’ desires for truly wild wilderness.

For over a half century, the Wilderness Act has protected these areas designated by Congress from mechanization and mechanical transport, even if no motors were involved with such activities. This has meant, as Congress intended, that wildernesses have been kept free from bicycles and other types of machines.
Wilderness advocates believe that this protection has served our nation well, and that the “benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness” (as the Wilderness Act eloquently declares) would be forever lost by allowing mechanized transport in these areas.
Kevin Proescholdt is the conservation director for Wilderness Watch, a national wilderness conservation organization, www.wildernesswatch.org. He loves the wildernesses of the High Sierra. To read this May 15, 2017, article in the Fresno Bee, CLICK HERE.

Below are the 114 organizations that co-signed the letter to Congress who were in support of banning mechanical transport in Wilderness:
PROTECT WILDERNESS FROM BIKES
Adirondack Wild, Friends of the Forest Preserve • Aldo’s Silver City Broadband • Alliance for the Wild Rockies • Alpine Lakes Protection Society • Amargosa Conservancy • Animals Are Sentient  Beings, Inc. • Arizona Wilderness Coalition • Big Wild Adventures • Big Wild Advocates •Blue Ridge Land Conservancy • Boise Broadband • Bozeman Broadband,   • Buckeye Forest Council • California Chaparral Institute •  California Wilderness Coalition • Californians for Western Wilderness• Cascade Volcanoes Broadband • Conservation Congress • Conservation Northwest • Cook I nletkeeper • Environmental Protection Information Center • Fairmont Minnesota Peace Group •  Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs •Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics • Friends of Allegheny Wilderness • Friends of Bell Smith  Springs • Friends of Nevada Wilderness • Friends of Sylvania Wilderness • Friends of the Bitterroot • Friends of  the Clearwater • Friends of the Wild Swan • Georgia ForestWatch • Gifford Pinchot Task Force • Grand Junction Area Broadband • Great Plains Restoration Council • Greater Wasatch Broadband • Harding Land Trust • Heartwood •  Hells Canyon Preservation Council • High Country Conservation Advocates • High Sierra Hikers Association • Hunters for Predators • Idaho Environmental Council • Idaho Rivers United • Kentucky Heartwood • Kettle  Range Conservation Group • Klamath Forest Alliance • Kootenai Environmental Alliance • Lands Council •  Massachusetts Forest Watch • Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy • Moab Broadband • Montanans for Gallatin Wilderness • Mountain Bikers for Wilderness • New Mexico  Wilderness Alliance • North Cascades Conservation Council • North Fork Preservation Association • Northeast Wilderness Trust • Northern San Juan Broadband • Olympic Park Associates •  Palouse Broadband • Phoenix Broadband •  Polly Dyer Cascadia Broadband • Public Employees for Environmental  Responsibility (PEER) • Quiet Use Coalition • RESTORE: The North Woods • Rewilding Institute • Rio Grande  Valley Broadband • River Runners for W ilderness • Roaring Fork Valley Broadband • San Juan Citizens Alliance • Save America’s Forests • Save Our  Canyons • Save Our Sky Blue Waters • Sawtooth Interpretive and Historical Association • Scholarly Brass  Editions • Selkirk Conservation Alliance • Selway Pintler Wilderness Back Country Horsemen • Sequoia ForestKeeper • Shawnee Forest Sentinels • Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute •  Sleeping Bear Naturally • South Florida Wildlands Association • South Park Broadband • Southern Illinoisans Against Fracturing Our Environment • Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance • Speak Up for Wildlife  Foundation • Steamboat Springs Broadband • Swan View Coalition •  Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning • Tennessee Heartwood • Teton Valley Broadband, Great Old  Broads for Wilderness • 3 Great Lakes Broadband • Tucson Broadband • Tuleyome • Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition • Walden Woods Project • Wasatch Mountain Club • Western Lands Project • Western Watersheds Project • Western Wildlife Conservancy  • White Mountain Conservation League • Wild Connections • Wild Utah Project • Wild Virginia • Wild  Wilderness • WildEarth Guardians • Wilderness Watch•Wilderness Workshop • WildWest Institute • Willamette Valley Broadband • Wyoming Back Country Horsemen of  America • Wyoming Wilderness Association • Yellowstone to Uintas Connection

Penny Keeling has gone jogging on the Cascade Canal trail nearly every day for the past 25 years. The trail is just minutes away from her house in Nevada City, and follows along a Nevada Irrigation District canal.
Keeling was shocked, she said, when she saw a gate blocking access to her favorite entrance to the trail off Gracie Road late last month.
The trail runs through a shaded pine forest and is relatively flat, making it a popular route for Nevada City residents looking for an easy trail to hike, run, or walk their pets. It has been historically open for public use despite the fact that it intersects with private properties in some areas.
Keeling is afraid the new gate could permanently forbid public use of the trail.
Jonathan Davis, a Nevada City homeowner whose property line extends into the trailhead, claimed responsibility for installing the gate, and left a letter notifying concerned hikers that he didn't make the decision to block the trail lightly.
The letter stated that the property has been in Davis' family for over three generations, and cited experiences with "disrespectful trail users" in recent years as reason for blocking the trail. The letter references incidents of theft, litter, prowlers, and homeless sleeping on the trail.
Kristy Kelly, an administrative representative from NID, said the agency played no role in installing the fence.
"We have easements to access the canal for maintenance and operation purposes," said Kelly. "We don't necessarily promote public trail use."

Private vs. public
Members of Friends of Banner Mountain are now working on negotiations with the Gracie Road property owner to reopen the portion of the trail that is currently blocked.
"I'm optimistic that sense will prevail, and this won't have to be resolved down at the local courthouse," said Andrew Wilkinson, vice president of the organization.
Over the past two decades, property owners have installed fences blocking access to other NID canal trails in the county on multiple occasions, and have faced community opposition.
On one occasion, the issue went to trial.
At a trail running alongside the Rattlesnake Canal, a property owner, Jon Blasius, installed a fence blocking a portion of the trail that intersects with his property.
Friends of the Trails, representing Nevada County hikers and trail users, filed a lawsuit against Blasius in a court case called Friends of the Trails v. Blasius.
Friends of the Trails won the case in February 2000, as they proved public access to the trail had been ongoing since before 1972, when a state law was put in place that greatly limited prescriptive easements.
As a result, the public won the right to use the trail — including the portion that intersected with Blasius' property.

Compromise reached
In 2015, a property owner along the trail at the Snow Mountain Ditch installed gates to block public access to the portion of the trail intersecting with his property, which cut off a popular mountain biking route.
An agreement was reached in April between the community and the landowner after the route was blocked for nearly two and a half years. The property owner agreed to reopen the trail and plans to install signs and hedges to protect privacy.
Chris Hawthorne, who owns another property that intersects with the Snow Mountain Ditch trail, said he was in favor of re-opening the trail, but also understands the plight of property owners who want to block access to their land. There are infrequent abuses that occur on the trail, he said, that create problems. Those abuses include excessive use, noise, and trespassing off the trail, according to Hawthorne.
"The public needs to honor the rights of property owners, and property owners need to honor the public's right to access the land," he said.

Gracie Ditch trail detour
Staff from Bear Yuba Land Trust said that while negotiations are being made with Davis, the landowner on Gracie Road, hikers are being redirected to another trailhead just a few hundred feet down the road, which is open for public access to a different portion of the Cascade Canal trail.
Davis declined comment for this story, based on the advice of legal council.

PHOTO: Access to a Cascade Canal trailhead on Gracie Road was recently blocked by a gate. Signs direct hikers to another trailhead down the road.

CLICK HERE to see the original article and photos in The Union newspaper.

National Significant Wildland Fire Potential Outlook for the Period – May, June and July through August 2017 –
Executive Summary states that in Northern California abundant precipitation will lead to a slower start to fire
activity in June in the far east side zones. This will give way but a robust fire season in July and August
in most southern portions of the Area thanks to abundant fine fuel crop development.
It is typical for large fire activity to ramp up in a few PSAs in June, especially in the Sacramento Valley and Foothills
and in the Far East Side PSA, but considering the current conditions and the outlook it is expected that significant
fire potential in June will be below normal in the far east side, while only a few grass fires will mean near normal activity
elsewhere. Significant fire potential will begin to increase during the latter part of July, mainly in areas dominated by fine fuels, as seasonal drying of soils and fuels takes place.
Therefore, significant fire potential is expected to be normal in all areas in July. Fine fuels are expected to be fully cured in August and those areas are expected to have an above normal potential for significant fires. All other areas have normal
significant fire potential in August.
To see the complete report, CLICK HERE.

Placer parks staff will propose moving forward with a new park reservation system to help with parking congestion at Hidden Falls Regional Park:
On the Agenda as follows:
22.  PUBLIC WORKS & FACILITIES
    B.    County Public Recreation Areas I Reservation System and Amended Regulations
   1.    Introduction of an Ordinance, amending Articles 9.08 and 12.24 of the Placer County Code regarding regulations for County Public Recreation Areas (waive oral reading) as follows:
b.    Authorize a reservation system to regulate overcrowded parking areas and streamline the existing reservation process for other facilities such as sports fields, picnic areas, and camp sites.

Can't make it in person? Stream meetings online at placer.ca.gov, participate by video conference at our Tahoe City offices or call in at 530-886-5225.