News Release

For Release:  November 13, 2007             
Contact:  John Scull/Peggy Cranston   Phone 916-985-4474     
CA-CC-08-10

Portion of Yuba Goldfields Closed to Off-Highway Vehicles

An emergency order was issued today by the Bureau of Land Management temporarily closing 160 acres of public land in the Yuba Goldfields area in Yuba County to the use of off-highway vehicles to protect threatened anadramous fish.  It has been found that recreational off-road vehicles are entering the river area and damaging critical habitat, including spawning areas.  

Folsom Field Office Manager Bill Haigh said the area is an important spawning habitat for salmon and steelhead, which are blocked from going further upstream by dams.    According to Haigh, the BLM is mandated by law and regulations to protect critical habitat for species listed under the Federal Endangered Species Act.  "The temporary closure will remain in place until BLM can address the issue long-term,” Haigh said.

The Goldfields, located eight miles west of Marysville on the Yuba River, are composed of gravel washed down the Yuba River from hydraulic mining activities in Nevada County during the 1870s and 1880s.  The 9,000-acre site was then extensively dredged by drag line bucket dredges to recover gold which was washed downstream along with the gravel, leaving behind large, very steep piles of rocks.  Approximately 470 acres of BLM-administrated public land is legally accessible from Hammonton Road. 

For additional information contact BLM’s Folsom Field Office at 916-985-4474.

-BLM-

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

MAP OF CLOSED AREA